Executing the dream MBA, Case Competitions and performing in high intensity environments

“If I take away my degree certificate, what’s left of my MBA?”?

– This yardstick has helped me go above and beyond what is “required” from a student, to what a student can be “capable” of doing.

Through this article, I’ll try to capture my 2-year journey of cracking prominent case study competitions. This isn’t a tips and tricks document, rather it covers the softer aspects of my journey in terms of the mindset, purpose, determination, and prioritization. I would attribute success to these attributes much more than my hard skills in Marketing.

I have a dream..

While entering NMIMS I had the innate urge to create an impact and have my presence felt in the batch. This stemmed from the inherent belief I had in my abilities and providing justice to the same.

There are 4 areas that help you extract the most out of this concentrated 2-year experience:

1.?????Academics

2.?????Case-study competitions

3.?????Student committees

4.?????Research & Corporate projects

While people would say, don’t stretch yourself too thin. I still took the chance and gave it a go at all these aspects. Prioritization of course kicks in at this stage, and you decide what’s most important at what point of time. Based on the need of the hour I’ve dynamically dialed the efforts into each of these areas which helped me excel.

Case study competitions definitely have a certain aura around them. These glorified events give you a chance to be the undisputed best at what you’re here to develop. Business Acumen.?

I explored deeper and knew that this was certainly my proving ground. I interacted with former champions, and they seemed to have an enigma in the way the spoke. Conversations with them were rich and were always filled with mindblowing takeaways. These people were role models for the entire batch, and I aspired to be like them one day.

What’s required?

Mindset?– First of all what’s required is a headstrong mindset to see through the entire journey. Case competitions are not a linearly rising curve. They’re a sine wave, and more often than not they’re filled with more troughs than crests. To ride through the entire wave, you’ll need to answer the “WHY?” for yourself. Why do you want to tread this path? Doing case studies is not a compulsion in an MBA. The reasons can be among?external drivers?like PPIs, Cash Rewards, Fame & Recognition. They can also be?internal drivers?like the inherent will to learn, a passion for problem solving, a drive for proving your skills etc.

Gratification doesn’t come easily or often in this journey. It takes weeks of dedicated work without any guarantee for success. It’s in those times at 1AM in the night when the oil is burning low that you need the fire within you to keep you going.

For me it’s been a mix of these reasons that have kept me going through 2 years. There can be other drivers, but it’s important for you to be mindful of the “WHY?” for yourself.

Team?– I was fortunate enough to have an excellent 2nd?teammate with me throughout the journey, and many talented 3rds?who have changed across competitions based on their expertise. Apart from any hard skills I value my team’s ability to question each other’s rationale and think of the problem in a holistic manner. While formulating our ideas we usually throw around many solutions to the same problem and play the devil’s advocate on each of the ideas. That allows us to pinpoint holes in the ideas and refine them further.

“Have one from Marketing, one from finance and one from operations” is the most common?myth?that flows around while forming a team. All of my teams have been pureplay marketing as I knew I needed a?different perspective?rather than different expertise.?

In terms of putting the numbers down, I personally believe that every marketeer should have a working knowledge of project finance and costing. It’s not something that requires you to have a finance specialization. I personally started from 0 and developed the skill through practice. Just open up that excel and start making that guesstimate!

Resources & Mentorship?– Get a mentor if you don’t seem to be getting anywhere after a couple of tries. I personally would not have achieved anything close to what I have without mentorship from a seasoned case competition senior. Case competitions aren’t about getting from Zero to One. It’s going from the 1 to 100 that gets you the wins. And that can rarely happen without external support. This mentorship can be one-one from a senior, enrolling for case study workshops online and referring PPTs that have succeeded. I still remember being blown away by my senior’s work and instantly understood what it takes to succeed. The structure of breaking down the problem, driving succinct solutions, backing that up with strong numbers and attaching countless excel sheets of calculations. I could instantly believe that this HAS TO BE a winning PPT.?

“Deliver?10x?of what’s expected and you?might?win” is how fierce the competition is.

Grit?-?HCCB: Failed, HUL LIME: Failed, Bond with Pidilite: Failed, HUL Tech Fest: Success, TITAN: Success, TATA IC: Success, Marico OTW: Failed, Airtel iCreate: Success, Reliance TUP: Success, Mondelez: Success, JnJ Quest: Failed, Brandstorm: Failed, AP Chain Rxn: Failed, AP CANVAS: Success, Governance Challenge: Success, Samsung: Failed, ITC: Failed, TITAN: Success, Mondelez: Success.

This is the Sine wave that I mentioned before. If I would’ve given up on the first 3 failures, there wouldn’t be a sine wave to exist. There was an internal belief which kept me going, and I was thankfully successful after a couple of tries. It’s easy to look at the number of registrations on Unstop and start calculating your probability of success. Which in pure numbers is around 0.00016%. But I asked myself, given those odds would I still not even try? The answer was always YES that I’ll deliver 10x no matter the result. That level of grit is what kept me going.?

Detaching myself from the result was the most important thing in building resilience through 2 years. It was mainly reveling in the?process?rather than dwelling over the probable?result. After multiple successes in competitions if I run probabilities now, the number would easily touch more than 1 in a billion. That is the probability cracking cases at a national level and doing it again and again.?

But the point here is, that numbers sometimes can be deceptive in shaping narratives. There’s a billion reasons to think why it may not pan out. But just think about what if it does? :) and Luckily, it did.?

Pay attention in class –?Most of the marketing I’ve learnt is by indulging myself thoroughly in coursework. Learning by paying attention in class isn’t a popular opinion these days. It’s ridiculous to think sometimes that we have to explicitly mention this. But getting my basics right in marketing is what helped me develop all my case solutions. Without a foundation, how much ever you embellish a submission it will always lack substance. I’ve had the privilege of learning from some of the best professors on campus and the learnings from coursework have certainly contributed to all this success. My mindset for class usually is “You have to sit here for 80mins no matter what. Might as well just listen and you might learn something in those 80 mins”. It’s so simple and it saves so much time. There have been exams I’ve been able to ace just by listening in class and nothing else.?

Prioritizing-

Excelling in case study competitions definitely wouldn’t have come without giving priority to things when required. And priority comes in the most basic of times where you must be mindful of what you’re doing and nothing else. For eg: A few case submissions clashed along with Final exams. But since I had paid attention in class throughout the trimester, I could direct my efforts on the submission which was required at that moment. I gave priority to studying while in class which gave me headroom to work on cases during exams.

I’ve managed Case studies, my academics, IIPC, a non-profit project, friendships and active gymming all through prioritization. Ofcourse you’ll need to have a strong support network that understands you and which you can rely on. I’ve made friends who understand my drive, have supported me throughout this journey and I’m grateful for them.

Even if this short writeup helps shape the journey of a single person, I’d consider the effort of writing this worth it.?

For someone who’s looking to walk this path, I’d say keep going. The only limit you have is yourself and nothing else. It’s an arduous journey, but once you fall in love with the process, it feels second to nature. Keep learning through it, developing yourself and your acumen. More than any external benefits that the world sees, what you’re really satisfied with in the end is what you’ve achieved for yourself internally.