F1GMAT: Leadership MBA Essay is a crucial component in an MBA application. You have helped hundreds of MBA applicants. How do you define leadership from an MBA admissions point of view? What part of leadership do the AdCom value?
Stacy Blackman: What is leadership? If you are applying to an MBA program, you are going to need to figure out the answer to this question. Many applications have specific questions focused on your defining leadership experiences. While others don’t boast a “leadership” question per se, the best applicants will emphasize and demonstrate the idea of leadership throughout their applications.
Related: To find out how to highlight your leadership skills, download our MBA Application Essay Guide
Beyond Experience
Applicants need to think through past experiences to find the stories that best illustrate leadership skills. The most effective examples may not be the first to come to mind. Many applicants automatically tag some of their greatest personal achievements as perfect examples of leadership. However, this is usually not the best formula for a strong leadership essay.
Just because you achieved something outstanding does not mean leadership skills were involved, especially if you did most or all of the work. The work of the leader activates the work of others; one of the central tenets of leadership essays is showing that you can enable the actions of other people. You bring out their passions. You educate them. You help them see organizational priorities in new ways. And then they share in the achievement. Often, the best leadership essays will have heroes other than you. For example, if you helped Terri in accounts receivable realize her full potential on a project you led, showcase her as a hero in your leadership tale. Find anecdotes in your work and extracurricular history that illustrate this kind of pattern
What kind of experiences will make the best tales of leadership?
Think about challenges where the following came into play:
- Identifying/defining a problem
- Being open to new information, input, etc.
- Building consensus with appropriate stakeholders
- Guiding strong mid-course corrections; overcoming mistakes
- Building on success
- Articulating a vision
- Resisting conventional approaches; challenging status quo
- Convincing others of importance of problem
- Marshaling resources to address problem
- Motivating others
- Making good use of others’ talents
- Permanently upgrading organization’s capabilities; institutionalizing solutions
- Illustrating methods for other individuals, organizations, etc.
Related: Learn how to customize your application based on the above leadership traits.
Leadership is not about titles
Some candidates build leadership essays around the fact that they were selected for or elected to certain positions where they had a high level of authority and responsibility: editor-in-chief of a college paper, fraternity president, captain of the hockey team, director of product development, V.P. of marketing, etc. But what did you do with this position? A college newspaper editor could write about how she was constantly challenged to maintain high levels of editorial excellence, manage staff assignments, and hit all deadlines. This is definitely an esteemed position with tons of responsibility, but Ms. Editor, if you describe your role like that, it sounds exactly the same as the role of the other 798 editors-in-chief of college papers. Define the leadership challenges you faced, not the management challenges. Did you have to deal with a certain writer who falsified interview notes? Was there a sticky campus scandal that forced you and your staff to walk an ethical tightrope? Did you have to fire student editors? Did you lead a transition from a weekly to a daily with all of the scheduling and human resources rigors that entails?
"Collecting impressive titles does not make someone a great leader—helping a team accomplish something meaningful or overcome great challenges does"
To understand more about Qualities of Leadership, here are some related articles.
MBA Application Leadership Qualities - Focus
MBA Application Leadership Qualities - Listening
MBA Application Leadership Qualities - Humility
MBA Application Leadership Qualities - Personal Responsibility
MBA Application Leadership Qualities - Trust
Founded in 2001, Stacy Blackman Consulting has helped thousands of MBA applicants gain admission to the most selective business schools in the world. The Stacy Blackman team, comprised of MBA graduates, former admissions officers and expert writers, editors and marketers, helps clients develop and implement a winning marketing strategy. 
Stacy Blackman clients have a significantly increased probability of admission to top schools and are frequent recipients of merit scholarships. The company is regularly featured in publications such as BusinessWeek, the Wall Street Journal and the Economist.
