Courage: MBA Application Leadership Qualities

What is the first image that comes into your mind when you think about leadership? For me it is someone who inspires a large crowd to listen carefully, and act decisively. Most likely, the action is not routine and require you to come out of your comfort zone. When Gandhi inspired Indians to protest against the tax laws of the British, he was not asking them to like a post or re-tweet a ‘thought’. He was asking millions of Indians to join a 240-mile march from Ahmedabad to Dandi in protest against the salt taxes, and violate the British Law by producing Salt in the coastal town of Navsari. The march in 1930 was the pre-cursor to India’s independence movement.

When MBA Admissions team asks you to write about leadership, one quality that they actively seek in a candidate is courage. Unfortunately, applicants tend to devalue their moment of courage as a routine action, and in many of our interactions with applicants, we have found it to be true. To figure out the moment of courage in your professional and personal life, we have shortlisted three qualities that define ‘courage’.

Action

We have an instinctual bias towards people who act, not the ones who talk. The stereotypes of car salesmen, the fake evangelists, and politicians, all encapsulates one characteristic - “all talk no action.” With shortening of words, essays have become the most planned part of the MBA application process. For an interview, you prepare but most of the conversation with the interviewer is after all ‘conversation’, not a monologue.

When the thoughts are flowing in one direction, you are guessing what the admissions committee is thinking. Offer context on the circumstances under which you acted, but spend most of your writing on action. Using the action verbs means use of the word “I” in plenty – a pattern that can decrease the readability of the essay, and even makes you look less of a team player. A trick that has worked for our applicants is the ‘mix’ approach where they rewrite the essays to offer context, as actions take place, a style that makes your narrative interesting.

What action did you take when confidence in you as a leader was low?
What action did you take when your plan failed?
What action did you take to do the course correction?
What action did you take to motivate the team?
What action did you take to jump-start the project?
Action means perpetual motion, and as readers, we get hooked to narratives that ask us to imagine movement.

Overcoming Fear

Your narrative will not inspire the admission team if all you do is write about perpetual motion. You are not a mad man running around the block; you overcame the biggest demon: fear. Public speaking is not our #1 fear. If you read the research papers carefully, our ‘Fear of Failure’ is the underlying cause even in public speaking. What motivated you to overcome this cardinal fear should inspire the readers. The Admission team has read about inspiring account of overcoming obstacles, but unless you can express your true fears and make the reviewers believe in your anxieties, your leadership qualities will never get reflected in the essays. Courage by definition means overcoming your fear, and acting.

For Career Switchers, changing careers seem the most obvious reason for pursuing an MBA program, but don’t make it sound like an obvious choice. Let the AdCom feel how tough that decision was. It takes courage to leave a secure, comfortable decently paid job to a risky – possible good career with an MBA. It is not easy sacrificing 1-year preparing for the admission process – GMAT, Essays, and Interviews. Many applicants leave this part out assuming that leaving secure jobs is a normal behavior.

What was the biggest fear that you overcame: Fear of Failure, Death, Ridicule, Rejection, Loneliness, or Losing Freedom?

Risk-Taking

Overcoming fear is the first step, but if the action is not risky, your actions are not inspiring. Risk taking from your perspective will be different from what the Admission team perceives. Before you second guess what risk taking means for the admission team, remember the one element of risk taking – change. If you are not changing your strategies, your beliefs, or your actions, there is no risk. The change without any higher stakes also does not mean risk. When you accept that your previous actions or strategies have failed, and take action out of your comfort zone, you are showing traits of a leader who is willing to take the risk. For the applicants who are too scared even to mention one real failure, risk taking after failure is a context that has worked for MBA applicants. Learn how to use that narrative in your MBA Application Essays.

To demonstrate Courage in Leadership, follow this pattern:

Overcoming Fear -> Risk-Taking -> Action

Unless you can connect the three dots, your courage under crisis will not be captured in the essays. Learn how to highlight your leadership in MBA Application Essays. If you need assistance rewriting your essays, subscribe to our essay review service.