A group of 43 students representing 23 nationalities embarked on a journey called the Leadership Discovery Process (LDP). The LDP happens to be one of the core learning experiences of the Full-Time MBA programme at CBS, during which the students get to identify their own strengths and weaknesses as individuals, as team players and as team leaders through a cognitive learning process that includes self-reflection.
The Leadership Simulator is often referred to as the highlight of the programme, where students get to spend four days and nights in the Swedish forest putting their leadership learning experiences into practice. The key aspect of simulator is that there is no tutor coaching these students on how to lead; the students play the role of a tutor throughout various stressful situations, helping them learn as they go along and strengthening their skills as leaders and team players.
Gomathi Sivasankaran from India is one of the current students who experienced the Leadership Simulator. Having no previous experience relating to any sports activity, including swimming, when she was told to bring a swimsuit for the Leadership Simulator in the Swedish forest earlier this month, she approached her professor and told him that she wouldn’t be doing so. He just told her to “be prepared.”
Gomathi wouldn’t reveal all the details of her leadership experience in the woods but she said that in each activity students would get to play different roles as leaders and/or as team players. “The interesting fact about the role is that the situation keeps us in suspense and what you would do as a leader or a team player to overcome the situation, is a surprise."
“You challenge everything that you tell yourself that you cannot do, that you have no power or knowledge to do,” she continued, “You are going to show yourself what happens when you throw yourself out of your comfort zone. You also get to see how strong you are or weak you are and why. The most important question is ‘Why? What makes you go on or what is pulling you down?'”
Gomathi said she learned to work with her classmates coming from diverse backgrounds and build strong, trusting relationships that helped her in overcoming the challenges: “We learned to understand each other, respect each other and practically live with each other!” Gomathi said.
Gomathi said she decided not to back down from any of the challenges that the leadership simulator experience brought (despite her inability to swim!) and, having built enough trust with her teammates during the previous days, turned to them for help. She had a motivational leader in her team who stepped up to coach her through some of the activities.
“The feedback I received from the class is that I was inspiring,” Gomathi said. Gomathi emerged from the Swedish forest and from the CBS leadership programme as a changed person, with improved self-confidence and a new definition of what a leader really is.
“It’s not possible for any person to have all the knowledge,” Gomathi said. “In a leadership role, you have to understand how to work as a group and, as a leader, you might have to take a step behind and accept the fact that there could be someone in the team who knows how to handle situations better. It’s okay not to know things. The whole point is you have to learn from each other, trust each other and work as a team.”
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