The Unwritten Case

If your life were an HBS case study, what would the "Exhibits" forget to mention?

We spend our mornings at Aldrich dissecting the pivots of CEOs and balance sheets of companies. Have you ever realized that you might know more about what used to keep Rob Parson up at night during Morgan Stanley, than about the person sitting three seats away from you? What's behind their "happy to chat" pleasantry?

The Unwritten Case started with a similar realization. It was born out of a reality check outside Aldrich. Gaurang (MBA '26) and Sankalp (MBA '26) had spent their RC year studying cases together in Morris, so they assumed they knew enough about each other's lives. But during an interview exercise in Founder's Mindset last semester, they were forced to ask a set of questions designed to uncover the stories and values that shape how someone leads. Interviewing each other, they were struck by how much had never come up in everyday conversations.

The podcast was born from this simple observation: we are surrounded by future "cases" in our community, yet we rarely pause to hear the stories they're living right now. Since launching last semester, every other week they invite a classmate over, pour a cup of Moroccan tea, and record the conversation we usually don't have time for. This is an ode to the MyTakes tradition, taking those moments of classroom honesty, preserving them beyond the classroom, while trading the formal podium for a couch and a cup of tea.

Moving from "happy to chat" coffee chats with hard stops to a quieter, more human narrative, one of doubt, identity, resilience, and the messy dreams that don't fit into our busy lives at HBS. Each episode, their guests surprise them. The stories that come out over tea are never the ones you'd predict from a LinkedIn profile.

Stop waiting for the case to be published. The people around you are living the most interesting chapters of their stories right now and most of those chapters go unheard. In hearing their stories, you might find a better way to tell your own. Pull up a chair. Find the podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, and all major platforms, or scan the QR code below.

Sankalp Shankar (MBA ‘26) graduated from Shri Ram College of Commerce, with a Bachelor’s in Commerce. Sankalp is passionate about climate technology and impact investing, and worked at Dasra, a non-profit organization in India.