Describe an impact you've had on a team, group or organization. How has this experiences been valuable to you or others, and what did you learn?

Sample One

Throughout my years at the University of Florida’s School of Architecture, I was very involved with the UF Design Build Team, a student initiated program that revamps low-income neighborhoods through design and construction. Specifically, I was engaged in the overhaul development of the 12,000 square feet Eastside Community Garden. I first became involved with this project during my research for nonprofit development in Gainesville’s Chinatown district. Upon speaking to the local residents, I learned that the garden, due to its perilous condition, had become a focal point for drug dealings and prostitution. I felt strongly that an improved community garden would create tremendous impact on this group of district residents and decided to initiate a program that could revitalize this land.

I was excited to take on this project, but also acknowledged the enormous challenges ahead. In addition to the site’s grand scale and steep landscape, I had never assembled such a large group of volunteers for these types of tasks. Accordingly, my first priorities were to demonstrate sufficient community benefits for the Chinatown residents and secure funding for the project. To address these challenges, I created a video proposal based on conversations with the local residents and drafted a report outlining the green benefits for urban communities. After presenting these findings along with intense lobbying, the diligence led to $30K in grant funding from the City’s Department of Neighborhood. I then shifted my focus to recruiting and mobilizing the volunteer teams and decided to first assemble a core leadership group of graduate students and faculty. Motivated by the potential impacts of this project, the core team successfully recruited 25 student volunteers.

I soon realized, however, that the most difficult part in directing a large group of designers was providing a unified perspective and instilling a common value. During the planning discussions, students enthusiastically shared their individual visions, but the group struggled to effectively assemble an integrated solution. At one point, a dialogue about improving the community turned into a heated debate as students begun trading criticisms about each other’s designs. Recognizing that we lacked a unified vision, I decided to organize a community presentation with the local Chinatown residents and facilitate a dialogue that could enable them to express their excitement for the community garden project. Through these interactions, students began to understand that our core objective was not to exercise individual skills, but rather to assist this deprived neighborhood in unity. Thereafter, the group became highly motivated, efficiently came to consensus on the master plan, and slowly sculpted the once rough landscape into an accessible garden space. The renovated Eastside International Garden vibrantly serves more than 150 residents today.

From this experience, I learned that successful leadership not only values individual talents, but also instills a common vision that unifies diversity. Although the students each had preconceived visions about the garden, my management team was able to unite the group’s spirit through revealing the underlying values of this task. This experience also positively impacted many volunteers and inspired them to revitalize other deprived neighborhoods. I am now ready to make an even bigger impact and hope to continue seeking leadership opportunities with the active student body of the Wharton community.

Sample Two

When I was first hired as COO of Kids Street, a location based family entertainment center with 50 employees and gross revenues of approximately $2.5 million per year, our six-month old flagship location was losing $35K per month. Because I had no prior operating or managerial experiences, I was quite apprehensive. I was given complete control over purchasing, marketing, payroll, and customer service, and I discovered that I have the ability to inspire and lead.

My first step was to rely on what I knew best—finance. Drawing on my experience as an investment banker, I identified the “low hanging fruit” through careful analysis of the stores’ financial statements. I developed two broad financial objectives: 1) boost revenues by increasing general admission and class enrollment; and, 2) cut costs by reducing payroll, maintenance, and food expenditures.

One of my first leadership lessons was that I could not accomplish these goals alone. I wanted to lead by example and inspire my employees by demonstrating I was not just a leader but also a team player. So, during the first few weeks, I rotated through the various jobs and learned the business from the ground up. I worked at the cashier’s station, cleaned the classrooms, stocked the supply room and made cold calls to attract new customers. Then, I identified and appointed two talented lieutenants to help me implement the changes I felt were necessary. Another important lesson I learned about leadership was how crucial it is to earn my employees’ trust. Drawing from my experience at my previous employer, Applebees, I interviewed every employee and asked him or her the following four questions: “What is your role? What would you like to be doing? What can be improved? What do we do right that we shouldn’t change?”. These one-on-one meetings encouraged a sense of ownership and signaled my willingness to listen and to learn from them. By demonstrating an interest in every employee’s concerns and doing my best to accommodate them, I was able to earn their confidence. I collected the feedback, and I made concrete changes based on the suggestions I received: modifying the dress code, granting employee food discounts, and eliminating onerous operating policies.

