Background Information: A technologist shares his unique 'listening' skill, the application of his skill for a retail startup, and his goal to apply his strength as a management consultant.
Theme: Listening
Theme (Explained): Listening has many contexts, from active listening to empathetic listening to non-verbal listening. For many technologists pivoting to consulting with an MBA, a narrative around a non-profit or entrepreneurial engagement is essential to demonstrate the feasibility of achieving the post-MBA goal even with a Yale MBA. The theme of listening to a client – a friend who is scaling her retail startup- is the essay's theme.
Profile: Technologist
Industry: Retail, Consulting
MBA Essay Strategy: Listening is a cliched trait if I couldn't establish early on why the applicant has a unique perspective on the value of listening. From alleviating stress to building trust among peers, friends, and clients, listening skills take on many contexts.
For the essay, my focus is to show the challenges of changing a retail business from a wholesale-retailer Business model to an online retail model. With active listening, the applicant could introduce innovation in the online shopping experience.
The impact of listening is the concluding paragraphs so that when I reiterate the motivation to switch to consulting, the admissions team is certain that the applicant could achieve this goal.
Opener: We are either born with or develop certain traits that become our defining identity. I want the reader to go back to the applicant's teen years to recognize the origin of his listening skills.
Sample Yale SOM Commitment MBA Essay: Listening (498 Words)
Even as a teen, my friends would huddle around me, pulling me aside for their attention to share their darkest secrets. I wondered about the trust people had in me until two years ago the founder of the startup I worked for shared that he had two months of payroll remaining.
The deepest fears, hopes, and worries of my friends, peers, and family made me aware of the value of listening to build trust and alleviate their stress. In one of the authentic communications I had with an entrepreneur friend, she revealed how her one year of planning was disrupted when her partner quit the entrepreneurial route and took up a job.
Distribution and Marketing were the biggest ...
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