This past weekend a team of four students from the Olin Business School set out on a mission to participate in the Tepper International Case Competition at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. We had a daunting task ahead of us – to give it our best shot. In the week leading up to the case competition everything was a fuzz, sessions to discuss strategy, exchanging ideas, poking holes in each others theories, and for the most part a lot of fun.
To say it was a fantastic experience to work with a great team of brilliant people would be a cliche, of course, but I am saying it anyway. When you pull people with varied backgrounds in the same room you can expect one thing for sure – ideas. There are moments of intense discussion, friendly banter, and more importantly a desire to give it all you have. So after spending hours brainstorming and arriving at the solution we were ready to head to Pittsburgh and take on the case competition. As my father says, when you travel under high stress there is bound to be something that one misses.
I left home at 4:30 am to pick up the team and drive to the airport for a 6:25 am flight to the ‘burgh. At the last pick up, I had this sinking feeling, like I was missing something, something crucial to this trip. What was it? As my last team mate was loading I asked him if he had seen my suitcase in the trunk. My nightmare was coming true – I had forgotten my suitcase ! It was outside my apartment door, long-story-short, we made it to the airport with enough time to have breakfast and get to Pittsburgh well in time.
Competition brings out the best in people and this was no exception. The competition was filled with the usual combination of things – stress, last minute edits, jitters and a desire to excel. We gave it our best shot – we didn’t place. I could say the journey of solving the case, reaching a consensus and finally learning from the other teams was the best part of this experience. I will be honest, there is nothing like seeing the team win! Of course, there will be opportunities to accomplish that in the future.
An integral part of the case competition was my allegiance to Pittsburgh, I did attend school at the University of Pittsburgh in my previous life. The city is filled with jewels from the two main universities and makes for a great opportunity to walk around, take in the history that is evident on both campuses.
The competition and my visit to Pittsburgh was definitely a reminder of all those dreams you concoct when you are younger. It was an opportunity to rediscover these dreams, face the fear of having to answer questions, pitch you idea and walk away with your head held high. I did just that, this time along with my suitcase.
For every time you walk away and do something off the beaten track, you will end up postponing some important homework. I just learnt that this is called the student syndrome and it will most definitely be a critical factor in the recovery process post- competition. Interestingly, our team was comprised of four different types of people – one was happily snoring while we waited for results, one socialized and networked, one was using cellphone apps as a distraction, and another was simply catching up on some homework for the week ahead. However, we had one thing in common – we had a great time!
Each experience ends with lessons learned, in this case:
1. Do not forget your suitcase
2. The homework you have put off till the end will be waiting
So pack up your fears (and your suitcase) and throw your name in the hat for a case competition in spring. Maybe you will find your dreams along the way.
Image: Pittsburgh skyline, Tepper, Carnegie Mellon website
Editor’s note: Olin’s team won the Tepper Case Competition in 2013.
