The In-Company Brief — Win the Aratu Custom Program at Cumeeira

A four-round, advanced executive-education simulation set inside Cumeeira Educação Executiva, the custom (in-company) solutions unit of a leading Brazilian business school (Nova Lima, Minas Gerais; BRL 96M FY2025 revenue, 34% contribution margin, 140 affiliated faculty). Siderúrgica Aratu S.A., a BRL 14B steelmaker and an anchor account worth BRL 11M/year, issues a hard RFP: a 'leadership development program' for 180 senior and middle managers, a fixed all-in budget of BRL 4.2M (≈BRL 23,300/participant), and a launch in five months — against a low-cost local rival quoting BRL 2.5M and a global school quoting BRL 5.8M for an off-the-shelf brand-name program. But the discovery call reveals the real problem: a stalling operational transformation, disengaged middle managers, and two safety incidents traced to weak frontline leadership. The program the client asked for is not the program it needs. Playing the Custom Programs Director, you (1) read the brief and separate the stated request from the underlying business challenge — diagnosis before design, in the CHRO's language and metrics, with the courage to re-contract the conversation; (2) architect a blended learning journey (immersive in-person, action-learning on real Aratu problems, peer coaching, digital reinforcement) where every component is justified against the diagnosis and tied to behaviour and business KPIs, not satisfaction; (3) build the cost stack and contribution margin inside the BRL 4.2M ceiling and 30% margin floor, making honest trade-offs and framing value against the BRL 2.5M and BRL 5.8M competitors rather than capitulating on price; and (4) absorb Round-4 curveballs (a 12% procurement price-cut demand, +40 participants to 220 within the same budget, lead faculty dropping to 50%) and pitch business outcomes — not features — to the CHRO. The math rewards diagnosis-led, margin-aware, outcome-framed design and punishes the five classic errors — designing to the literal brief, never reframing, margin-blind architecture, price capitulation, and feature-pitching. Final KPIs track Diagnosis Fit, Design Fit, Projected Business Impact, and Contribution Margin against the 30% floor.