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Spotlight MBA student Brent Morgan fields tough questions at a mock news conference as part of the Ross School's Leadership Crisis Challenge. Crisis Managers MBA students test their ability to stay cool in a crisis in a realistic role- playing competition at the University of Michigan. If MBA students must learn to handle crises with grace, it makes sense to give them a true-to-life crisis to handle. That was the reasoning behind the Leadership Crisis Challenge at the Ross School of Business at the Uni- versity of Michigan in Ann Arbor. The first of its kind at the Ross School, the challenge was conducted in January by the Ross Leadership Initiative (RLI), a two-year series of activities that supplement the school's MBA curriculum. In the challenge, students assumed roles at Pharmtek, a fic- tional pharmaceutical company in the midst of a public relations melt- down. Gentab, one of Pharmtek's subcontractors in Hyderabad, India, has been charged with contaminating the local water supply with mercury, causing illnesses and three deaths. Although no evidence has linked the spill to Gentab, the Indian govern- ment has shut the facility down for investigation, halting production of Maladone, Pharmek's widely used anti-malaria drug. Students were placed in 12 teams of four; on each team, stu- dents assumed the roles of the company's general counsel, region- al VP of operations, regional VP of sales, or environmental health and safety officer. At 10 p.m., the teams held emergency meetings to study the data and plan their responses, while RLI staff bombarded them 72 BizEd MAY/JUNE 2008 "THE CRISIS CHALLENGE IS A CHANCE FOR OUR MBAS TO EXERCISE BOTH JUDGMENT AND LEADERSHIP IN A 'SAFE' ENVIRONMENT." —Sue Ashford, associate dean with memos, updates, and financial alerts. At 8 the next morning, each team attended a mock press conference where its members fended off a vol- ley of daunting questions—from "Does Pharmek take responsibility for the mercury spill?" to "Why were you outsourcing Maladone production to India in the first place?" Ross professors, executives, and real-life professional journalists wielding microphones and cameras played the roles of persistent report- ers, angry NGO representatives, and agitated stockholders. Ralph Bahna, a UM alum and chairman of Priceline.com, played one of the questioners. He notes that authentically presented experi- ences such as the Crisis Challenge teach students to communicate the facts, uphold their company's repu- tations, and shape their messages carefully under pressure. "The mes- sage should be 'We are the cure for malaria globally,' not 'We are the killer of people locally,'" says Bahna. "In most crisis situations, it is criti- cal that you take the offensive. You cannot move from fear." After their conferences, teams met with a communications expert to review their presentations and performances, right down to their clothes, speech patterns, and body language. Students learned to eliminate unnecessary gestures and verbal stuttering, speak with confidence, maintain eye contact, and never, ever lie. Students David Cieminis, Anurag Gupta, Shally Madan, and Brent Morgan won the competition—and the $2,000 team prize. The Crisis Challenge reflects the type of experiences MBAs need to prepare for the fast pace of real- world problems, says Sue Ashford, associate dean for leadership pro- gramming and director of RLI. "Judgment and leadership are quali- ties best learned by experience. But experience can be costly and quite painful," she says. "The Crisis Chal- lenge is a chance for our MBAs to exercise both judgment and leader- ship in a 'safe' environment." ■ z