Your power card

I just watched a screening of an interview with Warren Buffett (Columbia MBA '51) moderated by Professor Michael Feiner who is a legend at Columbia Business School.  The film itself was interesting regarding personal ethics and value, but the key takeaway I got from it was from Professor Feiner, speaking upon his corporate career at Pepsico.  He said that everyone in the room (all Columbia students) have that one thing that they know they are irrefutably, undeniably, indisputably talented in.  Make that talent your power card and use it in any event of a work crisis as leverage to, in Feiner's words, "take no shit from nobody."  When applying this to actually getting into a top school, you absolutely need to know what your power card is.  If you're unsure of it, go back as early as you can and figure out what was the one area that 1) you repeatedly showed the strongest aptitude for and 2) how can you make it work in terms of a possible career.  If you base your Essay One (I broadly refer to this topic as Essay One but it can be any number - the standard "why us, why MBA, why now?" question) on your power card, it has the ability to convince a skeptical reader that you're a contender and that your enhanced self awareness will an asset to the program.

Declare Who You Are

As I said yesterday, Seth Godin (Stanford MBA '86) is one of my favorite thought leaders.  He is guest blogging for renowned cartoonist and overall creative force Hugh LacLeod this week and I thought this post was also extremely relevant to anyone starting the b-school application journey.

Remember Who You Are

Seth states that when people tell you to "Remember who you are", it's usually meant as "Remember who we think you are."  It's usually used as a thinly veiled comment to pull people back rather than to seek the truth about one's nature and potential.  However, Seth beautifully writes:

...Art, whether it’s the drawing art that Hugh does or the business art that a great Wall Street trader does or the customer service art that Tony Hsieh at Zappos espouses… that sort of art isn’t limited by social boundaries. When you connect and change another human being, when you create upside wherever you go, then who you are is decided by you, not by them.

Let’s change the mantra, then, from “remember who you are,” to “decide who you are.”

Decide to be the generous, change-making, scarifying, delighting, over-the-topping dreamer you’re capable of being.

And when applying to business schools, I say we take it even one step further.  Decide who you are, then declare it in the most sincere, believable, and personal way to the world.  Take a stance, declare yourself, and embody all the attributes it takes to become that vision of you.  If you succeed in doing that, then you have succeeded and answered to yourself regardless of the outcome of that essay.

Finding Your Brand Essence

Seth Godin is one of my favorite thought leaders and his latest posting (below) is completely relevant aspiring top b-school applicants.  You have to take a stand in your application and show admissions who you really are.  There are too many smart, capable, and interesting people applying for the same spot- you can't afford to project a persona that isn't authentic, relatable, or likeable.

 

Finding your brand essence

I got an email from someone who had hired a consulting firm to help his company find their true brand selves. They failed. He failed. He asked me if I could recommend a better one.

My answer:

The problem isn't the consultant, it's the fact that if you have to search for a brand essence, you're unlikely to find one.

Standing for something means giving up a lot of other things, and opening yourself to criticism. Most people in the financial services industry (or any industry, actually) aren't willing to do that, which is why there are so few Charles Schwabs in the world.

First, decide it's okay to fail and to make a ruckus while failing. THEN go searching for the way to capture that energy and share it with the world.

Clothes don't make the man, the man makes the man. Clothes (and the brand) just amplify that.