Overall, I set expectations high with the Kids Street team and trusted that my employees could meet them. The most effective change I made was to focus my employees on common goals. I created employee incentives and rewards for key metrics like birthday party bookings and student enrollment in our classes. I instituted new policies to improve customer service and the quality of the customer’s experience by designating specific employees to customer service issues while another group focused exclusively on sales. As a result, a customer-oriented culture developed and I saw my employees bend over backwards to give the customer the most exceptional experience possible. The results were promising; we increased revenues by over 50% and brought the flagship Kids Street center to break even within three months.

Sample Three

When I became captain of the Dartmouth volleyball team, our team was the underdog due to our relative size and skill. But our greatest challenge was ourselves. Because we were often out-matched, our team lacked motivation, focus and spirit, which impacted our success in games. Being 5’2’’, I was definitely not the one crushing spikes. But what I lacked in height and offensive skills, I made up for in attitude, energy, and a “never give up” attitude. Point after point, I infused this energy and positive attitude in every play. Initially, I thought that encouraging the team to do the same during games would help us be successful. After each point, I used my high-energy and positive persona to support my team by regrouping in a huddle and offering words of encouragement. I quickly realized though that game-time words of encouragement were not enough to keep the team focused on working toward our common goal.

It was imperative for me to step up and take action. First, I worked to align the team around a common objective to build our defensive skills, physical fitness, and sense of team work. I did this by setting the example for my teammates. I arrived early to set up our equipment and encouraged others to do so too. At practices, I used all my effort to dive for each ball and challenged my teammates to push their physical limits as well. I coordinated set sessions with team members to go for runs around Hanover or lift weights at the gym to build up our core strength and endurance. After each game, I complemented my teammates for outstanding performances, provided constructive feedback on how they could improve, and initiated additional practice sessions to focus on improving those skills. I coordinated social events with the Men’s volleyball team to build a sense of community and boost camaraderie. After a short time, this positive spirit diffused throughout the team.

Each week, I made sure that I focused the team on building upon our core strengths of defense and mental endurance, rather than dwell on our deficiencies in height or athleticism. We began to beat teams that were taller, stronger, and more talented; and soon, we were known in the region as the team with the unbelievable defense. In my senior year, our team displayed Dartmouth’s best performance in over two decades. This experience taught me that one’s attitude, both positive and negative, is contagious. Consequently, leaders and team mates must lead by example, display a positive attitude, provide constructive feedback, and develop a sense of community to work towards a common goal. I am extremely proud of the lessons that I learned and team and leadership qualities that I developed as captain of the Dartmouth women’s volleyball team. These skills have carried over in all aspects of life.

Sample Four

Last year, my current employer DS Communications was faced with a challenge. One of our top selling products was failing with our customers. This product failure was of great distress to management because this product accounted for $5 million in annual revenue, a significant amount for a mid-size company. The management was extremely concerned that a product failure would tarnish our reputation for impeccable quality and reliability.

My group had designed this part in early 2000, and our chief designer was busy with another project at the time these failures were reported. Due to the urgent nature and importance of the project for our company, I took on the responsibility to spearhead the product failure issue. My preliminary investigation showed that changes in our manufacturing process had caused these failures. In order to avoid further risk of strained customer relationships, I advocated to put the entire inventory on hold and to purge our stockroom of the defective product. Initially, management was reluctant to put the entire inventory on hold because the decision could cost us significant revenue and business opportunities. However, I convinced management by appealing to a core strategic business argument. I argued that the continued shipment of failed devices had greater risk of tarnishing our reputation and could result in long-term revenue loss, as customers would be hesitant to purchase our products in the future. I maintained my position that benefiting our short-term financial bottom line would be at the expense of our company’s long-term interests. I created and presented to our management a risk analysis that quantified short-term gains versus long-term effects. Management realized the extent of the problem, appreciated my analyses and halted further shipments.

Realizing the importance of saving our existing business, yet also realizing it would be impossible to fix the existing problem in time to please our current customers, it was necessary to replace our defective product with an entirely new one. For the next two months, I led a cross-functional team to develop the new product while communicating with customers and management.

My ability to see the big picture of the business had a large impact on my company. We could never fix the problem of our existing product. However, we replaced our customers’ inventories and assembly lines with the new product. Our customers appreciated the new design solution and our company increased its revenue. Over two million units of this new product have been sold since its inception. Most importantly, our company was able to sustain partnerships with customers and live up to our commitment to excellent quality and reliability. Working on this project taught me the importance of customer relationships, which is crucial for the success of any company. A commitment to customers requires consistent long-term quality and reliability. Any shortcoming in this area may benefit short-term goals but will have disastrous long-term consequences. It was intimidating for me to champion an unpopular position. However, I believed in myself and remained steadfast, which paid off in the end. This experience has taught me to remain determined and persistent in the face of adversity and challenges.