Carissa Geneviene Gunawan, Alumni Sistem Informasi Binusian 2016

International competitions have allowed me to have a transformative educational experience by bringing together personal knowledge, coach’s expertise, and the spirit to not fear of failures I endured before I tasted victory.

If people see the trophy as victory, I see the trophy as the symbol to my long journey. Seriously long enough that I prefer to sum it up to you in above paragraph rather than breaking down the whole things in one article. This article will tell you many things, but one thing I hope of you to remember if you want to compete in business case competition, is this: “It’s all trial and error for me, therefore don’t ever feel bad for yourself if you don’t achieve what you want in the beginnings, when you failed, find what you’re bad at as well as good at, even if it’s only one thing, work from what you already have in you, less exhausting yet truly rewarding. Please work your way to the top in a smart manner.”

I’ve been joining Information Systems Case Study Club (ISCSC in short) since my very first semester of college life. The club wasn’t much of a buzz that time, yet I believe on Mr. Jingga’s kindness along with his vision for the club. Unlike other club, ISCSC don’t do much marketing to attract new Binusian, it was simply poster spread online. Back in 2012, selection to join the club also differed in comparison to most other club, you need to solve a case study and present as if you’re a real world consultant (they did give us one training on how to solve case before though). I also love what I did with the club, which is continuously the same, try to solve a case study. This way I just sit, read the usually you-need-to-pay case studies from Ivey Publishing  and then try to arrange the right strategy to solve the problem. When I found things in classes way to theoretical, I simply ran through case study distributed from the club and I can find endless practical knowledge, moreover, Mr. Jingga usually have the answer to the problem. Discussion with him has always been rich and fruitful. I learned how to solve Louis Vuitton case against phony branding issue in China, what to do when an IT project stopped in the middle, solve how to recommend the most beneficial outsourcing solution to a company, basically, the list are endless!

Those times spent with countless case study solving and presentation training is without a doubt should yield to a trophy for the club, those are the times I was paired with other club members to compete. I would like to emphasize on this point, how I failed miserably many times over and over. However, during those moment where our team failed, we have always got the support system from IS Laboratory, sometimes Mr. Jingga or Mr. Ferdi will accompany us to the competitions, they help comforting & motivating us, all the while giving insight based on our presentation on why we lose, comparing us with the winners on what we are lacked of since as coach, they can watch all participant’s competition. On this point, do remember, to respect everyone, never in my competition journey, I found a person know less than I do, there will always be a person know more than you do, your coaches, judges, case makers, opponents, even audiences.

Even one time I was lost to a junior of mine, their team was consisted of accounting students, while my team was consisted of no accounting student. The judge was critical with the budget section of our solution, therefore, we are doomed. So respect and never underestimate anyone. In the world of competition, one time they are your opponent, the next time they could be your team mates. Your coaches also integral to your success. Great coach will guide you not only until you compete, but even after you finish the competition. Great coach will give you suggestions on where to improve based on your performance, they will criticize you, but if you can truly take what’s essential, you will significantly improve. Judges can improve you a lot as well, this one was taught by my dear team mates, Wieda, who has more experiences in competition than me (and she is 2 years younger than me), therefore it is very suggested to talk with judges after the competition, try to find why you lose, or if you win, try to gain feedback, they will always have something to say.

Last, but not least, keep on trying, if you fail so what, shame on you yes, but you don’t lose anything else (since 2012, all my registration fee have always been waived, transportation also backed up by the club, but the policy might have changed now due to high volume of members in ISCSC and also to have them compete more seriously). If it’s real world, where you are real consultant giving advice to real companies and you are wrong, you might cause billion dollar lost, bankruptcy, increasing employee turnover, losing customer, lost in court, you named it. This is your training ground before you face that cruel world of business. What I love most from my whole journey in BINUS & competing all the way, was how I met awesome coaches that I believe will be with me not only during my study but also after my study, to be able to discuss crazy idea and have it debated by various of people, know your strengths, accept your weaknesses and rely for your team mates to fill in your weaknesses.

This is a tough world, I was a very squishy person, and the whole journey shape me, mind, body, and soul to a completely different yet better direction. It has been a truly transformative educational experience. If you are a new binusian, I completely want to switch side with you to relive all this journey over again, kindly contact me at Carissabinus@gmail.com