Q1 exams - Swimming in a sea of 'constructive ambiguity'

Those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach. Those who can’t teach, teach physical education.

(Woody Allen)



I survived my first Darden exams. To know how well I did, we’ll have to wait for another couple of weeks. But discussing whether I got that net present value right in DA (I doubt it, as I could hear the voice of Anton, my DA faculty and the usual “hmm… ok” he reserves for plain wrong answers), or nailed that capacity calculation in Operations (no doubt here: my calculations showed that my company could produce way too many printed circuits boards - and no, I still have no idea what they are), is not interesting. Nor would it be interesting to describe my accounting exam trial balance sheet (it didn’t balance, even after applying some form of ‘creative accounting’). It’s what I learned taking those exams that matters the most to me.


First of all, ladies and gentlemen, I did learn a great deal in my first quarter at Darden. I know that learning should be a predictable consequence of attending a top school, but you don’t always get the impression that you did, in fact, learn while preparing for exams. In reviewing my notes I realized that in some instances I couldn’t remember what some cases were about. Sometimes, I didn’t even remember that having read a case on that specific company. And I am not that old!


With Case Method, this phenomenon is normal. As the ‘100 Case Party’ of last Friday reminded us, we did, in fact, prepare more than a hundred cases. So one (normal person, again, not too old) loses the details, and sometimes sadly, even main points. But while I was sitting quietly in my room, making sense of the exam cases, I could actually think of a great number of ideas, solutions and (a miracle!) I was even mastering some helpful techniques, techniques that were completely foreign to me when I started Darden. Also, I became quick, much quicker. Suddenly, having had to work on hundreds of spreadsheets, the long hours, the frustration, the uneasiness were payout out for me.


Another thing that drove me crazy in some of the class discussions is the notion that there is no right or wrong solution for a case. Here we learn that there is an array of solutions, some better than others. They call it ‘constructive ambiguity’. The first time I heard that expression, I didn’t like it too much. Where I come from, there is a Right and a Wrong, and the faculty kindly lights the way. Here, faculty engages students in endless discussions and after some classes I wondered what I actually learned. The answer is that you learn how to think, and which tools can make you more effective. So while writing exams, I wasn’t too worried about getting it right, as my main priority was that of making a logical and sound reasoning. I am now swimming (still floating...) in a sea of 'constructive ambiguity'.


The last thing is the realization that this program is teaching us not only to reflect, but also to act. A sound analysis is only useful if associated to an action plan. So maybe Woody was right after all, those who can, do. And I hope that, seven quarters from now, I will be in a good position to put all this learning into practice.