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Executive challenge,
[NOISE] >> Today it's all
about building skills and building relationships.
Big part of what the GSB experience is about.
I want to thank you for being here and participating.
>> It's executive challenge day.
>> Yay. >> It's very early,
this is the earliest I've ever woken up in a very long time.
I used to work in tech, super early so I need some coffee but
I think I'm feeling pretty good.
>> I have walked in with a bunch of students today and
you could tell they were >> Excited but also a little tense.
>> I love interacting with the students it almost feels like I'm a student myself.
>> We worked very hard throughout the semester so
it's really good to really put all our lessons in practice and
see how far we've progressed on our learning goals.
>> I don't care if they win I'm just very,
very happy to be there but obviously we'll try to win.
>> We all went skydiving a few weeks ago, and
now we're hoping to take it to the next level.
>> I'm excited to see these young people answer these kinds of questions
under enormous pressure.
>> I'm a little nervous, so that's kind of the fun part, right?
The alumni are here and you get to increase the stakes a little bit and
make it more like a real-world situation.
>> I think the best part really is to dress up.
And to see the rest of our classmates dress up take this thing as
very seriously yet all having a great time.
>> This morning when I wake at first I was afraid.
I was petrified actually.
>> I grew and I learned how to get along yeah.
>> Well that's the plan is to kill it yeah.
>> I'm here to be inspired by the future leaders of America.
>> Our squad is getting pumped up.
We're listening to some music and having a good time so we're just excited to take
what we learned this quarter and just have a good time together.
>> I have been exposed to circumstances similar to what the case describes.
So I think that I will be able to reflect with them on what worked for me and
what didn't work, and which were the positives and which were the negatives.
>> This is my first time at the Exec challenge, and
I'm really looking forward to seeing what it's all about.
>> To get a perspective on what the young people are thinking about,
how they're viewing the world, how they're thinking about business.
>> Execs is really pushing ourselves to be the leaders that we want to be.
To really come out of our comfort zones, to kind of try different leadership
styles, and to be more firm and robust in how we approach situations.
>> Today in the executive challenge we are going to be facing off against alumni.
>> And what I noticed every time I came here was the terrific variation in the way
the students do the same case and it's fun.
It's just great fun to watch them think, to watch them process,
to watch them react, watch them learn, I love that.
>> I'm in charge of scoring so
I'll be off in a little room with a computer doing spreadsheets.
>> Kind of straight out of the gate, our initial plan got a wrench thrown into it.
So it was really fun to have to react to that on the spot.
>> My goodness I think it;s going terrific.
The quality of the students is going phenomenal.
They keep getting better every year, and I've realized today,
I could never get into this school when I did years ago and
I'm just delighted to be here and part of this day.
>> I think we worked really well as a team.
I think that the way we split the roles and
they way we were able to work together and really be a unified front in light of
everyone's reaction and deliberately kind of trying to make the situation difficult
kind of held up the whole time and I think that that will pull us through.
>> From the judges really getting into the roles to
like citizens really changing a little bit the rules of the game.
So I think that it's just overall pretty nice and fun.
There is nothing like live action to
bring home the message that business is a participatory sport.
>> One lady was just incredibly talkative and combative, and so
I was trying to ignore her at the beginning.
And then that didn't work out so well.
And then I was trying to kind of lead other people to believe that she was just
being foolish and not following like kind of basic reasoning and
I guess that didn't work out so well either.
>> I'm having a blast.
It's really fun to see these talented students jump into it and
really take the challenge.
And we're pushing them hard and they're pushing back.
Just what we wanted to see.
>> On the one end you could tell that these guys were coming with
like 20 plus years of experience.
And their feedback was based on that, but it was also very individual for us.
>> And it came from a place of trying to engender real learning.
>> I really enjoy trying to give feedback based on all my years of experience
of being a CEO.
And they're listening really well cause we're
asking them to repeat some of the things that they're hearing.
And they're hearing them so that's terrific.
>> Everything went well, feel good after the fact definitely.
>> Yeah I think of this as one of the very kind of unique
programs that the school does that involves the alumni but
also provides a great opportunity for the student as well as the alumni at learning.
>> One, Executive Challenge.
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