As an 18-year-old high school student in Calgary, Jeremy Gutsche knew what he wanted: four years at a top Eastern Canadian business school, and the chance to run his own company some day.
Then he ran into a force of nature known as "Dr. Bob," and it changed his life.
Dr. Bob is Bob Schulz, legendary University of Calgary business professor, and a boisterous bull in the china shop of business school case-study competitions.
The professor bombarded Mr. Gutsche with reasons to attend U of C - the teachers, potential scholarships, and, above all, the chance to star on his elite case-study teams, which Prof. Schulz coaches with the ferocious intensity of a gridiron tactician.
Thirteen years later, Mr. Gutsche, now a business trends guru and professional speaker, still marvels at the sales blitz: "Bob took a college football approach to recruiting me."
It's a story that has been repeated countless times in Prof. Schulz's 36 years at U of C.
While he is officially a professor of strategy, his great mission is providing a showcase for talented Prairie kids in the small, hotly contested world of case-study competitions.
The teenaged Mr. Gutsche was so overwhelmed, he turned down Queen's University in Ontario, and stayed home to get his commerce degree at U of C's Haskayne School of Business.
He eventually did get to Queen's, as a team member in the Inter-Collegiate Business Competition (ICBC), the Vanier Cup of case-study tournaments, which is held in Kingston each January.
"I put Jeremy in a place where his skills could be well used," says New Jersey-born Mr. Schulz, now 66.
By treating ICBC like a sports contest, Haskayne School has emerged as the New York Yankees of case-study competitions. In the 31-year history of ICBC, Haskayne has won more than twice the number of competitions as its nearest rival, hometown Queen's, and about five times the amount of the next two schools. (Along with the undergrad ICBC, Haskayne also does well in MBA competitions.)
In case-study competitions, teams of two or three students are handed business case studies and told to come up with solutions in 5½ hours, and present them to a panel of expert judges. It tests the ability to absorb, analyze and present complex material at short notice. The tournaments are divided into categories such as finance, marketing, ethics, business policy and debating.
For the ICBC tournament, 150 teams from up to 35 universities try to qualify each fall by submitting written case solutions. From this pool, judges select the top six in each of eight categories to meet head-on in January.
In the finals - where I have served as a judge in the ethics competition - Prof. Schulz is highly focused, often unnerving other coaches and judges who take a more relaxed approach. His teams are remarkably well prepared. Some students receive course credits for taking part.
But the coach insists: "I don't beat the students up. I'm not a yeller, screamer, curser kind of guy." He does like to win, however. At one time, people complained about Haskayne's dominance, Prof. Schulz says. "Some judges said: 'Well, you won last year. Don't you think you should give someone else a chance?' It was kind of the Eastern socialism, I guess."
Yet Dr. Bob, too, seeks to level the playing field. U of C may be far from major recruiters in the East, and its students may lack the big reputations - and polished assurance - of counterparts at Queen's or the Ivey School of Business at University of Western Ontario. But they can still aspire to top jobs by distinguishing themselves in case studies.
