Getting the best out of case-method

"Wow!"

“That’s amazing”,

“I didn’t know that”

“Really?”

“That’s just not right”,

"I don’t agree at at all”

“Whats going on here?”

“ I have no clue”

“How is that related?”

“This is not working!”

are just some of the thoughts that go through your head while sitting through a case discussions. We have all been there and can relate to it. Sometimes we are amazed, sometimes confused and at times frustrated. Case-method is a roller-coaster ride. It is meant to be one. Some first years came by asking for advice on how to deal with case-method and the classroom discussion. I will share my experience and attempt a brief assessment of how one can maximize learning experience through the case-method.

Look at the case method as a three stage process first ‘prepare’, second ‘participate and engage’ and third ‘reflect’.

How often have you not followed the discussion as you were trying to brush up areas of the case that you didn’t read prior? To knowledgeably contribute to the discussion at hand you must adequately prepare all material prior to the case discussion. A lack of basic understanding can jeopardize the process by taking discussion to either irrelevant or already stated and documented facts. This does not mean that one should have figured out the complete answer to the problem. As and when you encounter issues you should note them down and raise them at an appropriate time in the classroom.

Case-method will only be effective when one chooses to actively participate in the conversation. The most insightful comments are those that directly relate to the topic under discussion or are an elaboration, responses or clarification to a point made short while earlier. To contribute effectively one must be engaged and attentive. If not one merely states a position they held before coming to the class which may or may not add value. My best learning moment came in a case that asked us to decide whether a for-profit company should take up a loss making venture for the benefit of the society. I was adamantly in the “no” camp but changed my point of view when a third camp framed it as “How can it be done” rather than “yes” or “no” question. While I had my point of view for good reasons I was attentive and interested in other points of view and left the class feeling enlightened. The discussions are least constructive when students hold certain assumptions such as “I know the subject better than anyone else”, “I know the subject and this is not going to add much value”, “I know my point is right and must convince others”, “I don’t really know the subject and must not talk”. In these situations the prophecy fulfills itself as the person leaves with the same opinions they held prior to the meeting.

Another important part of case-method frequently overlooked is that of reflection. Quite frequently we leave the classroom with some new insights, questions or frustrations. On one hand we must seek answers and clarify concepts that were not completely resolved during the discussion and on the other we must examine the process. We should explore if we were able to effectively learn from others, understand their viewpoints and clearly communicate our own. At the same time ask the basic questions; was the discussion effective? Did we collectively meet the objectives we set out for the class? This examination is primary source of ongoing improvement and learning.

I believe in the roller coaster ride that is the case-method. It is truly a powerful way to learn and like all things powerful it must be used right. So prepare, participate and engage and reflect to make your case-method experience a great one!

Readers please feel free to add from your experience. Lets do this in true case-method style.

Quarter: One asked - One given

This modified quote is so apt for the culmination of first quarter at Darden. In fact we are already into the first week of second quarter. We made it! The first quarter is supposedly very tough at Darden and I can give first hand confirmation that it was every bit as hard as they said it would be. But of course we came here knowing that very well. No quarter was asked, none given!
Let me give you some updates on the our progress

Classroom experience
We continued our daily grind of preparing cases, learning team meetings and the class discussions. I use the word grind to represent the effort we put each day and not necessarily the experience. My learning team has been very flexible making my overall experience even more enjoyable. The classes have been fun, discussions engaging. Quite often we have had people from the industry come to class and narrate their experience as they went through the real life case. They were either right in the middle of action or somewhat related to the problems we were discussing in the case. We got real-time feedback on our class discussion and how we went on tackling the problem as compared to what they did and how things panned out.

We have had some fun in the classroom too. We have played some games or ran simulations in the class to drive home a point. In the operations class we also happened to call up an 1-800 number related to the case to evaluate the queue wait times and service. Couple of days back we setup our Google ‘adwords’ account to measure advertising effectiveness as we were going through the case. It’s all very practical education.

We had added our own bit of fun by coming up with some creative class norms. Our section has a combination “2 truths and a lie” and a “physical challenge” as introduction for classroom visitors. The latter is basically a spoof but at the same time hilarious.

Career:
Many companies have been on grounds and lot of our time was dedicated to attending company briefings and events. We also spent a significant portion of our time networking with potential recruiters, especially true for our classmates looking at Investment banking career. In parallel we have taken career development modules that educated us on the art and science of resume writing, cover letters, networking etc. We have also covered other important topics such as Self awareness , understanding our your life themes, defining your career objectives and pitch, understanding recruiter needs, industries, functions, company research etc. All in all a packed schedule and lot of work.

Exams:
We had a day off to prepare for our exams which may seem an awfully short time but it’s not. Having gone through the course so rigorously there is not a lot to prepare. I was very skeptical when the second years mentioned that exam time would be the most relaxed time but later came to agree with that. I am sure that not everyone in the class agrees with me but I think there is a significant number who would. Ask my roommate with whom I spent hours playing on the x-box during exam time.

