My sister, younger to me by two years, is very close to me. As kids, we always did things together. We went to the school and college, chose similar fields of specializations, and moved to the same city for work. We had the same interests, and even the same group of friends. In short, we were like soul sisters.

About three years ago, though, things started to change. She met someone she liked, and after a brief courtship, got married to him. Naturally, she moved out to set up her own, new, family. For the first time in my life, I felt alone. Although I still had my friends, it didn’t quite fill the void. Perhaps because it was so new to me, I started blaming my sister for my loneliness. I started behaving indifferently with her, and turned down opportunities for socialization with her and her husband. She sensed my attitude, and stopped reaching out. Gradually we drifted apart.

About a year ago, my sister had her baby boy. I called and wished my sister – more due to my mom’s insistence than anything else – and actually felt good to talk to her. After all the time, I could still relate to her easily; it was clear that she too felt the same. I traveled to her home for the baby’s naming ceremony and was really surprised by the genuinely warm welcome she and her husband gave me. What I witnessed over the next few days truly transformed me from within.

Perhaps like any other older sibling, I had always been protective of my sister. In those few days, I realized that my sister had taken on the same role that I had when we were younger. I saw my sister carefully attend to her baby boy. She was sensitive to the baby’s needs, meticulous about everything she did for him and zealously protective, even from close relatives. Yet, she was also able to efficiently handle all the household chores, look after the comfort of guests, and still find time for critical office work. I realized that my sister had become much more mature and responsible than I had ever been.

This realization immediately made me take charge of my own life. I understood that it is up to me to find the ability and commitment to balance the various aspects of my life. I adopted yoga and meditation to bring more awareness of my capabilities and weakness, and resolved to address the latter meticulously. I started calling up and visiting my parents regularly. In the office, I started proactively asking for new projects and embracing opportunities to contribute to other projects that I wasn’t part of.

As a direct result of those events, today I have significantly stepped up my responsibility at work and home, I am more caring towards my parents, and am making a conscious effort to be more mature and sensitive in my relationship with my boyfriend. I guess I can already see the results – after months of vacillation, last week he proposed to me!

My sorority sisterhood meant everything to me in college. I can’t imagine life without my friends and work associates today. The spirit of community is most important to me. I expect my time in business school to be no different.

Columbia’s student clubs in media and entertainment would be invaluable to me from a professional perspective. Since the entertainment industry is a closely-knit community with heavy emphasis on personal connections, the student clubs would be especially helpful to me in my professional ambitions in the animations field. I will also be able to leverage the vast Columbia alumni networks to reach out to top managers in the industry. Through various activities and student treks, I would have the opportunity to learn about the US entertainment industry first-hand.

The Cluster system at Columbia is particularly special to me from a personal perspective. Student clusters would give me a sense of belonging and give me the opportunity to build meaningful and dependable relationships with everyone. Lasting connections, I feel, is one of the key takeaways from business school – the Cluster system at Columbia will ensure that this indeed happens for me. Yet, I can also bring my sisterly qualities and support and motivate other students to go after their personal and professional goals.

Being a part of the Columbia community, I would be able to provide my classmates a supportive ecosystem to pursue their dreams, while also getting the same benefit of support to pursue mine.

There are many gender stereotypes in our world, one of the most popular of which is that computer games are for guys, not girls. I am a girl, and I love computer games!

Just as my tomboyish nature drives my love for computer games, my creative side drives me towards visual arts. I discovered that I could actually combine these two passions by taking up a career in computer animations. I really love that animations give me the open canvas to express my creative side freely while having all the fun aspects of gaming.

I pursued graduate education in animation development and took up a job at a startup animation studio in the UK. I have been able to create animations for TV and internet commercials and grow to lead animation campaigns for large marketing companies. Gradually I have realized that there is still much more that I can do in the animations world. I have started taking an interest in not only developing new content but also delivering them to audiences. The business side of animations is now calling out to me.

To step into business shoes, from the geek shoes I have worn all along, I have to change my portfolio of skills. Rather than dive into the shapes, sights and sounds of creating animations, I have to be able to dive into the market, customers and financials of utilizing animations. To become this complete and capable businesswoman, I require an MBA.

Once I complete the MBA, I wish to take up a job in business development in a reputed animations studio in the US. I would like to use my position to provide catchy animations for commercials and films, as well as encourage the animation developers to tap into their most creative and crazy ideas. Eventually, over the long term, I would like to set up my own animations studio that creates animations for use in marketing computer games.

