Management education programs often rely on collaborative learning, which requires high levels of openness and interpersonal support. We describe how one program accomplishes this and offer a theory to explain why it works. We propose that the activity is successful because it addresses in a repeating sequence (a) the alignment of affect with cognition within members' subjective worlds, (b) the integration of cognition across members, (c) the use of shared cognition to generate new affect-rich activities, and (d) the alignment of affect across members. We believe this four-stage cycle enhances management education wherever collaborative learning is important.