0:01 Hi, I'm Liza Wheel, founder of Gate
0:03 House Admissions. And I'm Jeremy
0:05 Shinwald, founder of MBA Mission. And
0:07 today we're reviewing another
0:09 application essay from an MBA applicant
0:12 who was admitted to HBS. If you want to
0:13 follow along, use the link below to
0:15 download a free copy of our book of
0:18 successful HBS application essays. In
0:20 our last video, we looked at Suzanne's
0:22 businessminded essay. Now, let's take a
0:25 look at her leadership focused essay. On
0:27 day one of our annual team offsite, a
0:28 small group of us are gathered around a
0:31 shady bench on the Netflix campus
0:33 discussing how to minimize project scope
0:35 creep. It was a painoint identified in
0:37 our team pulse checks, a bi-weekly
0:39 survey that I started. Upon joining my
0:41 team, I noticed there weren't any
0:44 outlets to raise work issues. At MBB,
0:45 anonymous surveys allowed us to rate
0:47 topics like work life balance, impact,
0:49 and growth opportunities. Management
0:51 listened and responded to feedback which
0:53 made employees feel heard and I wanted
0:55 to create a similar experience at
0:57 Netflix. Over the past year, the pulse
0:58 checks have helped elevate issues that
1:00 my co-workers may not have felt
1:02 comfortable communicating upwards.
1:04 Comments on a lack of camaraderie pushed
1:05 us to organize more socials.
1:07 Consistently low work life balance
1:09 scores informed leadership's decision to
1:12 open five new analyst positions. As an
1:13 introvert, I feel strongly about
1:15 creating inclusive environments where
1:16 everyone is comfortable sharing their
1:18 thoughts. Earlier in my career, I held
1:20 back from asking questions during
1:21 meetings for fear of wasting the team's
1:23 time. I noticed the same reservations
1:25 with a new analyst I'm overseeing. So,
1:27 when he sent his questions to me
1:29 offline, I encouraged him to ask the
1:31 team. While he was hesitant at first, he
1:32 slowly gained confidence and is now
1:34 speaking up more during meetings. As I
1:36 grow in my career, I aspire to become a
1:38 leader who listens to and advocates for
1:41 the quieter voices in the room. Jeremy,
1:44 take it away. Three words that I say as
1:47 an introvert. Okay. Amazing. Amazing.
1:49 And this is why uh because people
1:52 believe that at HBS every single person
1:55 has to be the prototypical leader who's
1:57 going to, you know, lead everyone on the
1:59 field and get that winning touchdown.
2:02 Some sort of Tom Brady or even, I don't
2:03 know, some Winston Churchill or
2:04 something like that who's just going to,
2:06 you know, be the person to motivate
2:08 everyone and get them all inspired and
2:10 get them all overachieving. And you
2:12 can't have you can't have 950 people
2:14 like that. It just doesn't work. There
2:16 is there is room in the class for
2:18 introverts at at HBS. Not everyone has
2:20 to be an extrovert. You have to you have
2:23 to own who you are and um and discuss
2:24 that. I've I've told a story before
2:26 where one of my favorite applicants who
2:28 was interviewing at Harvard uh looked at
2:30 me very dry fellow and he looked at me
2:31 in a mock in a mock interview I did and
2:33 said, "I'm not the type of person to
2:35 light up a room." And I laughed because
2:37 it was it was the most sweet and sincere
2:39 and authentic moment. He knew exactly
2:42 who he was and he got in. Um, and I
2:44 said, you know, you you can't run from
2:46 that. So, those three words are are
2:48 really meaningful. And I'm sure that
2:50 many people who are introverts or just
2:52 maybe again have a weakness or a flaw
2:54 try to hide from them or wallpaper over
2:57 them or whatever. And she just owns it.
2:58 And why not? There's nothing wrong with
3:00 being introvert. And so, and she talks
3:02 about and she talks about how that was a
3:03 challenge for her. and she she wants to
3:06 use it for for good for another person
3:07 to be to be a better leader and to make
3:09 sure that other people can contribute
3:11 and and also to kind of like immediately
3:13 sort of say like well I'm you know I
3:14 mean not quite saying it as blunt as
3:15 that but I'm not going to accept that
3:16 you're going to have to you're going to
3:18 have to work at that from day one here
3:20 if you want to if you want to you know
3:21 be effective in your career I'm going to
3:23 push you I'm not gonna accept second
3:25 best from people around me I'm gonna
3:28 push you from day one to you know to
3:29 offer more of yourself because that's
3:31 that's what I learned about myself I I
3:33 needed I needed that the the the other
3:35 piece about this is what a foil from
3:38 with with essay one, right? So essay one
3:40 we're just like wow this person is
3:44 driving change on a macro level across a
3:47 worldleading company like wow like what
3:49 a what a killer like this that she's
3:51 just just an incredible I'm surprised to
3:53 learn that about her right yes totally
3:54 right I'm surprised to learn that that
3:57 that her that her leadership is is is a
4:00 quiet form of leadership and and it it
4:02 gives a totally different perspective to
4:06 who she is and and and kind of really illuminates
4:07 illuminates
4:10 how just how impactful she was in some
4:12 ways because because she didn't through
4:16 it do it through like okay hey I'm here
4:18 let's do this I got the idea she had to
4:20 it had to have been hard for her to go
4:22 out there and advocate for her own ideas
4:24 but she she saw the power of it and knew
4:27 she was right so love it I'm I am we're
4:29 halfway through these these three essays
4:30 because you've got something to say of
4:32 course about this but like I'm I could
4:34 see why someone would read this and be
4:35 like we got to we got to read this
4:36 person's we got to interview this
4:39 person. Yeah, I I was I was surprised. I
4:41 mean, she started this essay, just even
4:43 this essay about how she instituted
4:46 pulse checks that she, you know, had
4:47 learned about when she was in management
4:49 consulting. She brings them over to
4:52 Netflix and I the same thing. I imagine
4:54 this, you know, rah rah out there in
4:58 front and then boom as an introvert and
5:00 it really all of a sudden I looked at
5:03 all of her past experiences differently.
5:06 Yeah. And it was it it was a strategic
5:08 choice not to lead with it. She could
5:10 have started this essay with as an
5:13 introvert and we could and but I think
5:17 wow she it's almost like the in her her
5:19 introversion is a characteristic.
5:22 doesn't define her and she in her
5:24 accomplishments can stand on their on
5:27 their own. But I was just delighted to
5:29 get to that paragraph and discover that
5:31 because that had you know we should
5:33 never you can't ever judge a book by its
5:35 cover. You can't ever make assumptions
5:38 or you can and and I had made the wrong
5:40 assumption about her. Right. Yeah. Like
5:42 it's it's it's rare that you meet you
5:43 read an essay and you're really like
5:45 surprised by a turn. Like there's a turn
5:48 you're like really surprised and and and
5:49 she does that and I always talk about
5:50 like grab like talk about keeping the
5:51 reader learning and grabbing and holding
5:53 their attention. She's grabbed and held
5:56 my attention. I I am I am listening. I'm
5:58 I'm like wow this is a fascinating
6:01 self-aware person. Yes, I I 100% agree.
6:03 And again I can't wait to to to read
6:04 essay 3. I'm like I don't know if you
6:05 have more to say but like I'm like let's
6:07 get on with it. Well that's a good
6:09 segue. So, next up, we'll look at
