| Ben |
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| Below is one of Ben's essays for his Stanford application. We present the essay in its original form, with just cosmetic changes made to protect the author's identity. We then provide comments and suggestions, based on the advice available in Your MBA Game Plan. |
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| The question that he answers in this essay is: |
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| What are your short-term and long-term career aspirations? How will an MBA education further your development? Why does the academic experience offered at the Stanford GSB appeal to you? (Unlimited length) |
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I work at the Information Technology industry since 1993, when I was recruited to the classified electronic surveillance unit of Israel Defense Force (IDF). Since I've advanced to management positions in a very early stage of my professional career (at the age of 19 I've already finished the IDF Technical Officers course and was positioned as a Team Leader commanding 8-10 network professionals and computer technicians), it was a natural step to continue my career on management positions in the industry after my release from the active duty at 1997. I started my civilian career as an Information Systems Manager at Mobile Solutions Ltd., a dynamic Ireland-based start-up company developing various hardware devices for mobile satellite antenna’s technology.
During my military service I've come to realization that in order to be a successful manager in high-tech industry it isn't enough to have excellent technical expertise: in fact, I would say that technical capabilities aren't the most important ability of a technical manager. For instance, my team and another team in our military unit were competing about certain extremely interesting and well-funded technological project. The teams offered different technical solutions to face the issues of the project. On the decisive meeting before the Commanding Officer, the Team Leader of the other group presented his solution in a brilliant way. He didn't speak about technical details of his solution: instead he presented such a persuasive analysis why his solution is the better one, while succeeding to properly correlate this solution with the current needs and perspectives of our unit in particular and IDF Intelligence Corps in general, that his proposal was immediately accepted. His solution wasn't necessarily the best one, but he knew how to "market" it wisely and took the trophy.
Keeping this in mind, I thought about another common analysis of the IT professional which doesn't contribute to one's ability to become a successful manager: computer professionals are presumed to have excellent technical and quantitative skills together with lacking basic communications and interpersonal skills and being not well-rounded. In a sum, computer professional is usually presented as a strange fellow wearing big glasses who doesn't care about anything besides computers. Since I wasn't willing to become such a person (and I'm not wearing glasses till today), I've decided to study Law instead of Computer Sciences or Applied Electronics which was the traditional choice for people with similar background. I wanted to study how to express myself well (both in oral and written way) and how to conduct a persuasive argument instead of deepen my technical skills. Therefore, in parallel with my job at Mobile Solutions I've started my studies towards Bachelor of Law degree at Tel Aviv University and finished it in July, 2001.
Mobile Solutions was a small start-up company founded by talented and charismatic entrepreneur. I directed a group of IT professionals and was responsible for company's complex IT infrastructure. Despite excellent managerial and technical staff, after 4 years of operation the company failed to meet shareholder's expectations and was closed at the end of 1999. That was the fist time when I was met with the issues of senior management responsibility. Was it right to say that the company was mismanaged, like most of ex-employees claimed after being fired? (Ironically enough, before that most of them warmly supported all decisions of the senior management). What made the company which promised to be an enormous success with $20M investments from such giants as Motorola and Alcatel a colossal failure? What skills and abilities did Mobile Solutions’ Senior Management lacked to successfully navigate the company in a tough modern business reality? I was not in the position of being part of a Senior Managerial team responsible for strategic decisions which determined company's faith. The answers for these questions were still a mystery to me...
My next job was Information Systems director at a development department of Worldwide Data Systems Israel, a subsidiary of Worldwide Data Systems (WDS). I was responsible over a larger group of IS specialists than in Mobile Solutions, and the nature of the responsibilities and projects I managed was more challenging and interesting. I was part of the company's Senior Management team and participated in all decision-making processes; however, since we were part of a giant WDS system, most of the strategic decisions were made somewhere else: organizational ones were made at the WDS Israel HQ, while technical decisions of strategic value were made by WDS HQ in US. In WDS I've gained a broader perspective of business management, by working closely with company's CEO, VP of Marketing and VP of Business Development. After year and a half in the job I felt that I'm ready to advance to the position where I'll have more influence on enterprise's course of action than in huge, slow-moving system like WDS.
Therefore, when I was offered the position of Chief Technical Officer in Telefonics Ltd., I accepted it with a great pleasure. I hoped that in the new job I'll gain new experiences required for my development as a manager and strengthen my existing abilities and skills.
The reality was far stronger than my greatest expectations. Telefonics Ltd. is a small hi-tech company owned by Elite Technology, Inc., world's leading provider of multimedia enhanced communications services. At the beginning of my job at Telefonics I've managed the technical department of 25 individuals divided into several teams. The complexity and the dynamics of the projects and services I lead (usually 4-5 projects/services at every particular moment of time) are far beyond of everything I've done before. But the most challenging and tough experience I've gone through at Telefonics was my first encounter with leading the restructuring and downsizing process in an enterprise. Due to hard market conditions and fierce competition, there was an urgent need to cut operational costs without harming company's performance. As company's CTO, I've initiated, planned and executed an ambitious plan to replace company's obsolete operational infrastructure with new and modern one. As a result of this move, within a year the operational costs of the company decreased by more than 50%, while the total number of projects and services the company provided increased by 10%.
Although my plan has proven to be a complete success and was highly valued both by the Senior Management and the Board of Directors, it was definitely the hardest decision in my professional career. The main reason for that was that I had to cut the number of the personnel in my department from 25 to 16. In order to prevent the company from collapsing and to maximize its profits I had to fire talented, devoted and loyal individuals, most of whose had worked for the company for more than 5 years. I have no doubt that such a move was a necessity; however, the ethical dilemma I've faced while sending people home not because of their poor performance but because of the needs of the company to which they have devoted many years of hard work was extremely painful for me. Nevertheless, such an experience was a tremendous and vital contribution to my experience and skill as a manager.
