Both these links went out over Twitter yesterday but they’re so worth checking out.
First is this absolutely brilliant list of 7 Tips to Becoming a Leader at Work. This is must-read (and must-do) advice for any aspiring success story. Basically it tells you to stop being a wallflower, to take responsibility and take action, to not rely on opportunity to come knocking but instead go make it for yourself. That one is a keeper. Regardless of where you are in your application process – whether you’re about to push the button on your Fuqua or HBS or any other apps, or whether you’re just thinking about maybe starting the GMAT process to line things up for next year – doing the things on that list will help you add value to your organization. Who cares that that will give you more juicy material to present in a bschool essay. The real point of it is that you will be adding value. Always good to increase the value of your limited time on the planet.
Hey – is there a metric for that? ROT – return on time? Anyone ever heard of such a thing?
Second tidbit is this awesome animated talk from Dan Ariely, one of our faves. He’s a prof at Duke and he studies irrational behavior. This talk is about ethics and how all of us can rationalize our unethical behaviors – and what we might do to change those behaviors. We all want to be good and we all are often bad. We’re very focused on ethics here on the EssaySnark blahg because we have this idealized view of the world where all would be better for everyone if we didn’t bend the rules.
So there you have it, all you need for a successful application to business school, and a successful life: seek out ways to add value, and don’t cheat.
Tell us what you think.