Leadership....

So Ironic - Here are a few excerpts from my application to business school. Now I'm actually fulfilling my goal that I set out for myself more than four years ago....

The Application (Excerpts of the essay written in 2005):
In my seven years in brand management at Johnson & Johnson, I’ve learned what makes a good leader – listening, motivating, adapting, and creating a collaborative environment that fosters creativity and passion. These are qualities that I now take with me in everything I do.

But leadership is not all about cheerleading. It’s also about motivating others to accomplish and deliver results. Motivation takes charisma, patience, and passion.

Accomplishments are the result of having enough self-confidence to complete a daunting task, impact change, or challenge the status quo. Therefore, just the act of gaining self-confidence, is an accomplishment. I gained self-confidence early on in my college career, but have since found several ways in which to use it to impact positive change in myself and in others.

I learned how to run in 1999. Up until that year, I couldn’t even complete a full lap around the track. Nevertheless, I was determined to train and complete what would become the hardest and most rewarding 26.2 miles of my life – the Napa Valley marathon. Waking up at 6 o’ clock every morning to train was not easy. But, with every strike of the pavement, I learned to train my mind and my body to run miles away from my doubts and fears, and closer toward my goals and convictions. I crossed the finish line in 4 hours and 20 minutes. With that last step, I discovered that the difference between failure and accomplishment sometimes comes down to a single step.

When I first stepped into my career at Johnson & Johnson, I was faced with some initial skepticism from my co-workers. Because my background was in Law and Communications, they questioned my business capabilities. Confidence helped me overcome this skepticism and gain momentum. I focused on my strengths, learned everything I could about marketing, and ignored my inner-critic. In just three months time, I earned my coworker’s and management’s approval and trust. This accomplishment was critical to my career success. It taught me that I could reach inside myself for the strength I need to succeed. Four years later, I still am very proud of those first 3 months.

The more I learned about my own capabilities, the more I realized how I could challenge the status quo and affect positive change. I want to do this is by developing a career focused on helping people.

Ultimately my goal is to merge my passion to help others with my understanding of corporate culture. I aspire to start and run a business focused on employee training, people development, and one-to-one career/life counseling.

Most businesses rely on monetary results, positive bottom lines, and impressive top line sales to gain accolades and attract future investors. I see a huge opportunity for companies to better hone their soft skills – organizational behavior, people management, employee development and career counseling. The consulting company I would like to start would focus on this human element of business – it would enable employees to feel more connected to their employer, better prepared for immanent changes, and more valued. The return on the investment for the employer would be more efficient, effective, and loyal employees.

So many corporations have lost their soul. They have forgotten the human element of business.
I want to put people before profits. I want to reignite passion and sense of purpose to business. If I am successfull at this, people will be more productive not because they are told, but because they believe in themselves and the companies for which they work.