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Addressing Leadership at a Smaller Firm? (MBA Application)

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Addressing Leadership at a Smaller Firm? (MBA Application)

by whiskey-tango » Tue May 24, 2011 9:03 pm
What do people that work at smaller firms do to address the leadership issue in their MBA applications? I am an investment analyst at a fairly large non-profit foundation. The staff is lean, and I am the youngest member on the team. The people above me all have multiple decades of experience in investing, so I am not "leading" anybody in the strictest sense of the word. I have certainly taken point on some substantial projects, but I am not "motivating X people to do X with X results." Has anyone else been in a situation like this (boutique or smaller firm with nobody underneath)?

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by essaysnark » Wed May 25, 2011 1:39 pm
whiskey-tango,

Leadership is not the same as managing people. You need not have direct reports to show that you are a leader in whatever context you've been working in.

As you've likely discovered already, the MBA application process is a chance to do a lot of reflection on various topics, one of which being the whole notion of leadership. Bschools teach many things, leadership skills among them, and their role (at least partially) is to produce leaders in business and society. By applying to bschool, you're saying you want to be a leader... and the application is a chance to show how you already have done so in various capacities in your life to date.

So, you can start by simply reflecting on what the word "leadership" means. It's a nebulous concept and has lots and lots of definitions, none of which are more "right" than another. Leadership for you might be more about influence, or taking the initiative, or progressing the team or the company in some way. The size of the firm is absolutely irrelevant in this context.

And yes, the leadership questions tend to be very challenging for most everyone. :)

Good luck with it!
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