Tell us about your most meaningful leadership experience and what role you played. How will that experience contribute to the learning environment at Tuck?

As I sat and listened to my colleagues complain about lack of vision that existed within our team’s vision statement, “why does it say global five times? … I don’t think we want to become a global expert, shouldn’t we already be one?” I recognized the look of defeat on the presenter’s face; the team was having an identity crisis. I raised my hand to volunteer to help and asked if there was anyone else who was passionate about driving the vision forward. The next week the group of five volunteers met for our first discussion.

Though the most junior person in the meeting, I conducted preliminary research to structure my thoughts and contribute to the discussion. I summarized top consulting firms’ mission statements to draw inspiration and conducted interviews with the broader team to identify which elements of our team and work structure should be revamped moving forward. My research and ideas spurred immediate, robust discussion; the discussion was so effective that our CMO proposed we bring formal suggestions of the vision statement to our next meeting.

We settled on a statement that next week, but I knew our agreement didn’t necessitate success; we needed broader adoption across the firm for the vision to be worthwhile. So I suggested two follow-ups: first, developing action items and assigning small-teams to prioritize work streams, ensuring a shift towards our new future state; second, presenting the vision, welcoming open feedback to ensure the larger team was aligned. On the next monthly call, our CMO introduced the new vision to our entire team, welcoming everyone’s feedback. I was excited to see how receptive the team was! I had achieved my goal: by taking action and accounting for all voices, my initiative fostered team consensus on who we wanted to be and what our future held. Establishing a vision that the group could rally around brought us a better sense of purpose. By creating teams to work against each mission step, I drew in employees who otherwise had been disengaged, allowing for a renewed culture and strong sense camaraderie.

This experience will allow me to contribute to Tuck multiple ways. First, I found that no matter my level of seniority, by taking initiative I could solve even the most daunting problems– at Tuck I will always raise my hand when approached by a challenge, proactively problem solving wherever possible. Second, providing a group with a sense of purpose inspires people to care and work harder – at Tuck this will be especially useful as I volunteer to lead clubs such as Net Impact, where understanding who we are and why our work is necessary will inspire top results. And third, incorporating everyone’s point of view before making a decision is important – this will be valuable during programs such as Tuck’s First Year Project where including a diversity of thought will allow for a better final result. This project shaped me into the leader I am today and will allow me to deeply contribute to the Tuck learning experience.