Describe a time when you exercised leadership. Discuss the challenges you faced and the results you achieved. What characteristics helped you to be effective, and what areas do you feel you need to develop in order to be a better leader?

Tuck defines leadership as “inspiring others to strive and enabling them to accomplish great things.” We believe great things and great leadership can be accomplished in pursuit of business and societal goals. Describe a time when you exercised such leadership. Discuss the challenges you faced and the results you achieved. What characteristics helped you to be effective, and what areas do you feel you need to develop in order to be a better leader?

Sample One

As the senior ranking analyst in the Utilities & Power Corporate Banking group at Citibank, I have assumed the responsibility of training two junior analysts. Conversations with senior team members and my own interactions with the analysts revealed that they required supplemental training, so I volunteered to provide it. I knew how challenging it would be for the analysts to absorb large amounts of unfamiliar information at once. I was facing the same challenge as I balanced learning new Citibank systems, policies, and procedures with training the new analysts. To simultaneously train the analysts and keep track of new Citibank processes, I created a “go-to” reference. This manual included examples of previously completed work and step-by-step instructions for common tasks that I walked the analysts through in one-on-one tutoring sessions. The manual was a work in progress and would need frequent updates we continued to refine the processes. I encouraged the associates and new analysts in my group to make their own contributions to the manual. By working together, we were able to navigate the Citibank transition more efficiently than we could have by operating individually. Also, participating in the creation of the manual gave the new analysts the immediate opportunity to contribute to the group and become valued team members. I was an effective leader in this situation because I identified a need, took the initiative to meet it, and promoted an environment of teamwork.

While I have developed leadership skills through my work experience, there are many areas in which I need to grow in order to become a better leader. I believe that a Tuck MBA will allow me to develop the leadership skills I desire. In the classroom, I want to acquire the business knowledge to make informed and effective decisions as a manager. Understanding how different leadership styles are perceived by others will also be instrumental in the development of my own leadership skills. Whether I’m a member of a study group or playing on a student hockey team, the teamwork structures that permeate every aspect of Tuck life will allow me ample opportunity to observe and experiment with different leadership styles. Also, given my career goal of working for a sovereign wealth fund, learning how leadership styles differ across cultures is of particular importance to me. I want to evolve into a cross-cultural leader, and the diversity of Tuck’s student body will be invaluable in this regard.

The leadership quality that I most aspire to develop at Tuck is the capacity to understand the impact of my decisions beyond the context of the project or task at hand. I want to learn not only how to make effective business decisions, but also to understand the impact of those decisions on the people, places, and organizations that surround me. My sincerest hope is to emerge from my MBA experiences as a leader who is responsible in every sense of the word.

Sample Two

In mid-2007, Acme’s Consumer Banking Division began an initiative to consolidate and modernize outdated information systems inherited through years of mergers and acquisitions. As part of this initiative, I led the technical team that designed and implemented the forms engine project to centralize and unify document generation and printing.

The forms engine was a big undertaking: the engine needed to host over 400 forms, and be an enterprise solution that could be deployed across many Acme divisions. As team leader, my first step was to break this massive undertaking into smaller, more manageable, pieces. Ten engineers would handle the cataloging and conversion, while the other five would program the actual engine. In the kick-off meeting, I explained this division of labor and laid out my vision for an engine that emphasized modular design, extensibility, and ease of use. I organized regular brainstorming sessions for the full team to draw designs and discuss operational scenarios, thus enabling us to identify potential issues that needed resolution from end-users, support staff, senior management, and other stakeholders at Acme. This ensured that the team was working towards a common goal with appropriate buy-in and input from senior leadership and other key “customers.”

While my team had undergone rigorous training, including several mock engagements, the forms engine was their first customer-facing project. To ease their anxiety and ensure that each team-member was up-to-speed with the technologies involved, I instituted a peer-review system to diffuse newly gained knowledge, and provide a safety net to catch mistakes. When our collective know-how fell short, I organized training sessions with various experts. Doing this not only built my team’s technical expertise, but also gave them the confidence to successfully execute a complex project. During implementation, I set regular milestones and shared information on our progress regularly, which focused the team’s effort on measurable results and built momentum. I actively sought new ideas to improve our coding from individual team members and gave the group the latitude to identify and test out new solutions before seeking assistance. In turn, this project enhanced team members’ attributes that served them—and the company—well in future projects: new technical skills, effective communication, teamwork, and a strong motivation to take on difficult tasks.

