Source: The Wall Street Journal - June 15, 2011

Andreas Heinecke was sitting in the dark at Bertelsmann AG headquarters in Gütersloh a few years ago, sipping cocktails and making small talk, when the idea struck. High-ranking businessmen, like those mingling with him that balmy June evening, try everything to become better leaders—from personal coaching in their comfortable Connecticut homes to team-building in the rough Sri Lankan wilderness. Why not train them in the dark?

The German media conglomerate had invited Mr. Heinecke that evening to set up, literally, a dark bar. It was a fun conversational challenge for Bertelmann's top managers after a long day of meetings. Pitch-black management training didn't seem far-fetched afterwards.

Especially so since Mr. Heinecke, a documentary journalist turned social entrepreneur, already had founded Dialogue in the Dark. The then-traveling exhibit aimed to increase public awareness of otherness. It took sighted visitors through various settings in absolute darkness, with the help of blind guides and walking sticks. They'd cross a busy city street, walk over a wobbly bridge, buy fresh produce at a market, pay with change at a café—all without seeing a thing.

That evening in Gütersloh, the 55-year-old started to think about tailoring that same experience to businesses' needs. After all, "hierarchy disappears in the dark, among all types of people," he says. "And that's really good for personal and professional development."

Today, seminars in the dark, usually held right at Dialogue in the Dark's exhibits, comprise an ever-larger part of the group's business. Incorporated as a for-profit "social franchise" in Hamburg since 2001, Dialogue in the Dark employs 6,000 blind people in more than 30 countries from China to Mexico. In the past four years alone, about 10,000 managers from Standard Chartered PLC, Daimler AG, Goldman Sachs Group Inc., IBM Corp. and more have undergone training in the dark or in silence, an offshoot of the seminar concept. Seminars held doubled to more than 500 last year.

What's the draw? "People who attend begin to think differently about ability and disability," says Mr. Heinecke…Participating in the seminars, business executives learn about personal deficits they may never have recognized…The idea is to turn these newly discovered deficits into assets for better leadership.
Top managers like taking to the dark to steer and motivate themselves and their employees. Early this year, Michael Kaschke, newly appointed CEO at optics manufacturer Carl Zeiss AG, wanted his management team to strategize for the coming years…In late March, Zeiss's CEO and 14 senior managers spent a day at Dialogue in the Dark's headquarters in Hamburg's old shipping district…Participants had to solve a series of timed exercises in the pitch-black Hamburg exhibit. The clock ticking, they measured a long thick rope and tried to fold it into a perfect square. They pieced together a wooden rainbow puzzle of various shapes and sizes and got it almost right. They made their way through the exhibit, picked out fruits and vegetables at the market, and sat down together for a drink, all in utter darkness.

…On the flip side, some companies are developing their own unique programs with Dialogue in the Dark's help. A northern European software company late last year created a combat zone at the Hamburg exhibit to motivate developers amid competition for a new account.

…Dialogue in the Dark will launch an exhibit in New York's financial district this summer and intends to introduce its business offerings there as well. "We've had a boom in the seminar business, especially since the global financial crisis hit," says Mr. Heinecke. "I hope that will continue."