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The Experience of a Lifetime

Graduate Perspectives series
January 27, 2021
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By Roshini Tamil Selvan, MBA candidate

Source: John Molson School of Business

Graduate Perspectives is a series of blogposts about the John Molson School of Business graduate programs experience from the perspective of current students and alumni.

This week, Roshini Tamil Selvan, MBA candidate, tells us about her experience as a member of the Case Competition Committee (CCC) and the John Molson School of Business’ first participation to the Canadian MBA Games.

Nelson Mandela famously said: “I never lose. I either win or learn”.  This is a mantra to remember.

My name is Roshini Tamil Selvan and I am an international student pursuing the full-time MBA program at the John Molson School of Business at Concordia University. I started my MBA journey in January 2020 and was immediately drawn to the experiential learning opportunities it offered. From actively competing in a multitude of case competitions to being recruited to the John Molson MBA Case Competition Committee (MBACCC), case competitions have always been close to my heart and an integral part of my journey. “Why?” you may ask.

Case competitions give you a taste of real business challenges and what is expected of you when facing them. First, you need to understand the problem statement and identify the issue at hand, then conduct thorough analyses, find strategic alternatives, and resolve conflicts with a robust implementation plan. Finally, the most interesting part, you need to sell the plan to the business owner.

COVID-19 has changed the way we learn and has completely transformed the student experience. Like many of my classmates, I wondered how I could possibly make the most of an MBA program delivered completely online. I wondered how case competitions would be organized and held in such times, and how students would get access to involvement and work opportunities, if any.

Throughout this crisis, all I could do was to keep immense faith in John Molson and believe that it would still provide me with opportunities I couldn’t have imagined. I held onto this belief and I was never let down. As rigorous as the program can be, it has also become a journey of very interesting experiences. As a matter of fact, my team and I recently had an experience that we found particularly memorable and that’s the story I would like to share with you today.

It was back in October 2020 that Timothy Field, Senior Lecturer in Management and the program’s very experienced and talented case competition coach and advisor, proposed the formation of two teams to compete in the MBA Games - the largest inter-collegiate competition in Canada. My team, consisting of Magalie Han, Michael Wood, Mohit Dave and I, was delighted to be selected for this very prestigious competition and looked forward to the learning opportunities ahead of us. Little did we know, when we embarked on this adventure, how much it would shape our individual and collective personalities.

Team for the internal February 2020 case competition hosted by the MBACCC and sponsored by the Stéphan Crétier Foundation: (L-R) Akshay Shripathi, Thanh Nguyen, Roshini Tamil Selvan and Sumit Gaur

As a team, we had two deliverables for the competition – an initial report before the holidays and a presentation at the final round taking place this month. The case was about the ‘Future of Work’ and, with so much changing around us, we felt we had to bring a change to the way things were typically done. With that in mind, we decided to call ourselves “Game Changers”. After multiple brainstorming sessions with and without our coaches and mentors –Timothy Field, Cedrin Law and Matthew Beck, we drafted our report ahead of the submission.

Our coaches were instrumental and not only conducted several reviews of the submission, but also guided our vision in regards to the strategic aspects of the case. We leveraged the knowledge they imparted onto us and worked tirelessly towards a final draft. Finally, after a few sleepless nights addressing the gaps, we submitted our report with the ultimate satisfaction of having learned how important strategy is in a changing business landscape and how we could tell that story.

With the report submitted, we immediately started to work on our presentation and prepared an initial slide for the coaches’ review. We were told that we had a long way to go and that we would have to upgrade our slides for the competition. However, our coaches pushed us to become better versions of ourselves every step of the way. Our sincere and heartfelt gratitude goes to these wonderful coaches who made themselves available - weekends and weekdays alike – to support us throughout the journey. We reciprocated their commitment by working very hard on our presentation until we were confident with the quality of the final deliverable.

We practiced our pitch many times with our coaches and participated in mock Q&A sessions with them. After all this preparation, we felt confident, not only in our presentation skills and communication flow, but also in our strategic recommendation plan. We rehearsed until the final day of our pitch.

Thirty-one teams from top business schools across Canada competed for the Academic case round. As a well-rehearsed team, we confidently presented our plan and comfortably faced tough questions from the judges. Although we didn’t make it to the podium, we strongly believe our learning curve was very steep and are proud to have finished 6th overall among 16 universities.

For the benefit of fellow students and aspiring case competitors, here are my key takeaways from this experience:

Be receptive to feedback – whether the feedback is from coaches, teammates, or judges themselves, being receptive to constructive criticism has always been beneficial. There is always room for improvement and being positive helps us learn more from our experiences.

Keep learning, keep competing – there will always be a time when various school assignments conflict with  competition opportunities. The key to maneuvering through this is efficient and effective time management  and the willingness to participate, compete and learn.

Teamwork makes the dream work – know your teammates well enough to be nicer to them on their bad days and motivate them when they may feel like giving up. I can promise you that they will do the same for you. With a powerful team, you will always enjoy the ride, even when it is difficult.

Be fearless when taking tough decisions – sometimes giving what the business owner wants may not be the right strategy for the business. In these situations, it is crucial to make those tough calls instead of shying away from bold and controversial conclusions.

Be confident in your work - to answer tough questions from judges, the team has to own their work. With confidence comes the ability to manage difficult questions.

Do not fear failure – We knew we would either go home with a trophy or with the learning of a lifetime. By keeping this in mind, it is easier to bounce back and compete, one competition at a time.

 

For more information on the John Molson Full-time and Part-time MBA, visit our website. Then connect with a recruiter to ask a question or arrange a one-to-one meeting, or you can participate in one of our many online information sessions.

You can see other posts and videos made by the Case Competition Committee on MBA experiential-learning opportunities, as well as many other posts about our students in the MBA and other graduate business programs at the John Molson Graduate Blog landing page.

 

 
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