By mapping out clear goals, developing my team’s talent, and providing feedback early and often, I avoided the technical and procedural roadblocks that frequently plague such large projects. When the forms engine went live, the result was impressive: the project was delivered on time, within budget and with only one minor production defect. Additionally, each team member was poised to take on larger challenges. Today, the forms engine generates a large portion of Acme’s printed literature— over 30 forms every second for branches, back-offices and call-centers across the US—with our team’s original technology still in place.

My success leading this project taught me that managing talented and smart teammates requires aligning ourselves around a shared vision, fostering innovation to solve seemingly intractable problems, and steady communication about our progress. I am, nonetheless, eager to better understand team dynamics and further develop effective motivation and negotiation skills. Tuck’s diverse student body, courses such as Leading Organizations and Management Communication, along with opportunities to lead endeavors inside and outside the classroom through the overarching Cohen Leadership program will help me develop my personalized leadership toolbox.

Sample Three

Earlier this year, our Converse marketing team at Digitas was asked to develop a loyalty program to address the lack of repeat purchases by online customers. Given that our main demographic was teenage girls, we wanted to explore how this group of consumers shops in order to better understand our underlying problem. How could we make them come back to the site and make a purchase? What would encourage brand loyalty?

In our initial Marketing team meeting, we began by examining our competitors’ customer loyalty programs. Checking out the competition may be a good starting point but I suggested that our best plan of attack was to understand who our consumers were, what they buy and what they are most likely to want in a Converse loyalty program. Our program needed to be specific to our brand and our demographic. With this in mind, I recommended that we run a focus group to gain more insight into our consumer. While focus groups have become a requirement of everything from product launches to political campaigns, our 10-person marketing team had no experience with their value and, frankly, were far from enthusiastic about the idea. Undeterred, for our next meeting, I researched the topic and developed a detailed outline for leading the focus group and presented it to the team. Managers need to use every affordable tool to assess business risks and opportunities, I argued, and focus groups are relatively inexpensive, easy and quick. This time, the idea was very well received, and I was asked to organize and co-lead the group, which ultimately gave us valuable insight into our consumers’ shopping behavior.

From this experience, I learned that leadership, even on everyday matters, requires perseverance and the ability to make your idea, passion, or mission resonate with others. Leadership can appeal to emotional or professional ideals. My dedication and commitment to the idea was a necessary first step but convincing others to support the plan and participate in the project was the difficult part. Although I was a junior member of the team, I led the group through the process of embracing and implementing the idea. I spoke up, took ownership and followed through with the plan. The key to strong leadership is how one projects confidence. Although I had never conducted a focus group, I was confident that it would yield valuable consumer insights. It was through persistence and confidence that I succeeded in implementing this strategy.

Although there are clearly broad differences between leading a specific project and managing a department or company, both require many of the same attributes – specifically commitment, perseverance, confidence and vision. I believe I could benefit greatly from leading cross-cultural and multi-national teams, in order to develop a better understanding of leadership issues when working with team members of different backgrounds and perspectives. To enhance my leadership skills further, I will also need more experience in managing staff on a day-to-day basis, setting a vision for my team and encouraging their career development as well. Through the combination of leadership courses offered by Tuck and practical work experience, I am confident that my leadership skills will more fully develop. Tuck’s commitment to building leaders is demonstrated by leadership’s important role in the first-year core curriculum, and enhanced by the Cohen Leadership Program. I look forward to the opportunity to expand my leadership skills and responsibilities, and establish myself as an effective, respected and recognized leader.  

Sample Four

In 2006, I founded “From Oregon State Elite to Wall Street,” a mentoring program that gives Oregon State students an opportunity to interview at Wall Street firms. Each year, I return to my alma mater, Oregon State, to coach students on résumé writing and interviewing and provide insights into the analyst lifestyle. Further, I leverage my contacts to create opportunities for students to interview in New York.

