What's Your Story?

It's summertime - time to hit the beach (for some), enjoy half-day Fridays (if you're lucky), and celebrate being done with the GMAT (for the overachievers).  It's also time to start thinking about the upcoming MBA admissions essays.  For anyone who thinks the hard part was the GMATs and that the essays are all about bullshitting (admittedly, this was me in 2008), get ready.....while there's no denying that the GMATs are a bear, the essays and recommendations are the core determinants of your fate.

As much as anyone says the essays are all about "bullshit", I don't know a single successful candidate who didn't use this task as an opportunity to do some serious contemplation about his or her future goals.  As much as those questions might be dull, the why us why now question is actually very helpful for focusing your ambition into something tangible and realizable.  The successful candidates are not the ones who see an MBA as the end, but rather as the means to an end.  We are all so single-mindedly focused on getting the MBA (especially after the torture of the GMATs) that it is sometimes clouded as the actual goal.  Don't make this mistake.  There's nothing more dull to read than a why us why now essay that's all about the school and not enough about the candidate.  Make me (the reader, the critic, the objective voice of reason) get excited for your goals, make me see the potential in your abilities, make me believe.  After, this is the story of your life.  Don't leave it up to chance - if there's a school that you pray to God every night before you fall asleep to get into, if there's a school that you know will change your life, don't you think you owe it to yourself to put forth the best package that you can?

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"Your story"

As we all know, there is no magical formula for getting into business school. Certainly, GMAT scores in the 700s, professional achievements and community service will help. But even if you nail those, the school will have plenty of applicants to choose from. The most important way to stand out is to establish a real relationship by simply telling “your story”. What is unique about you? Identify characteristics that might not be immediately associated with your profession and try to build a unique, compelling case of how you would add to the greater student body and why you want to attend a certain school. While you still need to do your homework, we are here to help you make your story stand out!

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.