[Program Fitting]为什么HBS招那么多咨询的人啊

Q:
David，你说了那么多，唯独没有说为什么HBS招那么多咨询的人啊

A:
Just like one time when Michael Dell made a speech in a top b-school

an Indian MBA student asked him: “You already made that much money, why don’t you just retire, buy a boat and sail somewhere in the world?”

Michael Dell replied him: “Sail a boat is boring. Do you have any idea about how much fun to run a multi-billion company?”


The hardest thing to manage in the world is not machine or any kind of product marketing, but people.

Management is actually teaching the toughest skills called soft skills

Such as communication skills, interpersonal skills, management skills like corporate governance, market strategy, human resources, and the toughest one, leadership.

These soft skills are much harder to learn than hard skills since they take your humanity and soul to grow them.


For the reason why those top schools, especially HBS, admit a bunch of management consultants

because consulting jobs generally require more advanced analytical and strategic mindset to indentify multiple problems in very short time on industrial scale

and generally have more intense training and involvement on corporate strategy planning, as well as organizational management

it also takes seasoned maturity and more well-rounded personality to intensely communicate with multiple parties externally and internally

while at the mean time, diverse cases will inspire creativity or even cross-cultural sensitivity


But when you see those successful essays from the book “65 Successful HBS Application Essays”

you’ll see all different types of people from a wide array of careers

marketing directors, supply chain managers, fresh-graduated students, dancers, soldiers, bankers, entrepreneurs, actors, non-profit social workers, sales…you name it!

there’s no certain favorite job category the schools really prefer

but it’s about our commitment to constantly grow from our yesterday

people may wonder why these incredible achievers who earns tons of money

still try to get into best b-schools and work as a not-so-impressive title like Associate afterward,

the reason is the same as what Michael Dell said

when you possess such advanced analytical and strategic skills

and can deal with most sophisticated business problems in the world

it’s an unbelievable fulfillment, especially it’s a career preparation for executive career path in future

while the b-school trainings open their gate to reach the executive world





Just like Will Smith once shared in an interview for the movie “7 Pounds”

the world is made by people, and how people survive in this world is about contribute to each other, and be fed by each other

why the city is formed, why we need each other

it’s all about helping each other, and it’s called business, even non-profit or social events

it’s all for survival, and all for a meaningful life

[Personal Branding] Conclusion about uninvited by HBS

Q:
(Modified from original wording.)
To DavidLee

Could you make a conclusion about what you said above:

Age is not the problem. The problem is so called "decent essays" are not good enough to persuade HBS that he is a 'philanthropist' or 'future leader of community'?

Thanks


A:
The conclusion is applicants need to convince adcoms why you can lead the school forward in global scale

age is never the problem

but the geometric progression you've grown in the career as equivalent

how high you've climbed and how hard you've hit the ground in those years

supposingly general college students graduate at the age of 22

at the age of 30, there're 8 solid years to thrive your career

even masters would have at least 6 solid year

for general college graduates, the time allows you to go through the career accommodation period for the first year and a half or so

then another couple of years to accumulate the cross-displinary specilizations for managerment preparation

being promoted to managerial responsibility at the faster third year or slower 4th year (if you stuck, it means your leadership style is still adjusting)

then at the 6-year line your experience should be ready or semi-ready for a senior manager position

with a master degree, this career curve should be steeper 20%~30%

and the scope should be broadened to regional market level

if you're an entrepreneur, 8 years time is absolutely enough for at least failed twice and now thrive the third start-up

especially for HBS applicants

at the year of 30, adcoms are expecting early executive mindset from applicants

global-scale leadership should be demonstrated multiple times

and at some point of your career

there should be some signs proving "game-changing" leadership

it's a very reasonable prerequisite for HBS

in my experience as MBA career consultant in NSHMBA

a 27 year-old lady in Kellogg MBA, undergraduate from Stanford, before MBA she already completed the corporate yearly R&D plan for her spaceship equipment company supplying NASA, approved by the her board of directors

a 350-page yearly plan, it's literally a thick book

another Indian graduate from Wharton MBA, should be younger than 30 based on his appearance and figure (probably 28 or 29)

excellent English without accent, perfect resume, expressed himself orally very clearly with perfect wording

easily tell he practiced at least hundreds of times

before MBA, he thrived in operation management in IBM during his very early career, extremely consistent career path

in his resume, the first points of each position are all the same

"Being promoted in 4 months to next level"

"Being promoted in 6 months to next level"

"Being promoted in 9 months to next level"

before MBA, he was already senior operation manager in IBM

although I adviced him to add some objectives on these bullets or take them off (you don't get promoted for no reason)

the gentleman insisted to leave them there

another very young Wharton MBA, 27 years old

Lehman Brother senior analyst, fortunately entered Wharton before crisis

at least 200+ financial analysis and reporting experience

multiple promotions toward investment banking before crisis

all these examples reach higher and faster before age of 30

and when you meet these people in person

you'll be blown away by their enthusiasm

their world-changing mentality

and extremely solid skills, both technical and managerial

but no arrogance at all

all of these young superstars are very friendly

passionate to help people around

and you can tell that's why they got promoted so fast

hope these examples can help

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[Personal Branding] Decent essay??

