Who is a leader you admire, and why? (250 words)

Based on the 9 leadership qualities we have highlighted, you can find the one person who had the most impact in your life, someone who has inspired you or changed the trajectory of your life.

If you are mentioning a public figure, answering this essay becomes tricky as there are multiple ups and downs in their life that might not all translate to an interesting narrative for the essay.

For the first example, we have used Elon Musk as the leader we admire. With a career spanning over 25 years, capturing Elon without getting lost in the details of his entrepreneurial maneuvers at Tesla, SpaceX and SolarCity would be a challenge. We were forced to focus on one venture – Tesla to meet the word limit and capture the ‘essence of his leadership’.

For the fictitious profile, we focus on an applicant from a Business family, who finds leadership synonymous with Entrepreneurship. Instead of narrating Elon’s entrepreneurial journey, the applicant chooses to start with an event in 2003 when GM became the first car manufacturer to pioneer Electrical Vehicle to mass market and the first to crush it down to disbandment when the benefits of the California pollution regulation expired.

By citing GM’s example, the applicant makes a case for an Entrepreneur with long-term vision if true change is to materialize in the world. Among the many qualities, the applicant cites risk-taking, ambition, drive, and persisting with a world-changing vision as the reasons for her appreciation for Musk.

Sample Columbia MBA Leader I admire Essay (Elon Musk) (250 Words)

As someone who is from a Business family, the ‘term’ Leader always equates to an Entrepreneur. Among the breed of 90s start-up Entrepreneurs who have stood the test of time, Elon Musk is a Leader who I admire the most.

In 2003, General Motors dispassionately crushed the first Electric Vehicle when the benefits of the California pollution regulation expired. The event demonstrated how short-term profits without a long-term vision could do to world-changing plans.