When I read a Harvard MBA Leadership Essay that requires influencing multiple stakeholders, I look at how the person is willing to compromise to achieve a target for the beneficiary.
For example, in the Harvard MBA leadership essay on rural telecom in South Africa, the protagonist is a consultant working in a non-profit. He shares the challenges of operating an ISP in a low-income region. The incentives of the government and the ISP are not aligned to offer add-on services to this demographic, but for educational apps to reach this market and fill the gap of available good teachers, they need a reliable internet connection.
The Leadership essay starts with a solution, but like in any good essay, if there are no roadblocks or challenges, it is tough to capture the leadership traits that make an applicant unique.
For the essay, I have included communication and creativity as two leadership traits.
Communication because – the proposal to create a cooperative was opposed by a competitor, citing regulatory issues. Only when the applicant creatively introduced an incentive and communicated with projections of future revenues did the problem get solved?
Any essay that is a mix of idealistic goals with practical strategies is way more believable than narratives that are idealistic with little practical knowledge captured in the essay.
Remember – Harvard is one of the most popular MBA programs in the world.
Demonstrate your business acumen and cultural intelligence.
This understanding is essential for non-profit applicants writing Harvard MBA Leadership essays.