This effort was inspired by and born from my own unconventional path to Wall Street. As a college senior, I realized that the top investment banks did not recruit at Oregon State. I put on a coat and tie and drove down to Berkeley, the closest top-tier school, prepared to face a great challenge: attend a recruiting event at a university ranked leagues beyond my actual school, appear in front of as many investment banking professionals as I could, and ultimately beat out Berkeley students for an analyst position. Despite leaving the presentation slightly discouraged from the disinterest of most recruiters, I relentlessly called and emailed the few contacts I made and managed to set up interviews with both JPMorgan and Citibank. Weeks of interview preparation, twenty-five interviews, and twelve flights later, I had done the “impossible.” I had offers from both firms.

My determination and refusal to accept rejection paid off. Soon I was settled and thriving in New York but continued to think of my classmates at Oregon State who would also excel as analysts but lacked opportunity. It frustrated me that qualified, ambitious candidates from less prestigious undergraduate schools were denied this opportunity, so I took the initiative to create a pipeline for streamlining the evaluation of students from “non-core” schools. I pitched it to bankers within my group as well as bankers at other firms whom I had worked with in co-advisory roles. Impressed by my own capabilities, work ethic, and enthusiasm, most agreed to interview one candidate from Oregon State who had gone through the program each year. Several individuals even offered to serve as advisors to the organization and continue to provide support and insight to keep the program on the cutting edge.

Since its inception, “From Oregon State Elite to Wall Street” has provided several students with interview opportunities that otherwise would have been hard to come by and in October 2007, a Oregon State student received an investment banking offer from JPMorgan. I am proud that my initiative, creativity, and ability to convince others of the merits of my idea have eliminated the necessity for Oregon State students to take drastic measures, such as crashing recruiting events, in pursuit of competitive positions.

However, I would like to develop my ability to take my ideas to scale by gaining frameworks to anticipate challenges outside of my specific situation and develop solutions that will have a broader impact. With the management, operations, and marketing skills I will develop at Tuck, I plan to expand these efforts to provide opportunities to students at other “non-core” schools. Ultimately, my own unexpected path to Wall Street resulted in much more than accelerating my career. I discovered a passion for giving back. I realized that successes are created from opportunities, which are then capitalized on. A hallmark of a true leader is his or her willingness to share those opportunities with others. I hope to continue mentoring and supporting students and peers from Oregon State, Tuck, and every community I join along the way.

Sample Five (Excerpt)

One of my first significant leadership experiences was during my senior year of college, when I served as the director of the theater department’s production of The Crucible. I cast many of the same students who had played roles in the previous student-directed production, and this proved to be a problem. The previous student director had been very flexible with rehearsal schedules, and even though the production had suffered as a result, my actors were used to showing up to rehearsals late, or not showing up at all if they had scheduling conflicts.

After a week of disorganized rehearsals, I decided to officially put an end to the cast’s lackadaisical attitude. I called a meeting of the entire cast and crew, and instead of lecturing them on punctuality and effort, I took a different approach. To help motivate them, I told them why the play meant so much to me: Through its powerful retelling of the Salem witch trials, The Crucible provided a warning against intolerance that still resonated today. I then shared my belief in my cast and crew’s ability to put on a successful production, provided they committed to the play wholeheartedly for the next six weeks. Finally, I stated that if anyone was not able to attend the nightly rehearsals, they should let me know within the next 24 hours so that I could replace them.

To my surprise, no one quit the production and everyone showed up on time the next night. Through a rigorous rehearsal schedule and detailed feedback on their performances, I watched my student actors transform from theater hobbyists to talented professionals. Thanks to a positive review in the campus paper and good word-of-mouth, we sold out each of our six performances.

Sample Six (Excerpt)

When I volunteered to chair the Delta Gamma annual fundraiser, the first thing I did was hold a meeting in our sorority house to recruit a dedicated team of volunteers. Once my crew of 12 was in place, we decided to take a new approach to the yearly event. In the past, our chapter’s fundraiser consisted of a sit-down dinner with a substantial cost-per-plate; we thought we could attract more attendees, and more donations toward our scholarship fund, if we held an informal outdoor gathering with music, food trucks, and beer and wine tasting.