Nowadays, more than two years after joining the Telefonics, I'm in a position to assess what I've done so far and what I want to do in the immediate and distant future. In the near future I envision myself in a senior general management position at hi-tech industry, such as VP of R&D, VP of Strategy or VP of Business Development. In the longer term, I would like to work as CEO of hi-tech company, but my dream is to establish a technology company of my own. I also dream to work or establish a business in the Silicon Valley, the heart of the world's hi-tech industry.
I'm 28 years old: I have rich technical and managerial experience; my legal degree helps me to see things in a broader perspective, in addition to developing my expressional and negotiating skills; I've worked both in a dynamic and risky start-up environment and in well-established and one in Telefonics; I'm a part of a Senior Management teams for almost four years; I manage tens of individuals and am respected by them both as a professional and as a person; I'm not afraid to initiate and to carry out tough business decisions when I'm confident that such decision is an absolute necessity.
But when I count what I've done and what skills and abilities I have, I realize that there are plenty of things I have to learn and a lot of abilities I have to develop in order to become successful general manager, not saying about establishing my own business in the hi-tech industry. I have limited knowledge about finance and economics; virtually no experience or knowledge in marketing and sales; I have to study a lot about human resources and organizational behaviors; my strategic thinking isn't developed enough; and that's only the beginning of the list!!! But most of all, I feel that I lack knowledge and experience in two crucial aspects of general management, especially in the hi-tech industry: a) the ability to assemble a team of talented professionals which will work together and cover your relative incompetence in a certain field necessary for developing your business (after all, one person cannot be an expert in everything), and b) the rare ability to foresee things before they become obvious to everybody and exploit such vision for your success. Some call this ability entrepreneurship, others creativity, but regardless of how you call it that's the ability that make some businesses to become Microsoft or Dell, and others to disappear within several years.
I can try to acquire some of these experiences and skills by the try-and-error method on the workplace. However, it will probably take me 10 or more years of failures, mistakes and disappointments along with successes and fulfillments. Therefore, the best option for me is to attend a top MBA program. Two years of intense study by brilliant professors and faculty members will provide me with most of the skills necessary to move towards my dreams and expectations in most efficient and straightforward manner. That's why I'm positive that I need the MBA education in order to succeed in business.
Because of my focus in the hi-tech industry management, it's no wonder that Stanford GSB is the ideal choice for me. First of all, its proximity to the Silicon Valley, subject of my dreams, means a lot for me. Stanford outstanding connections with the hi-tech industry through its Career Management Center and strong alumni network also plays an important role in my decision.
I'm also excited about Stanford's excellent curriculum and learning methods. Since I plan to learn a lot on a wide variety of subjects during my MBA, the system of elective courses during the 2nd year of study without the need to decide in what area of study you must specialize in, and a huge diversity of such electives offers me an unique opportunity to fulfill my needs.
In addition, the intellectual excellence and the diversity of the student body, Stanford open-minded and informal attitude towards MBA students (expressed in the "Take a Professor to Lunch" program), and the social life in Stanford and the Bay Area assure that if I will have the honor to study in Stanford, my MBA years will be meaningful and enjoyable ones.
But the most important factor that makes me choose Stanford is his unique and strong emphasis on the entrepreneurial studies. As I said before, I regard entrepreneurship as one of the most important qualities of a hi-tech manager; I also think that this quality is the hardest to acquire by other means rather than elite MBA program. Stanford's outstanding entrepreneurial program, which includes entire elective category on entrepreneurial issues and guest lectures such as Cisco Systems chairman John Morgridge and famous investors like Warren Buffet and others, provides an outstanding opportunity to acquire entrepreneurial skills necessary for a success in the hi-tech industry with an active help and guidance from the best and brightest in the field. |
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| Comments |
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One of the hardest things about this Stanford essay is deciding how much to talk about your professional background. Not only do they only give you two essays (meaning that you feel the need to talk about your background somewhere in this essay), but they also give no word limit, making it very tempting to go on and on! Ben is not guilty of going on and on, but it is clear that he wanted to give a detailed account of his past career before talking about his aspirations. |
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The question asks for Ben's career aspirations and how Stanford fits with those aspirations. While it would be difficult for Ben to just dive right into his aspirations without first explaining his background, here he devotes over two pages to talking about his past before he gets to his aspirations and how Stanford can help. This is a really tough thing to do, but we advise Ben to trim down these first two pages and get more quickly to discussing his aspirations. |
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Ben tells his story well and includes a couple of key learnings that he absolutely should keep in there (e.g., learning that technology management requires more than just technical expertise, and the dilemma he faced when he decided to lay people off), but many of the other details could probably be trimmed down. |
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Remember that, more than anything, the most important thing that an applicant must do when responding to any essay question is to answer the question that was asked. If Ben goes back and thinks about each paragraph, he will probably find some details that don't help him answer the question that has been asked. |
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Ben could also try a new version where he devotes a small part of the essay to what he's already learned (this would use those key learnings mentioned above), and the rest to what he still needs to learn (this would come from his current essay, starting with the "I'm 28 years old" paragraph). He can use a few examples of his past experience along the way. This should help him keep the essay focused on answering the question. |
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Our only other piece of advice is for Ben -- like many other international applicants -- to get help with his English grammar. There are small grammatical mistakes that can easily be corrected. |
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Ben has had some terrific professional experiences for someone who is only 28 years old. If he can find a way to trim the essay down while keeping the most vivid details from his past, this essay will be outstanding. |
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