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Strategy under pressure

Dean’s Cup

Four compressed strategy engagements where the real test was not ideation—it was choosing, structuring and defending a recommendation quickly.

Top 6overall finish
4strategy rounds
1team captain

The work

Cases spanned integration strategy, regulated AI governance, operating-model choices and implementation planning, including work for RBC, Accenture and Optimus SBR.

How I led

I kept the team focused on the decision the page had to support, surfaced assumptions early and pushed for recommendations that could withstand executive questions rather than simply look polished.

What this tested

The competition compressed research, quantitative reasoning, story structure, slide design, delegation and live presentation into short windows. That made prioritization visible: what matters, what does not, and what evidence is enough to move.

The takeaway

Speed is not the opposite of rigor. Under time pressure, structure matters more: define the decision, isolate the variables that can change it, and show the trade-off clearly.

What a recruiter can inspect

  • Case framing and recommendation logic
  • Team workstream coordination
  • Executive slide narrative
  • Quantitative and qualitative synthesis
  • Live pitch and Q&A