We immediately began scouting locations, calling local food vendors, and visiting local businesses to solicit donations for our raffle. Through late night planning sessions, persistent phone calls, and aggressive marketing, we held a fundraiser that attracted 30 percent more attendees than the previous year’s, and collected a total of $25,000 toward our scholarship fund. The event was so successful, it became a new blue print for our annual fundraiser that has been used by the chapter for the past five years.

Sample Seven

Rugby was considered the most serious female sport on my college campus, so despite a background in field hockey, I showed up one day for a scrimmage and was immediately hooked. Playing Rugby was physically difficult, yet the community on the field was the most amazing aspect of the experience.

In my junior year my peers elected me team captain. I decided that I wanted to compete in the more prestigious Northwest regional intramural competitions as we had tremendous talent on our team, and I believed we could win a title. Being eligible for the NW league meant that we needed to expand our game schedule by five games during the season and travel more extensively.

I knew that convincing the team to give up much of their fall social life to expand our playing time would be a hard sell. The majority of the team considered rugby to be a fun hobby, not something that could cut into the serious work of school or friends. My peers had shown faith in me by electing me the team captain, and I was afraid to make an unpopular decision and risk the support of the team. I decided to approach each of my teammates individually and discuss the proposal. As I predicted, many of my peers were less than enthused. I did find two allies on the team, and we worked together to formulate a plan to convince the rest.

In our first practice of the season I presented my idea to win the NW Women’s Rugby Championship. The team was skeptical, but as I described my vision of what winning would mean for our team, the group became more intrigued. I made sure I emphasized the fact that the strength of our players this year was my main impetus.

Ultimately the team decided to compete. We worked hard, missed a few parties, and won the title. I was thrilled.

This experience taught me that I am a strong consensus-based leader. I tend to always seek the counsel of the group, and my strength is in solidifying my support privately before raising an issue in a meeting or group setting. At work this has led to staff buy-in on many of my strategic initiatives.

The main weakness I discovered as a result of my time as team captain is that I often failed to push as hard as I wanted to. Because I was so concerned about the team spirit and maintaining friendly, positive relationships with team-mates, I was less likely to make unilateral decisions. This weakness is something that I continually work on. I recently hired my first direct report, and in working with him I have made duties and responsibilities very clear. This clears the way so that we do not struggle through role definition and can focus on effectively completing all tasks, as well as his personal development.

Sample Eight (Excerpt)

As a freshman engineering major at Ohio State, I was amazed to often find I was the only female in my classes. Though I knew I would be in the minority, I had never guessed how much of an outsider I would sometimes feel in my own department. The engineering department’s extracurricular activities were also very male-centric: gathering at sports bars to watch mixed martial arts matches or meeting up for pizza and video games. Though a handful of women engineers showed up at each event, I often wished that I had the opportunity to interact more frequently with likeminded female peers.

The summer after my freshman year, I petitioned my department to start the Women in Engineering club. I received modest funding and began posting fliers in the engineering buildings prior to the first week of classes. Seven women showed up to our first meeting, and we grew within the first two months to 20 members. Our bi-monthly meetings proved to be an invaluable resource for upperclassmen to share their experiences navigating the male-dominated field for internships and summer jobs. We also enjoyed a monthly dinner at quiet restaurants, where we got to know our fellow women engineers on a personal level. As a result, many lifelong friendships were forged.

The fact that the Women in Engineering club continues to thrive today gives me great pleasure, as does the fact that I was able to offer the club’s current president an internship with my firm this summer.

Sample Nine (Excerpt)

As a Southern California native, I’ve spent countless days relaxing and rejuvenating on the beach. Even as a child, I felt saddened every time I saw someone leave behind an empty soda can or food wrapper in the sand, and I ran to pick up any detritus I saw. As I grew older, I decided to formalize my clean-up efforts. For the past three years, one Saturday every month, I wake up early and head to Santa Monica, where I spend the day picking up trash as a Heal the Bay volunteer. Two years ago, I noticed that the same core group of about 20 volunteers showed up month after month; many other volunteers came once or twice and were never seen again. Discussing this with the volunteer coordinator, she shared her opinion that many of the one-time volunteers simply find the work too physically challenging. I had my doubts that this was the entire reason, so I asked her permission to create a survey to email to everyone who had signed up as a Heal the Bay volunteer within the past three years.

