This content details a Stanford MBA applicant's journey of global exploration and professional challenges, highlighting their passion for using business and technology, specifically AI, to drive global change and their desire to deepen these capabilities at Stanford.
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hi everyone i am puja i am a recent
graduate from stanford's mba program
stanford graduate school of business
the experience has been a wild ride with
ups and downs
but here today i wanted to share the two
essays that i wrote that got me
admission into the program the first
essay is what matters most to you and
why and the second one is why stanford
i chased her across the globe kagali
macau port moresby
and i finally found her to be clear i
was only six when i first traveled the
world albeit virtually i was looking for
carmen the villain of where in the world
is carmen san diego
as a child my only dream was to connect
with interesting people in the farthest
corners of the planet
at 10 i set goals to attain fluency in
five languages
and live on every continent
and when i became a college student i
lived on exchange in australia
volunteered in peruvian prisons advised
an argentinian media company on growth
opportunities and apprenticed at indian
ngos driving economic development
through all of these adventures i
witnessed business as a transformative
force for the people who received jobs
for a country's economy
and for the broader world
my ambition became to use business to
affect global change and it found
expression in ibm's new one billion
dollar artificial intelligence division watson
watson
as the first hire to help build this organization
organization
i found myself on a modern 21st century
expedition defining the parameters of an
emerging technology without a roadmap i
was helping ibm rewrite its narrative as
we strive to create a market that didn't
exist yet
and by successfully launching watson we
would change ibm
and their trajectory and the trajectory
of industries worldwide
but at first
nothing went according to plan after a
year no not no team had closed a single
deal during my 29 pitches i observed
excitement about ai but a hesitation to
pay for innovation and when i finally
first closed when i finally closed our
first deal with south africa's largest
bank it elicited celebrations within
watson and ibm globally but later when
unforeseen issues forced senior
leadership to cancel the project within
days of the delivery i refused to let
the project fail i stepped in as a
delivery read lead reworked the project
schedule and identified a local team to implement
implement
and after numerous pivots we delivered
and our client ceo asked me to present
another phase to the board and our first
delivery snowballed into many more
and watson was taking off
during my time in south africa though i
fell in love with its people many who
share who of whom shared how technology
would help them catch up from the
tragedy of apartheid
due to their openness i lamented the way
others warned me of a dangerous country
in embracing my hosts i learned that
human connections can truly be universal
when imbued with sincerity
i yearned to push myself deeper into the
unknown and shrug off any family
concerns about a risk removed
as a young female professional i joined
watson's first joint venture with the
sovereign investment fund of the united
arab emirates
i arrived in abu dhabi emboldened by the
sheik's desire to use watson as an
avenue to diversify its economy
but found
a jv already facing serious challenges
our local general manager
had no prior experience with ibm or
watson and was
completely overwhelmed i offered to be
of any help creating presentations
educating him on watson driving team
meetings but still he wasn't able to
foster the team's trust
i tried to build a stronger team posted
dinners learned to sail and golf just to
bond with key partners but my attempts
managed to manage approved futile and
our jv unraveled still
still
i had come to the uae to explore and
make critical human connections and
while ibm would have actually paid for
me to travel to weekend destinations
with other americans
i went deep into the surrounding
countries and found salvation in the people
people
on a trip to jordan i left with a small
backpack and found myself stranded after
a car accident only to find shelter with
a bedouin family
i fell in love with their homes in the
untouched valleys of the wadi rum desert
and remain close with them to this day
in egypt i met rania a single mother
conducting tours to support her son
we bonded over our love for meditation
while roaming the streets of old cairo
eating local kusheri
and through unexpected friendships
i began to create my tribe finding
people of grit and spirit everywhere
overcoming hardships with compassion and grace
grace
i have navigated life with an explorer's heart
heart
leading an expedition into the unknown
at every step
i've challenged myself to facing certainty
certainty
only to find out that i've learned about
humanity and how business can be used as
a vehicle to transform economies and lives
lives
empowered by these experiences i'm once
again eager to launch my next expedition
uncertain of the outcome but excited
about the possibilities
so why stanford
why stanford
being at the forefront of artificial
intelligence in the world's developing economies
economies
i have had a unique vantage point to
understand ai's potential to transform
the world
watson's applications were
understandably commercial which limited
my ability to harness the technology to
drive broad societal impact
to me
ai was like electricity only being used
to power an electrical socket when it
truly had the power to light up a nation
i can imagine applying ai to satellite imagery
imagery
to build a dynamic atlas that determines
the rates of deforestation or conduct
long-term food forecasting
i want to deploy ai with governmental
and humanitarian leaders striving to
solve the world's most pressing
international development problems
at ibm
the leaders that most effectively
managed innovation globally had an
interdisciplinary skill set complemented
by a vision which was deeply grounded in
technological knowledge
i aspire to cultivate my vision and
technological knowledge at stanford by
learning under assistant professor and
ai thought leader doctor
doctor
dr michael kozinski and by studying
machine learning and natural language
understanding in the engineering school
artificial intelligence laboratory
meantime i will build out the
interdisciplinary skills needed to be a
champion for visionary ideas i would
join the low keynotes to unlock the art
of effectively inspiring an audience
with a vision
i would aspire to become an arvocal
fellow to better understand team
courtney formation and dynamics
i would take political economy courses
such as the future of growth developed
and the developing world and join the
social innovation club to adopt others
perspectives on how to leverage ai to
tackle the most pressing social challenges
challenges
finally i would contextualize my skills
through creating high potential ventures
in developing economies and strategic
management of technology and innovation
perhaps though
uh most compelling to me is the ethos of self-introspection
self-introspection
woven through the fabric of the gsb experience
experience
i witness my college friend
enter stanford as a finance buff
buff
but emerge with a broad skill set in
perspective enabling him to found a
company that seeks to improve immigrant lending
lending
he shared how touchy-feely lead labs and
global study trips led to deeper self-awareness
self-awareness
and more importantly he shared how being
immersed in a cohort of uniquely
accomplished colleagues made him
recalibrate who he aspired to be as a person
so as someone grounded in a lifelong
practice of meditation
i know the power of self-reflection in
helping me evolve to my maximum
potential as a leader
i aspire to continue my personal
inspiration through the gsb curriculum
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