After a nutritious breakfast and the typical morning debrief, the Summer@INSEAD participants prepped diligently for an interview with the BBC concerning the development of their new management strategy for Maywood Cycles. When each team walked into their respective interview room, they were faced with another challenge: journalists who were slightly more hostile than what participants had expected, and who asked more probing questions than they were prepared for.
It was a challenging lesson about handling the media, but the INSEAD students did remarkably well throughout it all, maintaining their composure and calm!
It was an extremely busy morning, but was also very enjoyable and rewarding. Once each team had finished their interview, they got to participate in making the next group’s interview equally difficult by instigating a certain dose of unrest. The counsellors also enjoyed themselves tremendously by partaking in the creation of the latter and by playing the detestable reporters.
The interviews were followed by lunch, which in turn was followed by another role-play activity. Groups had to present their bicycle company to many different people and personalities at a bike fair, convincing them to adopt or invest in Maywood Cycles. People shuttled incessantly between break-out rooms, watching presentations and even sometimes making deals with the management teams.
It was an exhausting few hours, but the day was still far from over… After the bike fair, there was a lecture by the ThinkSmart team, in which we were taught how to ask questions effectively: How to ask for a job, a raise, or even a loan.
Then we all headed to a well-deserved dinner, after which we trooped back into AmphiB to hear more about what we would be doing the next day. To finish off the day, the students were released to continue work on their YFCD projects or to enjoy some leisure time with their INSEAD friends before another good night’s sleep.