MBA Essay-2:

If you could host a dinner party and invite any four people, either living or dead, whom would you invite and what would the five of you discuss together? There is no right answer concerning the dinner guests; rather, we want you to be creative and thoughtful in your response. Space is limited to 4000 characters.

If I could host a dinner party, I would invite Dr. Stephen R. Covey, author of TheSeven Habits of Highly Effective People, Elizabeth O'Leary, author of The Ten-Minute Guide to Leadership, and two members of the consulting team of which I am currently in charge, Mr. Liu and Mr. Shu. As a manager new to a leadership position in a consulting capacity, I firmly hold that a vital part of the responsibilities of a team leader lies in his or her ability to facilitate the success of each member of the team. In our dinner party discussions, Dr. Covey could personally enlighten us on the power of effective communication and the potential resulting paradigm shifts, which would lead to the most desirable synergy for the dynamics of the team. Elizabeth O'Leary would vividly elucidate the traits of a good leader as well as the challenges he or she must overcome. Dr. Covey’s principles concerning change would be of tremendous benefit in continuing on our path toward personal and professional growth, while Ms. O’Leary’s contributions would simultaneously guide us in becoming more effective team leaders as well as better team players. After all, before attempting to change others we must look inside to see what we need to change within ourselves. Both Dr. Covey and Ms. O’Leary would serve to inspire us with their deep understanding and knowledge of how to lead and how to maximize our achievements as a team.

I have included Mr. Liu because as his team leader, I have observed that although he has a quick-thinking ability to find a logical solution to problems (not necessarily always the most desirable solution my from my viewpoint as team leader), he also lacks discipline and only excels at tasks that he personally enjoys, otherwise he easily becomes angry in the course of his work. As a result, I spend much of my time arguing with him and trying to persuade him to do what he should, which creates conflict and stress for me and the other team members. I believe that he could benefit from our dinner party guests by learning (1) that although debate is healthy, conflict leads to lower group morale, and it can also lead to a galvanization of employees against the leader; (2) facing such conflict, a good leader remains calm, not because he or she doesn’t care but rather to maintain control and fulfill his or her responsibility to resolve the conflict; (3) to solve the problem, the leader and team members need to work to identify the cause and solve the problem together, as well as discuss how to avoid similar problems in the future. Above all, I want Mr. Liu to understand that as an effective leader, I want only to act in the best interests of the business and that he should not take things personally; rather he should feel free to share and contribute his own ideas. From my perspective, I hope to better understand through our group discussions: (1) that there is no “perfect” team and that it is my duty to strive to make it perfect; (2) even though it is imperfect, I should endeavor to understand my staff’s strengths and weaknesses and to take full advantage of their strengths while minimizing the effects of their weaknesses.

Mr. Shu would be invited as the star performer on our team. Although he is a newcomer to the team and lacks project experience, he is so proactive and flexible that he always tries to think ahead and even goes out of his way to assist me in setting a new direction for the team. I would hope that he would gain even greater confidence from our dinner party discussion and learn: (1) what we see determines what we can become. Our potential is highly related to what we see and what we choose to see. We cannot go far in attempting to change our behavior without simultaneously changing how we view the overall situation; (2) as we follow the advice of our dinner guests, the paradigm shifts that we achieve will create significant power change as we transform ourselves from responsible independence to effective interdependence as a team. I also hope to learn: (1) even for highly self-motivated employees, it is the leader’s responsibility to encourage such behavior and motivate the staff to achieve even higher standards; (2) should my team members be promoted or move on to a better job, this would demonstrate that I am successfully developing them to become better professionals