Ferdinand Skaugerum

"A: If you’re curious, get engaged. B: If you’re not curious, get curios, then apply A."

When were you an active case student at BI and at which campus?
2014–2016, BI Oslo

Why did you decide to join BI’s case activities?
I had been interested in casework since Day 1 at BI. I met a case student in the buddy week and was thrilled by the thought of competing in solving business cases. No other platform lets you combine knowledge, group work, presentation skills and stress handling like casework. When the BICC started up, I was first in line.

What was the name of your case team and how did you find your teammates?
I competed with several different teams, and unfortunately, I don’t remember any of the team names 🙈 I remember all the names of the team members, though! I recruited several of the members from my study program to the BICC, so some of them I found in my class, others I met in the case club.

Did you have a specific role on your team?
I’m a generalist and liked to take different roles, depending on the preference of my team players.

Which case competitions did you take part in?
KPMG, SDS New Zealand 2015, BIICC 2016

What is your best memory from your case journey at BI?
The Crazy Case challenge in SDS – the most hilarious case experience I’ve ever had! And of course, the honour of representing BI in the first BIICC – that was grand.

What are your top three takeaways from case training and competitions

1. Like-minded people think alike, diverse-minded people find better solutions.
2. It’s better to fail in case training and competitions than in your first (or second) job – use the opportunity for what it’s worth!
3. In between all the hard work and high pressure, remember to bond with your peers and have fun!

(Four: Never skip practising your presentation)

What skills did you learn from participating in case which were relevant to your development/career and how?

• Time and stress management, for sure. Calendars become busy, and the ability to prioritize, manage different and often complex tasks is key in my job. Case competition experience made this a lot easier to handle.
• Think on my feet and present my ideas in a logical and structured way. Whenever I give a talk in the company, whether it’s for the department, the senior management or the entire company, there’s often a Q&A session, either during or after the presentation. But they’re never as frightening as the ones in a case comp.
• BPAB – Bullet Points Are Boring, Svein Lund. The power of conceptual slides and storytelling should not be underestimated. Whether it’s quarterly reports or a pitch for a new line of business, humans like stories, and also remember stories better than bullet points. I often combine a story-based slide deck with drawing on a (virtual) white board to catch my listeners' attention even more. What about trying that in your next case comp?

Do you have any advice to students who are curious about case?

a)       If you’re curious, get engaged.
b)      If you’re not curious, get curios, then apply A.