Articulate Explicit Values - MBA Application Leadership Qualities

When MBA Applicants are asked to write about leadership, they start with how they allocated the tasks to the team, monitored, and completed them as per the schedule. Managers play a pivotal role in project management, but when schools ask about leadership, they are not expecting your experiences as a Manager. The implicit questions hidden behind the ‘leadership’ question are three:

a) How did you manage a Crisis?

As we face one challenge after the other, our values metamorphose, and our foundational values change. The foundation takes shape as a child, primarily through our parents or the primary caregiver. We mimic the behavior of the adult, and unknowingly absorb implicit values behind each action. If the adult is a risk taker and encouraged you to experiment, make mistakes, and learn from it, an Entrepreneurial streak would have become part of your DNA. The sub-conscious reaction to the crisis is a learned value from childhood but with each experience, the values change, either as a residue of actions taken during a crisis or as a learned value through other role models and thinkers. Schools want to know how you behaved in a crisis and the values that guided your action.

Is it the foundational values that you had picked from your primary caregiver or the values that you learned from other thinkers or the values mastered from your experiences or an amalgam of the three?

b) How will you manage a large team?

When an MBA applicant is managing small teams, which is a likely experience for someone with 3-5 years in the workforce, the focus is on the tasks, and no matter how efficient the applicant was as a leader, it becomes impossible to motivate the team when the size exceeds five. What works in a large team is the reiteration of values that act as a guiding force for the team. Shortsighted focus on tasks becomes the prerogative of each team member, who should be empowered with autonomy to make crucial decisions within the scope of the task.

For instance, Harvard MBA program has 200 leadership positions for a class size of 900; it comes to 1 leader for 4 candidates. Even if the number of clubs in Harvard MBA program is 70, Management Consulting and Finance Club have membership in the hundreds. Student clubs offer a holistic learning experience, and schools are not just looking to fill the 200 leadership positions in this club. They know that a ‘Harvard’ brand opens up opportunities to lead tens and probably hundreds of professionals. A candidate without the requisite leadership potential cannot transform into a leader with a 2-year MBA program. Someone who can articulate values through clear communication will stand out from the hundreds of applicants who spin Managerial tasks as examples of leadership.

c) Do you understand the Psyche of a high-performing Follower?

Even at Harvard Business School, the expectation is a 1:4 leader to follower ratio. So the myth that all the applicants are expected to portray the same leadership competency to gain admission is a fallacy. Many applicants stand out through their unique learning experiences or family background. The rags to riches or the genius from the modest family still find favor in the application pool. For a team to function, especially a learning team, the leader has to inspire. Once the leaders are selected, and agendas set, the followers have to accept the new leader, but as with any group of high performing individuals, the followers are not just ‘looking up’ to the leader for inspiring words. They are scrutinizing every action that the leader takes and listening to each word he speaks. The doubts still exist. Leaders have to articulate values to inspire the team and allay the doubts of the follower. Without clear communication of values, the uncertainty of the future, and the demotivating challenge of the tasks can derail the follower’s focus.


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Here are 10 explicit values worth articulating as a leader in your MBA Application Essays and Interview:

1) Integrity
2) Personal Responsibility
3) Efficiency
4) Courage
5) Empathy
6) Persistence
7) Dedication
8) Creativity
9) Delegation
10) Empowerment