Please tell us about a time when you had an impact on a person, group or organization. Describe in detail what you though, felt, said and did.

Sample One

Two months ago, I sealed a $60M deal with PalmInnovationInnovation, displacing our number one competitor, Intel, on a chip design that everyone inside Texas InstrumentsComputer Tech (TICT) had written off as a lost cause. On the way to thank PalmInnovation for this opportunity with CTTI”s CEO, Richard Templeton, sitting in my passenger seat, I reflected on the eight month journey that culminated in the biggest impact I have made at TI CT to date.

When I was named PalmInnovation’s Account Manager eight months earlier, TI had already lost the design bid for the next generation handheldTreo smart-phone to our competitorIntel. Upper management had resigned themselves to the loss of the processor and wanted to focus on future opportunities. Privately, I held out some hope that we could manage to displace the competitor in the handheldIntel in the Treo design project, and I developed a strategy with a vision of winning back the work. By leveraging my relationship with one of our only advocates at PalmInnovation, I secured a meeting to present a cutting edge TI CT processor to the engineers and operations personnel responsible for the Treo handheld design. After the meeting, the engineers told me that for the foreseeable future Intel the competitor would be their exclusive processor provider and, furthermore, that their operations team would not come near my company with a twenty foot pole because of a prior bad experience with a TI CT processor.

Two months later we started to hear rumors that Intel’s the competitor’s chip was having problems, which was just the break that I needed. I called a meeting with my engineering team and told them that we needed to improve the negative perception of TI CT held by PalmInnovation’s engineers. I felt that the best way to prove our solution was to install the TI CT processor in a Treo handheld so the PalmInnovation engineering team could do an evaluation. PalmInnovation agreed and once these activities got started, I shifted to overcoming the roadblocks with the operations team.

About a month into the evaluation of our processor in the Treohandheld, PalmInnovation was willing to discuss business terms in the event the evaluation went well and TI was selected to replace Intelthe competitor. The customer’s VP of Operations had bad memories from his last deal negotiation with TICT, and he started actively campaigning against us based on historical cost issues. After several weeks of negotiations with TI’s CT’s business units and PalmInnovation, I derived an alternative pricing strategy. Not only did this help us meet PalmInnovation’s cost point, but it also bought us the time needed to finish proving out our technology.

Ultimately, PalmInnovation, pleased with the TI CT solution, decided to choose us over Intel for exclusive rights in the Treohanheld—a $60 million win for TICT. Now we are the incumbent design team at PalmInnovation and have the first shot at all new opportunities. This success has had a lasting impression on me. Getting to my end goal of displacing Intel was not easy, but I was successful by conquering each obstacle and aligning my actions with a vision of success.

Sample Two

Every Saturday, eight kids show up to a basketball court in Boston for their weekly class. They sprint around the gym without complaining. They encourage each other, giving high-fives and words of support. At a recent class, when one of the children dropped the ball during a passing drill, a boy named Alex turned to him and said, “That’s ok, good effort”. The attitude of these children is the direct result of my efforts coaching basketball at the YMCA.

When I started teaching six months ago, the children in my class were not interacting with each other and were clearly not having fun. They were from various ethnic backgrounds; ranging from Chinese to African American to European American. They were also new to basketball. As a result, they felt intimidated and uncomfortable. To address this, I decided to increase one child’s enthusiasm for basketball. I reasoned that the effects would then spread to the rest of the class. I focused on a short, scrawny twelve year old boy with glasses named Alex, who had shown little interest in attending class. I took Alex aside, and worked with him individually. I felt hesitant. After all, I didn’t want to give Alex the impression that he required special attention. Therefore, I complimented him on the things he was doing well. This helped to ease his mind. I corrected Alex’s shooting form and had him shoot free throws. He wasn’t making any of them. Alex’s confidence was deflated and he was exerting less effort as a result. I simplified the task. I took him under the basket and told him to start shooting from there. Alex rolled his eyes at me, yet one by one started making baskets. The shots were easy from that distance, but he was gradually gaining his confidence back. I slowly moved him farther and farther away. He continued to make baskets. The ploy worked as Alex gradually increased his consistency and self-esteem.

My work with Alex had a positive impact on the other children. When Alex thanked me for my assistance, I explained that he had the ability to offer this same support to his peers. He took this to heart. Alex realized that if he could improve, his team members could as well. He began encouraging his teammates during drills. The rest of the children began to work harder as they saw the drastic improvement that Alex was making. Because of my work, I was asked by the YMCA to coach a team in the youth league, an offer which I have readily accepted as an opportunity to motivate and instill the importance of teamwork in others.

Basketball has provided me with valuable lessons in leading a successful team and instilling the importance of teamwork in others. These motivational lessons have allowed me to succeed in the workplace, where I have effectively managed teams through difficult product implementations. These skills will also be very conducive to the atmosphere at MIT Sloan, particularly in team-oriented activities such as the International Volunteer Program and Technology Club Case Competition. At MIT Sloan, I will strive to instill in my classmates the importance of motivating others to succeed; a lesson which I was able to share with Alex in the most appropriate way – by example.