By: Riz Rafi (GMBA '25) May 21, 2024
I experienced many “firsts” throughout CAP. These “firsts” make up the bulk of the knowledge that I gained. I had the opportunity to hone my public speaking and time management skills. I also learned more about how global culture plays a role in business. CAP was an unforgettable holistic learning period which will stay with me not only for the rest of my MBA journey, but also throughout my life.
Working on a consulting project was one of the “firsts” I encountered through CAP. I was apprehensive about consulting because I viewed the work as temporary and surface level. CAP changed my mind. The amount of time and effort put into the work we presented to PwC far exceeded my expectations. Utilizing Friga's TEAM FOCUS framework was an eye opening experience as it was such an effective way to meaningfully organize and convey ideas. Among the other “firsts” was the experience of examining a multifaceted real world business challenge. Previously, as an engineer, I only had experience dealing with technical problems that would arise with products and did not have to consider macroeconomic factors. I mistakenly thought my real-estate themed project with PwC would be narrowly focused. However, diving deeper into the details of the project, our team needed to examine all aspects of Germany's macroeconomic environment in order to find the root of the country’s real estate issues. This was at first overwhelming as I had no idea where to start. My teammates and I were ultimately able to put together a plan to examine the crucial factors impacting the real estate market such as politics and interest rates. Reflecting on the broad range of topics we researched and later presented on, I gained deep understanding far beyond the real estate market and was able to learn how Germany functions as a whole.
In addition, I learned more about Germany’s unique cultural aspects. The first “culture shock” I experienced happened well before traveling to Germany. It was the punctuality expected from my PwC partners. While this was something that was communicated beforehand, the promptness of the partners even during the initial meeting was not something I expected. Oftentimes, the partners showed up earlier than the scheduled meeting times. Since I am not the most punctual person, I had a bit of a learning curve. This experience inspired me to take punctuality more seriously. I will admit that I have made an improvement, but I am still working on perfecting this skill. The Dresden visit was something I was dreading, not due to the location of the cultural experience, but because of the early start time of the visit. I was truly afraid I was going to be late and miss the bus. I set various alarms in order to wake on time and managed to successfully get up with the first alarm! The internal shift of needing to not just be on time, but early, truly worked!
The most important growth I experienced during CAP was improving my public speaking skills. Throughout the semester there were plenty of opportunities for me to hone this skill. I ultimately became much more capable and confident speaking in public due to Dr. Messerli’s targeted feedback regarding my presentational speaking strengths and growth areas. During our final presentation with PwC leadership, I ultimately was in command of the content I was presenting on and confident enough to take the lead on answering questions during the Q&A session. CAP's emphasis on presentations helped me gain an essential skill for post-grad.
Overall, CAP has been a journey for me. It was the defining reason as to why I decided to attend GW. CAP far exceeded my expectations. What I assumed to be a minor project with a company in a different country turned out to be much more. CAP not only allowed me to grow as a person, but also understand the true meaning of globalization in business.