My plan is to leverage my MBA experience – specifically at Columbia – to acquire a rigorous foundation in business management. The Columbia program’s options in media and entertainment are particularly crucial to me. This would give me the relevant practical perspective regarding how I can use business concepts in the entertainment industry. I would also like to use case presentations as a medium to gauge audience’s reactions to and expectations from my animation proposals, and business competitions to develop a sense of how I can portray my creative ideas from a business perspective.

Through Columbia’s alumni network coupled with the media and entertainment student group, I would be able to reach out to top animation studios in the US. This would be very helpful to me in getting the job I dream of. My plan is to continue to expand this network while simultaneously accumulating experience and industry expertise so that one day I can launch my own animations venture.

What are your short-term and long-term career goals, and how will an MBA from UCLA Anderson specifically help you achieve these goals? (700 words max)

I realized my talent for creative arts very early. As a kid I took a fancy to doodles, drawings and pencil sketches. In school, I made sketches of everything from my classmate’s broken nose to the janitor’s beat-up Chevy pickup. I took formal lessons in oil painting and learned the science and art behind compelling photography. In college, I majored in creative visual arts. My parent’s gift to me on graduation day was a Nikon 6500 Digital SLR camera.

In parallel to my passion for visual arts I was also developing a keen interest in computer technology. More specifically, I was fascinated by the power of computers to enable newer methods to create and modify visual art pieces including paintings, collages, and photographs. When I got involved in theatre and street plays in college, I looked for complementing methods to enhance the experience through computers. Perhaps as a natural result, I discovered the world of computer animation.

Upon graduation, I sought out and grabbed onto an opportunity in an animation studio as an animator. For the past four years I have been creating animations for use in a popular sports channel on TV. My work has only sharpened my creative side and helped me realize what I really want to do.

I really want to get into the business side of animations. I want to take up a position where I could experience the interaction between creative talent, technological advances and business sense. I am looking for a business development position in the animations industry. Such a role would give me exposure to talking to clients and understanding their needs, and working with animators to help them express their talent in a manner that benefits our customers. I would be able to understand which animations are best appreciated by audiences, how to win over and impress advertisers and ultimately what drives the business as a whole.

Eventually, after a few years, I would love to set up my own animation studio that creates commercials for TV and the internet. My studio would employ the best creative talent and latest technological advances to create animations that appeal to audiences and provide tangible impact for advertisers.

My future goals, much like my past background, are in a specialized space requiring a specialized set of capabilities. Prime among my requirements is fundamental understanding of how a business is run, which involves familiarity with finances, market factors and client management. I should also enhance my presentation skills, persuasion skills and the ability to take decisive action. This is why I want to pursue the MBA degree at UCLA.

The MBA program at UCLA will give me a strong academic foundation in business management, with classes in financial accounting and management, marketing and customer relationship management, as well as business strategy. The renowned faculty will help me understand the conceptual basics while getting an insight into the latest research and breakthroughs in the field of management.

For a creativity-oriented person like me, hands-on learning is very important. UCLA will give me this comfort with experiential learning programs and global study opportunities. In the closely-knit niche industry of animations, network connections and word-of-mouth referrals can be the difference between make and break. Media firms and film production houses are the biggest clients of animation studios. What better way to step into the management levels of this industry than with UCLA’s connections with Hollywood?

When I realized that I need an MBA degree, I immediately turned to UCLA as first choice. Over the past few months, I have had the opportunity to talk to current and former UCLA MBA graduates including Mike Onama (class of 2010), Philip Huerty (class of 2011) and Angela Feathers (current student). They have all universally impressed upon me the opportunities that UCLA has provided them, with specific emphasis on the school’s ability to open doors. These interactions have reinforced my earlier belief and given me the conviction that UCLA is indeed the school that will help me achieve my ambitions.

What is your proudest achievement outside the workplace, and how has it impacted you? (700 words max)

I closely followed the news coverage of the Haiti earthquake in early 2010. I was numbed by the scale of the disaster and felt compelled to do something. I sent in a donation to the Red Cross; but somehow it felt inadequate, I had to do something more direct and tangible. That’s when I came across a call for volunteers from the Red Cross for on-the-ground work. I signed up without hesitation. In February 2010, I took a break from my office and left for Haiti on the three-month assignment.

