The CP phobia

Its 6:30 in the morning and there seems nothing interesting to study. Past few days have been really lazy with average sleep time peaking again.
So CP phobia. This is the fear of being asked to put some "valuable insights" during a case discussion in class. This fear generally aggravates in courses with a higher proportion of theoretical/mandatory globe (obviously the "observed/practical globe" is much more and thereby it does not differentiate between courses). There is a predetermined weightage of CP in these type of courses.
So, that was the general description and background about CP. Now coming to the practical aspects and the mechanism of CP and its phobia. Lets take some course to illustrate the mechanism and what would be more fitting than Strategic Management (my favorite for intellectual sarcasm). We are required to read a case for each class (a different one each time!) . Cases, typically, elaborate the golden or stoney (phew!...i mean opposite of golden, the internet tells me curst and unpropitious as close antonyms) history of some global organization. The discussion starts with some aspect of the organizations action being discussed and we are supposed to score on the CP front by telling the professor some points about the aspect. It basically turns out an exercise of "summary preparation in group".
And then comes the all important part. Now those who haven't pitched in are randomly "caught" and asked to comment in some way or the other. But the problem is that now most of the discussion points have been exhausted and the person has to rely on his/her ability to put in a "random speech" with some valuable insights so that it is as close to the topic being discussed as possible. To illustrate this situation of "forcibly asked for useless talk" I have one personal example :)
The case for the day was on Apple Inc. It was basically about the numerous turnarounds that Apple had gone through with CEOs being replaced like national football coaches. Our group was one of the three to come prepared with the presentation and we were the unlucky ones. The presentation went for about half an hour with me mutely nodding my head through the whole of it (just to appear as if I also contributed in the ppt preparation). Post ppt, the professor put in his precious insights and it was about time for the class to end. But with just ten minutes remaining the prof wanted us to rate the various CEOs that Apple had seen over the years. And that was it. Although I had read the case but wasn't in a position to comment which one of the CEO did a good job and which one didn't. The prof paused for a while and then looked around for the members of the group who presented the case and I was the obvious target as I was the least vocal during the ppt (least= nil). And there I was, stumped while defending the ball. But then you have this liberty in MBA to talk uselessly for as much as you like and still manage appreciation. I described the characteristics of the CEOs and concluded that each one did his best based on his competency and I am not sure which was the best. No appreciations for that, but at least I passed on the ball. The prof reacted saying "He got away telling the story".

The Phobia Unleashed
This was the story as it went. But then where's the phobia. The phobia arises when you do not have this expertise to gather a random collection of sentences based on the case facts and to present them as if you have discovered/resolved the mystery behind the black holes.
This phobia is directly proportional to:

• Lack of GK
  
• yes GK! So that you can play around with some coll facts to support your theory of "black holes"
• Ability to think logically
• thus the more logical you are the more you are prone to this phobia
• Understanding of the fundamentals
• there's no point in the useless talk that happens if the fundamentals are clear.

That's it for now. May be will add to this one sometime latter.