Behind the Scenes at Stanford GSB’s Executive Challenge
Get an exclusive MBA student’s-eye view as a mentor guides her squad through this intense one-day test of leadership skills.
April 01, 2025
Squad 44 (from left): Abiodun Buari, MBA ’19; Jamie Beaton, MBA ’19; Alice Song, MBA ’19; Lauren Humphrey, MBA ’18; Sarah Hoffman, MBA ’19; Thomas Hanley, MBA ’19; and Tyler Willibrand, MBA ’19 | Shaun Roberts
At the end of their first quarter at Stanford GSB, first-year MBA students face alumni and faculty judges in the annual Executive Challenge. Every year since 2007, members of the school community have come together to create an experience that can’t be found anywhere else: Six-person squads, each guided by a second-year Arbuckle Leadership Fellow, pair off to role-play three business cases with three panels of judges. Go behind the scenes as Lauren Humphrey, MBA ’18, coaches one squad through the 2017 Executive Challenge.
Executive Challenge 2017 — By the Numbers
- 418 first-year MBA students
- 70 squads, each headed by a second-year MBA student/Arbuckle Leadership Fellow
- 200 alumni and faculty judges and role-play participants
- 58 case room managers
- 56 additional staff members
Read the full, original story to follow Humphrey and the members of Squad 44 through their day.