My next months in Port-Au-Prince were surely challenging but also hugely meaningful. The Red Cross had set up emergency medical facilities, where scores of people underwent surgeries to restore damaged body parts, amputate infectious limbs and address life-threatening conditions. I was assigned to the post-operative care team in charge of recuperation of these patients.

I worked with patients to oversee their recuperation process. Although I did not have a medical background, I quickly learned to contribute in any way I could. I monitored the supply and restocking of essential medicines, ensured that patients received their custom-made meals based on doctor’s recommendations, and followed up with discharged patients and set up their periodical check-up routines.

During this time I became close friends with one patient in particular – Pierre – who had had his right leg amputated and had been fitted with a prosthetic limb. His recuperation depended on adapting to the prosthetic limb and learning to use it as naturally as it would allow. This meant a lot of physical exercise coupled with psychological adjustment. Unfortunately we had no specialist physiotherapy expert at hand and the psychological counselor was over-committed and unable to dedicate much time to anyone.

I wanted to help Pierre in any way I could. I reached out to the physical therapy expert in the MSF camp across town and persuaded him to teach me basic physiotherapy techniques appropriate for Pierre’s condition. I then in turn took these exercises to Pierre and put it in a structured exercise regimen for his recuperation.

At the same time, I connected with Pierre on a personal level and persuaded him to open up. I understood his fears regarding his circumstances and worked to cheer him up. Before his injury he had been planning to study computer science at the University of Arizona but this incident had demoralized him. I infused confidence into him, persuaded him to focus on his plans again. I ensured that despite his injury he completed and submitted his application and helped him prepare for the admission interview.

Two weeks ago I received good news: Pierre has been accepted and will be traveling to Arizona this year to pursue his studies. He has continued to work on his physical exercise as well and is now able to walk much better. I really look forward to meeting him once he reaches the US.

My time with Pierre – and the broader work with the Red Cross in Haiti – is my proudest achievement. I feel I was able to step up when it mattered, seize on an opportunity to make a difference and actually play a part in making life better for others. My experience in Haiti made me realize that I too could help address challenges. Ever since, I have shed my diffidence and hesitation in embracing new opportunities; I have gained the confidence that even if I don’t have expertise on a particular subject I will still find ways to contribute.

My new approach has been noticed and appreciated at work as well. My colleagues have remarked that I have changed significantly since my three-month absence – they sense I have become more proactive. At work I feel a greater sense of involvement and motivation. I actively look forward to new projects and assignments. Now I look forward to another new opportunity – the opportunity to make a difference at UCLA.

What is the most difficult feedback you have received from another person or the most significant weakness you perceive in yourself? What steps have you taken to address it and how will business school contribute to this process? (500 words max)

I am an optimist by nature. I always look at the brighter side of things. To me, the glass is always half-full not half-empty. My optimism helps me bring a high level of enthusiasm to simple everyday tasks and stay positive even in difficult times. However, my optimism is also my biggest weakness: I sometimes tend to get carried away with over-optimism. I focus solely on the expected favorable outcomes and fail to anticipate and prepare myself for possible adverse outcomes.

One telling incident happened last year. I was leading a project for upgrading the patient information database for an insurance company in Calgary. I was running the project with two teams, one each in Canada and India. Our key resource in the Canadian team, Jagan, announced his decision to resign to pursue other opportunities. One our Indian team members, Kumar, stepped forward to replace him. Having already worked on the project, Kumar could immediately step into the shoes left by Jagan. He was the ideal replacement candidate.

However, bringing Kumar over to the Canadian team proved to be a challenge – his visa processing ran into roadblocks. While our company lawyers worked with the Canadian consulate to sort out the issues, Jagan’s disengagement date drew nearer and nearer. My supervisor asked me if we should scope out alternative replacement candidates just in case. Ever the optimist, I proclaimed that there would be no need for alternatives – everything would fall in place neatly in time. As it turned out, Kumar’s visa did not fall in place; Jagan left and we were without an essential resource on an important project.

It then took us a couple of months to identify an alternative candidate from the Indian team, train him adequately, process his visa and send him over to Canada. The delay brought a lot of flak from the client. I learned the hard way that sometimes it is necessary to have a viable back-up plan. Today I am still as much the optimist as ever, but I temper my optimism with some realism. For important decisions, I chart out optimistic and expected scenarios and develop action plans for both. As they say, hope for the best but plan for the worst.

