Case Discussions
The dam has broken and all inhibitions have been thrown out the window. This is the second full day of the course and already it's hard to keep students from not expressing their thoughts. Contrast this to the first day when there was still a lot of hesitation and Prof. Das had to resort to a few class management techiniques every now and then. By now I have also fully embraced the idea of participating actively and I have to plead guilty for being one of those who refused to be shushed. But still the professors are still gently allowing the students to become even more comfortable with the case discussion method; I expect that as the cases become more challenging it won't be as easy anymore.
I am really beginning to like the case discussions. Just when you think that you've figured out the case, some bright boy from across the room would throw a completely novel thought that would turn the case on its head. And because of this, the discussion takes on an entirely unexpected but highly productive stream. I have no doubt in my mind that I am in the company of intellectual gods, who despite being immensely succesful in their corporate careers have shed their cloak of corporate invincibility and are slugging it out with the rest of us. These individuals are either global CEO's, owners of global company chains or at the very least senior officers of their respective corporations. The humility and the commitment to learning simply astounds me.
Of couse, I should not forget to describe the unparalleled quality of our professors. Being in our first week, Prof. Das, who is also the Chair of the Advanced Management Program, gave all his faculty members at least one slot each in this week's cases. Hence, you see our Finance or Operations or Strategy professors tackling a case that is completely out of his / her field of expertise. Yet they pull it off with such aplomb that you have to remind yourself that this is not their field of expertise. This only underscores the level of intellectual fire power that the professors and Harvard as a whole has tucked within its hallowed academic walls.
Course Content
That being said, we are still way off from completing our journey. We have not even touched the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Just to give you a flavor, I've listed the subjects that we will be covering during the course of the program.
- General Management
- Accounting & Finance
- Negotiations
- Financial Management
- Leadership in Organizations
- Leadership and Corporate Accountability
- Strategy
- Marketing
- Competitive Advantage Through Operations
- Business Governement and International Economy
To be honest, I'm not quite sure how this can be tackled in the context of a case discussion but I'm sure our professors in Harvard have figured this out.
In the meantime, I'll have to go to my class!
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| Each AMP participant's flag proudly displayed in Harvard's Case Discussion Room |