Most of time when applicants refer the so-called "decent essays"

when you really do some deeper research on those "essay guides" lying quietly in the nearest book store at the corner of your street

you'll know the ones people refer to are actually not that decent

and most of time far away from the criteria b-schools are looking for

for the common myth about community service

it's not necessary

and won't necessarily prove the applicant a philanthropist

it's about the mentality behind

the authentic empathy

and the whys

only when these question behind questions (QBQ) link together with your entrepreneurial personality will adcoms believe you do things for humanity reasons

the most deadly mentality is to display everything you have on the table and wait for a miracle

it's not an auction, nor a slave sale

it's like the school is a carriage and these students are the horses pulling in the front

YOU are the leader who lead the school forward and change the world

not waiting for the schools to change you

[Program Fitting] Don't understand HBS...

Q:
quote from BW:

"I’m
having a really difficult time understanding how these selections are made and in particular the emphasis on age. If you are 27+ and have great “real world” accomplishments, we do not want you in our student body because it is presumed you clearly do not need an MBA to be successful. If you are young, we like you because we can still mold you into something great, even though your accomplishments are working later hours and getting“A’s” on your Calculus exam.

How is this really selecting the most likely success stories? What kind of contribution and input are they really bringing into the classroom if they are fresh out of school or have 2 yrs of experience in the classroom?

Bottom line is that MBA schools are one big business. If you believe that, (and you are in denial if you don’t), then how is this helping you
secure big endowment checks from your alumni in the future: Go with the already successful 27yr old + or take a gamble on rising stars?.

At the end of the day, does the 2-3yr age gap make a difference in the big picture? We both have 40-50yrs to live!"


A:
as you look into HBS's curriculum

it's easy to tell their 2 forks are heading toward more entrepreneurial and more leadership in organizational restructuring

especially for conglomerate

and due to their academic role on the extreme end

they're looking for some explosive signs indicating leadfrog career

something significant on historical standpoint that nobody had done before

either extremely rare or extremely fast

although LZ is the youngest project manager in the industry

at the age of 30 they're looking for signs on more strategic on corporate scope

or some indication about early executive mindset

since their college drop-out is the richest guy in the world for 1.5 decade

and not even 50 yet

for a globally dominant school like HBS

nothing is too successful to be educated from them

it's about your mentality to do something as worldwide leader

with an extremely steep learning curve

see the successful HBS essays

you'll literally find many people at the age of 30 had already approached regional-director level

or done something revolutionary at their mid-20s

the intensity should be game-changing

not only a youngest something that many people had done even faster before

[Personal Branding]请教大牛简历等问题

Q:
(Modified from original taxt)
很担心自己的简历 总觉得不够专业，拿到学校修改过 但是格式老是出问题。 尤其是粘贴到网站的时候，格式就更是一塌糊涂。。。非常非常希望能得到简历大牛的advise。。怎么在word里面 修改出完美的格式呢？还有关于action words..用些什么好呢？谢谢大家！


A:
it's not about action verbs

format is simple either

LZ's probelm now is not about resume presentation, but about career management

resume is only the iceberg of your career management

only when you're fully aware of your focused career direction will you craft an outstanding resume

it's about your "career branding"

the major problem for LZ is the jumpy pattern from field to field

you need to explore what's your enthusiastic field first and stay focus

then learn how to correlate your enjoyable and transformable skills to build your career brand

what set of skills do you want to build your "brand" in recruiter's perception

you need to put yourself into recruiter's shoes

show them what you've got to benefit the company

what's your academic background and professional experience, what's your core competence from your mba study

and why do the recruiters need your skills?

the main challenge for LZ now is the inconsistency among several fields

finance vs. tech mgmt, but what LZ really admires is marketing field

then what kind of marketing job?

market intelligence? marketing communication? product development? or brand management?

and why?

recruiters are looking for these "clues" in your resume

and scrutinize how you "sell" yourself

if you cannot sell the most important brand "YOU," how can you sell the services for the company?

first you need to explore your most enjoyable and competent career path through 3 major career drivers

"Enthusiasm," "Personal Characteristics," and "Professional Capabilities"

find out what motivates you toward marketing

and specific part of marketing? since it's a huge field

then what can you leverage your financial learnings and internship experience to deliver the future career

or should you avoid those distractions


about the insurance representative job

you need to be cautious for your long term career

since your short-term job will trigger some openings in certain job catagories, or even limit your options in the future

as time goes by, you may get harder and harder to get out from the wrond choices

since you're more and more experienced in certain field while traded by opportunity costs


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[Program Fitting]這些學校怎麼選?