Business school will help me further in this learning process. Case study discussions revolving around business strategy will allow me to cultivate “what if” thinking. Identifying and assessing potential outcomes will be extremely valuable. Interacting with alumni and business executives, I will also learn the anticipated and unanticipated consequences of important business decisions. Most importantly, I will learn how, as a business leader, to target and motivate my organization towards best-case scenarios while simultaneously preparing to face worst-case scenarios.

At the Yale School of Management, we believe the world needs leaders who:
- Understand organizations, teams, networks and the complex nature of leadership;
- Understand markets and competition in different contexts; and
- Understand the diversity of economies throughout the world and the relationships between business and society.
What experiences have you had that demonstrate your strength in one or more of these areas? (500 words max)

As a team leader and project manager, I have had substantial experience in leading teams at work. Given the global and dynamic nature of the IT industry, my teams have involved members from different countries and cultures working under different environments to deliver a unified organizational result.

My recent project at MPhasis involves leading teams in India and Canada to handle the IT system for a Canadian healthcare provider. Working styles, approaches and perspectives are significantly different between the teams. Formality, authority and single-point decision making are ingrained in the Indian work ethos; informality, consultation and consensus-based decision making is the norm in Canada. I have been able to understand these critical differences and calibrate my leadership approach to effectively suit the local culture.

With the Indian team I provide handholding, direction and continuous supervision, while for the Canadian team I prefer delegation, independence and self-reporting. To bring about better integration and enhance mutual understanding, I promote cross-team visits and exchange opportunities. These not only help break down communication barriers but also increase the motivation levels of staff in both locations.

My experiences in project and team leadership have also helped me gain better understanding of trans-national business integration. The nature of the Indian and Canadian economies are drastically different, but onshore-offshore working and remote project management have helped me use the best of both economies to provide an integrated business result. By leveraging the abundant availability of talent in India and rigorously pursuing project expansion opportunities in Canada, I have been able to keep development costs low while building larger client engagements.

From a socio-economic perspective too India and Canada present contrasting stories. Corporate houses in India, being primarily family-owned, function to the priorities of their owners. Large companies in Canada, like most in the Western world, are primarily public-owned and are sensitive to shareholder sentiment. For my part, I proactively champion causes of Corporate Social Responsibility, which are well-established in the West, with my colleagues in India. With health camp and fund-raising drives for charity, I have been able to motivate my team towards social contribution, while simultaneously increasing team cohesion and organizational brand visibility.

My experiences have helped me develop subject-area expertise and team handling skills to execute efficiently on my responsibilities. Moreover, they have given me global perspective and leadership ability to strategize and advise my organization towards enhanced business growth. Leveraging these experiences, and the capabilities I acquire at Yale, I am confident of playing an important role in shaping the future of our interconnected business world.

Please answer each of the questions below with a short paragraph (150 words each)

1. What are your professional goals immediately after you receive your MBA?
I work as a Project Manager in the IT industry. My work involves managing my technical team to plan and execute IT solutions that meet client requirements. I now want to move into a more direct client-facing role.

Following the MBA, my aim is to take up a role in business process consulting in the IT industry. In this role, I would work with clients to understand their business needs, identify technology solutions that address those needs and interface with technical teams that deliver those solutions. I would be involved in anticipating IT needs of a client business and mapping IT solutions to bottomline business results. In this position I would be able to leverage my technical background to deliver visible business impact.

2. What are your long‐term career aspirations?
Over the long term, I wish to attain a senior leadership position in my IT organization by taking up a business development role.

In business development I will network with customers, partners and opinion leaders to evangelize my business. I will design and promote custom-made business models that enhance operational and financial management for clients. I will also guide my organization’s technical teams to develop innovative technology solutions that address future business needs.

With extensive experience in proactively engaging high-value customers and consistent performance in growing market share, I would eventually move into the senior leadership team of my organization. Here I would influence corporate strategy and organizational thinking to differentiate our business from the competition and deliver enhanced returns to our shareholders.

3. Why are you choosing to pursue an MBA? (If you plan to use your Yale MBA to make a significant change in the nature of your career, please tell us what you have done to prepare for this transition.)
To my reach my goals, I need to complement my technical ability with business acumen. As a business process consultant, I will need the ability to quickly break down complex business problems using analytical tools and frameworks, and to measure the impact of IT solutions in terms of business results. I will need thorough understanding of business management concepts spanning multiple organizational domains – such as operations, sales and finance.

