Berkeley Haas MBA Video Essay Question: The Berkeley MBA program develops leaders who embody our four Defining Leadership Principles. Briefly introduce yourself to the admissions committee, explain which Defining Leadership Principle resonates most with you, and tell us how you have exemplified the principle in your personal or professional life.
Please review the Defining Leadership Principles in advance and take time to prepare your answer before recording. You will be able to test your audio-visual connection before recording. Video essays should last 1-2 minutes and may not exceed 2 minutes.
Berkeley Haas Leadership Principle: Questioning Status Quo, Beyond Yourself
Theme: Mentoring, Changing Culture
Theme (Explained): Although the question asks about personal or professional life, once I scripted the answer and narrated it at medium speed, there were 40 seconds remaining to meet the 2-minute mark. A 2-theme structure was ideal for this profile as the person had mentored a team member with limited proficiency in English into integrating with US peers. The person also facilitated a culture of collaboration by organizing cricket tournaments on Saturdays.
Admission Consultant’s Note – Meeting the 2-minute timeline
A 5-second gap is tolerable. 10 seconds to 2 minutes would be awkward. Anything more than 10 seconds from meeting the 2-minute mark is a signal that you should add more to the script.
Opener: I wanted to start with a summary of the applicant’s experience. You don’t need this if you have worked in only one industry, but since the applicant has worked in three industries, we had to set up the credentials before introducing the scale of the project he managed.
Strategy: Highlighting the applicant’s credentials and sharing his worry about integrating a person into the US team is the core of the narrative. We have applied the W-pattern structure even for the video essay. The element of storytelling works in all narratives, regardless of the format. The last part of the video essay is about changing the culture of the organization by facilitating collaboration outside of work through cricket matches. The extracurricular offers team managers and product managers new avenues to evaluate a person’s leadership skills and grit.
2 Minutes: 279 words
Profile: Technology Consultant
Beneficiary: Peer with below-proficient Communication Skills
Traits: Empathy, Leadership, Mentoring
Speed: Medium to Fast
250 words: Medium
250 words – 300 words: Medium to Fast
300 words and above: Fast
Berkeley Haas MBA Embody Four Defining Leadership Principles Video Essay (Questioning Status Quo & Beyond Yourself) (Valuing Diverse Experiences) (279 Words)
With 4+ years of experience as a Technology Consultant, I have worked in the insurance, e-commerce, and Banking industries. While implementing a $12M software solution for an e-commerce giant in the US, I was entrusted to build..
