We are at departure time. The plane gates have been closed. The captain has turned on the fasten seatbelt sign. We now ask you to turn off any electronic equipment you have. 

 

Last few minutes in Seattle. The fact that there will not be any more royal treatment any longer and that I have to return to the status of lesser mortal again is yet to sink in. I will not get the "You interns!" remark with undertones of envy anymore.

 

Our summer ended with a red carpet experience at Columbia tower. Since Sheldon has already called the event for his next blog entry, i am bound by the secret code not to write about it. :) If he does not write about it in the next 2 weeks, bug him through your comments until he does!

 

I am now looking forward to going back to school, catching up with my friends about their summer experiences. The 2nd year at Tepper kicks off with the "International Management Game" - an experience that integrates all the core concepts that we learnt at Tepper so far. Come to think of it, there is a good intersection between the objectives of the MSFT case competition in the 1st year and those of the game in the 2nd year.

 

In both, you try to learn to

(1) Apply the core concepts learnt at school so far

(2) Work in an ambiguous environment where you have a lot of data/information available but you have to decide what is relevant

(3) Collaborate in a team

(4) Prioritize because you will be working under the pressure of tight deadlines

(5) Communicate and articulate results to the board of directors/ senior executives

(6) Become comfortable taking business decisions based on a balanced mix of analytics and intuition.

 

Both the game and the case competition try to be as real-world as possible. I think there is one main difference between the two. The game is great learning experience  where learning is more internal (within the team) and intra-team (as we will be competing against our classmates and teams from other schools). The professors and board of directors (typically Tepper alums now senior executives from different companies who have obliged to be on the board) have seen the game being solved many a time in the past. In the case competition, the problem has never been solved before. It is a live business issue that Microsoft is currently facing and your recommendations are very likely going to be taken up and implemented.  The learning is 2-way. Microsoft execs learn from you as much as you learn from the experience.

 

A classical example of the learning and impact you have is Dusko's experience. Dusko, the poster child of the case competition won it the first year and was then offered to come back to Microsoft for the summer to actually implement his recommendations. So watch out what you recommend - you might end up owning it. And do ask Dusko what he did last summer.

 

- Deepthi