To reach the senior leadership level, my capability needs will be even more rigorous. I will not only have to have absolute grasp of market and economic indicators, but also possess strong connections with top business executives, and the leadership ability to influence my organization and our business strategy.

It is to acquire this full suite of competencies that I wish to pursue an MBA.

4. The intentions of our students to engage in a broad-minded business school community and to connect to an eminent and purposeful university greatly influences the Yale MBA experience. How do you plan to be involved in the Yale SOM and greater Yale communities?
As a woman, I know how difficult it is for women to succeed professionally while managing our personal lives. At Yale, I will proactively participate in women’s clubs and activities, and help other women in balancing their career with their personal lives. I will bring my early experiences in India, where I had to challenge conservative traditions that discouraged women from working, and help my peers at Yale develop the resolve to confidently face gender-related challenges.

I will also use my experience working in both New York and India to help my classmates understand the differences in work culture in these countries. This is especially relevant today with the onshore-offshore model of working. I will bring insights into how these cultural differences affect our work and how they can be bridged effectively.

What are your short and long term career objectives? What skills/characteristics do you already have that will help you to achieve them? What do you hope to gain from the degree programme and how do you feel it will help you achieve the career objectives you have? (500 words maximum)

My short term goal – immediately upon completion of the MBA – is to enter the field of FMCG marketing. My aim is to take up a challenging product marketing position with a top global consumer goods company. This role would give me the opportunity to identify target market segments, and devise strategies to tap into them. By working on the design and execution of marketing campaigns, I will be able to combine my newly acquired business skills with my inherent creativity and channel it in a way that helps my organization grow.

I have deep interest in gaining extensive learning in the field of marketing. Over a period of a few years I aim to become an expert in end-to-end marketing strategy and execution. This expertise will help me achieve my longer term goal – to set up a niche marketing consultancy for the health foods and nutrition snacks sector. My consultancy will provide a one-stop solution for marketing and promotion activities such as market research, market targeting and segmentation and implementation of marketing programs. My firm will allow me to leverage my love of marketing for bringing healthy food supplements that benefit society as a whole.

Through my work in commercial sales, I have gained experience in understanding complex and fragmented market landscapes, identifying market gaps that the business can serve, bridging operational ability with market needs and negotiating with suppliers and customers. I have learned the art of managing customer expectations and building strong customer relationships even under difficult delivery constraints and economic conditions. All of these will be valuable in my marketing career. Additionally, the MBA degree will help me address the gaps that presently exist in my competencies.

The MBA program will give me exposure to multi-domain business knowledge from finance to supply chain to human resources to technology. More importantly, it will help me understand the interplay between business functions, and between the business and its competitive environment. This will be instrumental in devising optimal marketing strategies that best serve the organization’s vision. Through the MBA, I will also gain expertise in the use of popular marketing frameworks to identify market needs and gaps, and determine appropriate pricing strategies.

Soft skills, such as presentation and communication skills, are also vital to success in marketing. The MBA degree will greatly help me enhance my soft skills. It will also give me the opportunity to network and build professional relationships with peers and alumni – who themselves are successful business executives. These networks will be instrumental in my career growth as well as in establishing my business venture in the future. The comprehensive set of competencies that the MBA will equip me with makes will give me the perfect platform to reach my career objectives.

What did you learn from your most spectacular failure? (200 words maximum)

As part of my work in commercial drug sales, I analyze and present company-wide sales and customer service data to senior executives. My inputs help senior leaders to develop strategies to enhance our operational effectiveness.

In early 2012, I made an error in the determination of our customer service levels. I overlooked sales of an important category of drugs. These erroneous numbers were conveyed to the global company leadership in Chicago, who incorporated the analysis into their Long Range Planning documents and developed their India strategy around it.

When I finally realized my error, I apologized and was naturally rebuked. The Managing Director expressed his disappointment and showed me how my mistake had impacted company forecasts and plans. Worse, I realized that my credibility had been significantly damaged; henceforth my reports would be met with skepticism.

But I could see some positives to take from this experience. I realized that attentiveness and diligence in work are absolutely essential. I learned that once your credibility is damaged, it takes a lot to rebuild it. Most importantly, I learned that it is human to make mistakes – but it is how we respond to and rectify these situations that set us apart.