One of the big criticisms against applicants obsessed with productivity and optimization is the impersonal nature in which they make decisions. A lot of applicants balance this impression by highlighting professional narratives where they are indeed obsessed with optimization and a volunteering experience where they show a human side to their thinking.
There is, however, a third option.
The Harvard MBA leadership essay example need not be confined to building an organization, client management or strategic entry into a new market through acquisitions or partnership.
You can also quote learnings from non-traditional sources or mentors.
The entire essay is on how the person’s perspective changed with one experience.
Even for this narrative I have included the applicant’s role in modernizing the shopping experience of the store with an App. This is because if you focus entirely on another person in an essay, the risk that you become out of focus is high.
Any mentorship example should ideally be around the transformation of your values and not something technical or strategic.
These values, if it is unconventional for your industry, will help you stand out in a competitive demographic like Technology, Consulting, Private Equity, or Investment Banking.
For the applicant, who works in a co-working space, the lesson was to empathize with customers who faced huge financial setbacks during the pandemic.
But instead of lionizing the mentor, he also narrates the emotional ups and downs the mentor faced. He used the setback to validate the value and how it inspired him to adopt the value for the co-working industry.
This cross-industry and cross-functional learning is the foundation on which the case-study method stands.
Use the value of learning from diverse sources, mentors, industries, and functions for the Harvard MBA leadership essay.