The competition was launched in 2002 as a joint collaboration between the Aspen Institute’s Initiative for Social Innovation through Business and JPMorgan Chase, the firm where Mr. Walter V. Shipley dedicated more than four decades of his career exemplifying ethical leadership. In 1999 when Mr. Shipley retired as Chairman of the Board of The Chase Manhattan Corporation and The Chase Manhattan Bank, the firm decided to implement the competition in memory of Mr. Shipley’s service and commitment to ethical leadership. Indeed, one of the highlights of the case competition is the opportunity for the teams to meet Mr. Shipley, who serves as one of the judges of the competition. Columbia MBA team: Sara Batterton ’07, Laurent Jabre ’06, Kirsten Muetzel ’06, Eric Nadzo ’06 and Andrea Turner ’07. Each year’s competition uses a newly developed case that integrates the lessons learned in the core curriculum of the MBA program with the social, cultural, environmental and governance challenges that business leaders face in today’s corporate context. The experience was distinct from many business school projects. First, the pressures involved with a case competition are somewhat different from those with a standard class presentation. For the Shipley Competition, we were given the case at 4:00 pm on a Friday afternoon, and we were required to submit a six-page analysis and recommendation by Monday at 10:00 am. While this sort of time pressure may seem reminiscent of many business school projects, none of those projects had a final reward prize of $20,000. Granted, no one on our team seemed propelled merely by the prize money (after all, this is a competition focused on leadership and ethics); however, the prize money did lend a different element to the team’s inspiration. Second, it was a unique opportunity at Business School to present your ideas to the individuals who were involved in the decision-making process. With the Shipley Competition, we were not writing a report for a grade: we were writing a Management Committee proposal to be read by one of the most prominent CEOs who worked on Wall Street, as well as the CEO who was faced with making the decision that we as a team were debating. Our task was to present our ideas, and defend them, against experts’ opinions on the matter. During the case competition, our team rose to the challenge of answering questions posed to us by the two case writers, who were intimately familiar with the case details and the implications of our decisions. In addition, this took place in front of an audience, and the session was also video taped. Finally, as a participant in the Shipley Competition, Columbia Business School is highly supportive of the team’s efforts. Harriet Wagman and her team in the Samberg Institute for Teaching Excellence work tirelessly to provide the best learning experience for each participating team. In fact, one of the best professional development experiences I found during the competition was that our team had the benefit of working with an outside consultant, Bill Carden, on developing our presentation skills (both PowerPoint and public speaking). Our team would like to thank Aspen Institute and JP Morgan for allowing us this opportunity; Harriet Wagman, her team, and Bill Carden’s exceptional dedication in helping us prepare for the presentation. If you have the chance to participate in a case competition while at school, I highly recommend it. The Walter V. Shipley Competition is held annually in the Spring semester. If you have questions about participating in the upcoming competition, contact Harriet Wagman at hw83columbia.edu. For a student’s perspective, please contact Andrea Turner ’07 or Sara Batterton ’07, who were my Columbia Business School teammates in the 2006 Competition. Related link: Press release.