Describe a situation taken from school, business, civil or military life, where you did not meet your personal objectives, and discuss briefly the effect.

Sample One

I am a person that works hard to excel - I excelled in my professional career, my Masters degree where I graduated Cum Laude, and my primary education where I was a top performer. However, even when I knew that my undergraduate performance would be important for my future; my scores were below my expectations.

When I finished school my confidence was undermined by this experience - I was accustomed to being a top performer, so these bad results forced me to enter a decisive moment in my life.

I first attempted to understand the issue - I performed a self-assessment and I realized that my lack of focus and my lack of maturity have been the key problems. I decided the most important thing was to rebuild my confidence - I set a new goal, to do a master and excel in it.

I developed a tight schedule for the next 18 months to ensure I would dedicate sufficient time to study. I set goals for each trimester to regain confidence and track my progress. To ensure 100% focus, I only studied at the library. Additionally, I based all projects on my family's business; something that really interested me. I executed my plan, and in the end graduated Cum Laude.

This was the first step to build my perseverance. What I learned helped me to start my own business, identify and complete a three-year turn-around for an important brand at House Goods, and make a major change in the marketing and sales organization for Computer Tech Canada.

Sample Two

It was my first opportunity to run a project as a manager in the business development group at HIP magazine. I was thrilled about the opportunity to launch a microsite for our new sub brand and immediately wrote up the outcome I was seeking and some steps I felt the team needed to take in order to accomplish a successful launch. Though I had little technical experience, I was confident I knew exactly how we could accomplish our goals.

At the first meeting of the ME microsite team I laid out my goals for the team and started assigning people to next steps. While the atmosphere in the room was subdued, I felt good about the proactive direction I was leading the team. In our next meeting I asked for updates and noticed that every member of the team was presenting what I perceived as excuses for their lack of progress. I was upset about the lack of progress, and asked the team why the project was slipping behind schedule. Everyone had a different issue and the meeting ended without resolution.

I was frustrated and upset that my first project management job seemed to be failing already. I met with my boss during our weekly meeting and told him about the issues. His response was to suggest that my job was not to lay out every next step for the technical team, especially with my lack of technical knowledge, but rather to communicate my vision. I realized I had been too focused on the details of execution, and had failed to rally the team behind a bigger picture goal.

At our next meeting I left my spreadsheet of next steps in my office and spent the time communicating three key messages: 1. The microsite needed to engage the consumer and increase time spent for the website, 2. I wanted the microsite to reflect the most user-friendly design possible and 3. The microsite needed to comply with our HIP brand guidelines. I then told the team that I trusted their expertise in the execution and I was available to help them with resources and ideas if needed.

My new approach paid off and our HIP microsite launched at our deadline and under budget. Most importantly, the site accomplished all of my goals and was a key traffic driver for the overall site for the year.

Sample Three

It was my first opportunity to manage an employee and I was enthusiastic to be the best possible boss. Rob was hired into our team as an analyst and he reported directly to me on a project where I was the senior analyst functioning nearly at associate level. Personally, I perform best when given the goal of the project and then limited guidance about how to achieve the outcome. I decided to apply this approach to Rob, and told him what I wanted out of the analysis we were performing. Then I spent my time on my own due diligence and deciding what the recommendation would be on the investment opportunity. I checked in with Rob every day to see if he had questions, which I did my best to answer. At the end of the two-week period allotted for the analysis, Rob delivered the final product and it was completely wrong. He had entered several incorrect calculations, made a few minor mistakes and used the wrong format for the spreadsheet. It was a disaster and I panicked with a presentation in only a few hours. I didn’t have the time to show Rob the errors, so I had to correct everything myself as I also finalized my own work. In the end we were able to present our recommendations, but the experience taught me that empowering an employee did not mean abandoning him. I was lucky enough to work with Rob again, and I took a more hands-on approach. By checking his work every few days I was able to make minor suggestions that led to a smooth completion of his project.

Sample Four

As a senior in college, about to graduate with a degree in Russian Literature, I had a difficult time deciding what to do with my life. My mother had a successful career as a high school English teacher, and encouraged me to investigate teaching. I decided to apply for Teach for America. I was placed in a school in the Bronx, teaching fifth-graders Science. I felt no passion for the subject, and the requirements of applying discipline drained me every day. After several months of struggling with my job, I discussed the situation with my principal. She was sympathetic, but then started to tell others at the school that I was not dedicated. During a review she told me that I was not performing at an acceptable level and needed to improve. The situation felt bleak, and I decided to quit teaching and move back home to decide what to do next. Abandoning the TFA program before my committed two-year period made me feel like a failure. After a period of contemplation I decided that my next professional decision needed to be extremely deliberate. I spent time evaluating all of my skills and passions and decided that my passion was in the field of publishing. I started by working at a large publishing house as an assistant assisting with the translation of works of Russian literature into English. My career since then has led to a position developing our presses internationally, and I recently spent six months in the Ukraine training the new employees of that office. While I regret that I did not uphold my commitment to Teach for America, as a result I was forced to consider what I truly want to do. Now I am ready to commit my career to publishing, and my INSEAD MBA is the next step to learn how to develop and operate new frontiers in the field.