Q:請幫忙選擇以下15所學校

A:
these schools are drastically different

it depends heavily on your score range and your goals

the focuses of these programs (but not limited to the followings) are totally different--


1． Boston University: general management

2． Babson College: entrepreneurship

3． Boston College: finance and leadership

4． Case Westen Reserve University: academic-oriented general management

5． Temple University (Fox): research-oriented mini program

6． University of Minnesota–Twin Cities (Carlson): generam management and strategy

7． University of Rochester (Simon) (NY): finance management and strategy

8． George Washington University (DC): international management and industry-specific study

9． Pennsylvania State University: supply chain and general management

10． University of Maryland: digital management

11． Syracuse University (Whitman): entrepreneurial market-oriented management

12． Wake Forest University: entrepreneurship, marketing, operation

13． University of California--Irvine (Merage): general management, entrepreneurship, real estate, investment & healthcare

14． University of California--Riverside (Anderson): mini management program

15． American University: accounting and international general management

[Program Fitting]Minnesota Carlson vs. UIUC?

Q: Minnesota Carlson vs. UIUC?

A:
明大是綜合管理學校

從課程編排就可以看出頗有小華頓的氣勢

對general management的各技能均衡程度相當高

招生重視個人獨特性,過去三四年觀察下來很愛招獨特背景的學生

學校華人眾多

有些超大型企業如3M, Target都在明州有地理鄰近性



UIUC一向是超級會計強校

這兩年積極轉型往綜合管理與營銷

學校出了一些世界名人如Jack Welch

因而是美國名氣響亮的學校

對亞洲學生招生友善

對年資的不那麼要求

成績也較有彈性

很愛年輕有活力的申請人

[Personal Branding]developmental needs和weakness有什么区别

Q:
developmental needs和weakness有什么区别

A:
用0到100分来看

数学只有20分叫做weakness

要进步到60分才叫及格

则20分到60分这段叫做developmental needs

除了两个东西指的区间不同之外

因为人不是机器

有太多人性化因素如：个性，意愿，能力，兴趣...等会产生个人差异

每个人都会有某些弱点是无法进步的

例如有些人有惧高症

硬逼他去开飞机可能才刚起飞就晕了

而weakness也不一定是negative

例如篮球场上的身高问题

天生就矮不一定是weakness

反而可以加快脚程在场上穿梭是个positive

但抢板子的时候就成了weakness

并且没有developmental needs

没办法叫他拔高就拔高
所以写这类题目要看仔细到底是问weakness还是问developmental needs

两个讲的根本还是不同

[Program Fitting]大家对chicago的essay 2怎么看？

Q:
大家对chicago的essay 2怎么看？
Option 1
a) Please provide an example of a time when you had to make a choice between two equally important obligations. How did you decide which obligation deserved your attention? b) Did you try and predict other people's reactions to your decision? If so, how accurate were you? Why do you think you were or were not accurate in your prediction? c) Reflecting on this experience, how do you think an MBA from Chicago GSB might have aided in your decision making process?

-or-

Option 2
a) Have you ever made a decision that caused you to go against popular opinion? Please describe that situation and your rationale for your decision. b) Did you feel at any point that people misperceived your motives? Explain. c) In retrospect, how do you think an MBA from Chicago GSB would have affected your decision?




A:
各間學校都有獨特的領導力與作風強項

去過Booth就知道

一進去就是一整面牆掛滿諾貝爾獎得主

在這匯集歷史上頂尖經濟學家之地

除了固有的硬經濟超牛之外

其中一項最強的領導力就是在團隊腦力激盪時"研究各種可能"

跟官網上強調的"Exam every idea."完全密合

也因此在招生時的根本重點

就是問申請人如何證明你有這項"檢視各項可能"的能力

這項能力本身就是一項leadership

因此若申請人對自身領導風格有深度瞭解

立刻可以看出是否欠缺這項"檢視所有可能方案"的領導力,而確定是否有school fit

OPTION 1,2 兩個是因為申請人經歷各有不同

方便讓申請人從經歷中選擇最能發揮自己的情境

但可以輕易看出所問的核心都相同

就是如何reasoning all alternatives to convince others

要直問analytical thinking的全面性以及communication中的persuasion能力

而另外這兩個option各著重在不同方向

option 1是對value的reflection以及independent thinking

option 2是在團隊中的vision, leadership, 以及conflict and relationship management

不管要回答那個option

都是要用同一個事件scenario來作主軸回答各小題

而如何運用Booth GSB的各種課程,教學模式,團隊互動與學生風氣,甚至社團與其他課外活動

還有教學資源中心與各項校內外競賽等等

來找出其中的核心技能,培養自己邁向管理成功