Social activities:
The school organizes more social activities that you can ever imagine attending. From International food festival, Screen on the green (movie screening), weekly cold call (happy hour on Darden lawns) and numerous other events and parties. They have a lot of events for the partners which I wouldn’t know a lot about, being single. At the end of the first quarter we had the much hyped ‘100 case party’ with the 80s dress theme that really was a blast. If you know anything about Darden you would know about TNDC – Thursday night drinking club. The primer mails we get for this are absolutely out this world hilarious but unfortunately I cannot share any of those here. Seeing the trend and for all I know we might have an unofficial every day drinking club. The Charlottesville scene is great with plenty of bars around the corner area which where all the undergrads hang out too :)

Well that’s a sweet way to wind up these posts. I can’t believe all the things that we have managed to get done in such a short span of time. I skipped through the real meat to give you an overview of some areas but hopefully I can dive into some specifics in my later posts. Feel free to leave a comment or drop me mail regarding what you want me to write about.

Sequence of randomness

I plan to make this to be as abstract as the title. This is as abstract as I can write. If you really deciphered this, you are such a geek. Just kiddin!

Beauty and the beast – Case method

So what has transpired that past 2 weeks. Well, we have mainly focused on classes and cases(not beer). Everyday we spend about 2-3 hours preparing cases on our own before we discuss them with our learning teams for 2-3 more hours. We take our learnings to class, discuss, agree, disagree and hash out all different perspectives of looking at the same problem. It is such a thrilling experience! Many a times I end the class with a ‘wow, I learned something today and I thought I knew how to do this’. So, what's so exciting about this? Imagine taking up a problem relating to xyz industries. You have some information on the problem and some data to work with. You run the numbers, think of possible scenarios and pros and cons. You get some great insights from your learning team and other ways to look at the problem and you are ready for the class. Now the fun begins. You start hearing about a different approach you disagree, you are challenged to reason your stand and listen to opposing viewpoints. You listen 20 different ways to look at the problem and understand it in its entirety. This is just the beginning. Add to that personal insights of people who have been in that situation worked in that industry or understand that function. Even more interesting is when you here from someone whose experiences are completely unrelated and looks at quantitative problem qualitatively or vice-versa. The professors run the class in very well planned and choreographed fashion. If you read carefully you would have found the beast as well. What can be exciting and thought provoking can also be little frustrating.

Caught somewhere in time

All the time classes and cases take, they are only part of our learning. To explore our interests we have joined various professional and affinity clubs. On average we are enrolled to 4-5 clubs. As club meetings start they take time off our calendar it becomes increasingly challenging to keep pace with all that is happening. We are also alerted on stuff we need to start working on and this starts eating into our 5 hours sleep. Drinking and partying 4 days a week doesn't help either.

One of the excellent opportunities ‘Darden’ provides is the ‘leadership speaker series’. Within a month of our first year we have already hosted top executives from companies such as Lehman brothers (Gary Weinstein) and Wachovia (CEO - Ken Thompson). The insights such top leaders provide from their experience are truly invaluable.

High hopes

Now to the career stuff which has been the real storm most of us. I remember being asked this question recently –

Q: So what do you want to do when you grow up?
Me: I guess I’ll only find out if and when I grow up!

We are in midst of deciding what career path to pursue after the Darden MBA. Our career development center has a very well planned approach to the problem– Understand yourself (through many self assessment exercises) list down skills, strength and interests, explore opportunities and see how they fit your life themes. Narrow down the function and industry before getting down to the actual job. Use resources available to explore jobs and skill sets required. Complete the picture and start preparing for how to target the same. Obviously it is lot more comprehensive than what I describe here and we have spent a lot of time at every step. I think this a great approach and is helping us a great deal to define our career paths. Oh did I mention we have Career discovery forums where alumni come to campus to talk about industry, functions and their everyday lives.

However, before all this started I found for myself that I get stuck on a more philosophical question.

‘What do I want to do with my life’

I can and have come up with many answers to this but if you test it further with a ‘why’ then it becomes little more difficult. In fact if you ask enough ‘whys’ to a question you can almost reason that nothing you do matters in the end. The question then is ‘why’ should you do it? Viscous circle, isn’t it?

I hear a song, I remember a prose

And no-one showed us to the land
And no-one knows the where or whys
But something stirs and something tries
And starts to climb towards the light

Why does everything have to be justified to be done? May some action precede reason? What if some instinct is a source of your action? Hmmm. That seems reasonable.
Okay, fair enough. I decide to pick a cause, choose a path and refine it as I go along. But why choose one thing over another? This is where pink Floyd saved me. At least kind of; Listening to ‘High Hopes’ I reflected on my childhood dreams, limitless boundaries of thinking; dreams lost in real world and I reflected

Beyond the horizon of the place we lived when we were young
In a world of magnets and miracles
Our thoughts strayed constantly and without boundary

Looking beyond the embers of bridges glowing behind us
To a glimpse of how green it was on the other side
Steps taken forwards but sleepwalking back again
Dragged by the force of some inner tide

Encumbered forever by desire and ambition
There's a hunger still unsatisfied
Our weary eyes still stray to the horizon
Though down this road we've been so many times

Apologies for the anti-climax but after all this I have decided to pursue ‘consulting’. I think it’s a great fit. Honestly it has come out after 3-4 months of soul searching, asking tough questions and looking blankly at stars in the sky (not exaggerating)

If you are looking for a good conclusion, let me tell you that in the end all this doesn’t matter. What matters is the Mexican party starting in 15 minutes and I got to be there for my friend and for the tequila shots. So let me buzz from here. My friend who is teaching me spanish will be proud when I say ‘bamos o tomar unos tragos’