Upon receiving feedback from my 10-question survey designed to measure volunteer satisfaction, I found that many of the non-returning volunteers had felt that they were redundant and that the regular volunteers seemed able to take care of the work. I shared my findings with the volunteer coordinator and argued that she should expand the route of our Saturday trash pickup so that everyone could play a vital role. Furthermore, I suggested that we hold occasional social activities, so that new volunteers would feel more comfortable with the group.

The coordinator implemented my ideas, and as a result, we’ve enjoyed 20%greater volunteer retention and have steadily expanded the miles of our monthly trash pickup. Each time I walk on the beach without seeing a plastic bottle or candy wrapper littering the sand, I feel proud that I’m doing my part to keep my beloved beaches clean.

Sample Ten

In my experience as an Italian-American, one stereotype about my population has proven to be true: We love a good meal. Growing up in a family of five, our meals were loud and happy multi-course affairs, complete with antipasto, spaghetti, chicken parmesan, and a homemade cannoli for desert. My mother passed down our wonderful family recipes to my older brother and sister and me, emphasizing that everyone should know how to cook. Unfortunately, she passed on another family trademark: weight problems.

As my brother and sister graduated from college and left sports behind, I noticed that both of them ballooned into the shapes of our parents as soon as they settled into desk jobs. As the baby of the family with my first full-time job as a Wall Street analyst, I assumed a similar fate was unavoidable, so I didn’t think twice about ordering a pizza for every late night in the office. However, a year into my first job, I received a wake-up call in the form of my father’s quadruple bypass heart surgery.

I decided that my family must change our habits. One Sunday I invited everyone over for a dinner of green salad, baked chicken, and sorbet for dessert. I explained that I intended to start walking to get back into shape, with the goal of eventually being able to hike long distances. Though I planned to follow through with this no matter what, I told my family that I hoped they would consider joining me. When my father agreed that it was a good idea, that’s all it took to get everyone on board.

The change in our lifestyle wasn’t easy. Making time for exercise and coordinating our busy schedules proved more challenging than I’d anticipated, as did finding low-fat replacements for my family’s favorite foods. But my efforts to lead my family to healthier lifestyle paid off as we gradually dropped pounds and grew stronger. Last summer the five of us took a hiking vacation in the Adirondacks, something that would have been inconceivable a few years ago. Though the dinner table is still a favorite gathering place for my family, we now gather around different types of meals and have also discovered the fun of connecting in the great outdoors.

Sample Eleven

Starting my own business was the most significant leadership experience of my life. Because I started the business without any work experience, I also made several mistakes.

During my senior year at MIT I had an idea for a new device to help people fall asleep more easily with a combination of lighting and sound adjustments that gradually created a relaxing environment in the bedroom. With millions of Americans suffering from insomnia, I knew there was a market for the product. At graduation, rather than finding a full-time job, I partnered with Joe, a Sloan MBA student, to create a manufacturing prototype and raise funding for the company.

We worked almost every moment over two years bringing Sleep Eazze to market. The launch was a success, and we were able to drive $250K in sales during the first year. Our investors were thrilled, and we raised another round of funding. My leadership strength was in communicating our vision to investors, partners, and customers. I was developing the ability to become a well-rounded entrepreneur during this time.

However, in working to bring Sleep Eazze to market, I neglected friends and family and tried to do everything from the accounting to the marketing myself. My partner Joe was involved, but he had a full-time job and so most of the actual work fell on my shoulders. Now that we had raised enough money to hire employees I realized I was continuing my involvement in every area of the company. I failed to delegate and often micro-managed my employees. While the company was more and more successful during this time, my personal life was paying a steep price.

One day when my accounting manager snapped at me in frustration over a change I wanted to make to his work, I realized I needed to step back and take a more strategic role in the company. Today I work a normal 50-hour week and make sure I take a real weekend with time for my friends and family. The company has not suffered from this change; in fact, it has thrived! Because I am now able to rely upon my team to run the company, I can take the time to pursue my MBA at Tuck. I look forward to deepening my leadership skills at Tuck through leadership in the Entrepreneurship Club, and learning from my team during the First-Year Project course and through the Tuck Global Consultancy.