sample essay constructive criticism

My long term career goal is to become Senior Vice President and Head of Global Information Security Group in a major Information Security corporation such as billion Cisco, billion CheckPoint or billion Netscreen. I plan to achieve that position after acquiring the necessary tools and experience required to manage a large-scale global business by completing my MBA, starting as Product Manager and working my way up. I find the information security industry exciting; it is ever-growing, ever-changing and provides a huge technological challenge in adapting to new technologies and attacks. Data security was a crucial element to business managers worldwide deciding to connect their intra-nets to the Internet. This made the transformation to a global-commercial network possible. I am proud to take part in maintaining the Internet’s revolutionary role by making individuals who use it feel secure. I hope to harness my motivation, technological ingenuity and managerial skills in developing the industry. My fascination with business, direct interaction with clients, strategic overview, and the view of a company as provider of products that meet customer needs has motivated me to move from technical roles to business positions. Both my current position as Group Manager in the military and my desired post-MBA position as Product Manager require team management. While today I use intuition and experience to guide my activity, I plan to strengthen my skills by learning formal methodologies at Tuck and benefiting from personal experiences of classmates and faculty. I feel that such knowledge will help me do my job effectively and achieve my long term objectives. In future positions I will be faced daily with situations which require interpersonal skills: interviewing a job applicant, rewarding an employee, providing constructive criticism, etc. While there is sometimes a.
By Avi Gordon, Founder of MBA Admissions Studio The ‘criticism-weakness-failure’ essay is common in MBA Admissions essays because it is a test of an applicant’s maturity, self-knowledge, honesty, and ability to learn from mistakes. It is, in other words, the biggest indicator of real leadership ability and potential. Sample questions are: Tuck 3. Discuss the most difficult constructive criticism or feedback you have received. How did you address it? What have you learned from it? Wharton 3. Describe a failure that you have experienced. What role did you play, and what did you learn about yourself? HBS 2. What have you learned from a mistake? Columbia 3. Please provide an example of a team failure of which you’ve been a part. If given a second chance, what would you do differently? Applicants to business school very often struggle with these essays because they feel that admitting a weaknesses or sharing a time when they failed erodes their candidacy. In fact, it does just the opposite. Leaders know their weaknesses, and can admit them to themselves and others — in order to work on them, or work around them. It shows self-insight and points to seniority. No one is comfortable talking about their weak spots and failure. But nobody is perfect or has not failed. Not Bill Gates, not Richard Branson, not me, nor you, nor the admissions officer. So it is not admitting a weakness is what will get you dinged, because it’s like waving red beacon that betrays inexperience and a junior mindset. If you “have no weaknesses” that just tells Adcom that you don’t know what they are yet or that you’re too immature to face them. It says you don’t know yourself, therefore you don’t yet know where you will mess up. You are a liability to yourself and your company. Take a tip from George Soros, self-made billionaire, philosopher, philanthropist, social reformer, and fund manager.
“People seldom refuse help, if one offers it in the right way.” ~ A. C. Benson. Have you ever given suggestions which were subsequently ignored? Have you ever given critiques which were not well received? Have you ever wanted to give constructive criticism on something, but held back from doing so because you did not know how to convey your intentions across? How To Give Constructive Criticism in 6 Steps Today’s guide is on how to give constructive criticism to someone. Whether at work or in relationships, sharing (and receiving) feedback is part and parcel of improvement. If you have ideas on how someone can improve, don’t hold your ideas back – rather, share your criticism constructively. (Provided the subject is something the person has asked to receive feedback on; otherwise, you are merely imposing your judgment on others.) 1. Use the Feedback Sandwich method The feedback sandwich method is a popular method of giving constructive criticism. It is often used in Toastmasters and in the corporate environment. A simple name I’ve given for the feedback sandwich is PIP, which stands for Positive-Improvement-Positive. (I know others use PIP to represent Praise-Improve-Praise which is different from how I see it. Read on.) The way it works is this – your feedback process is broken down into 3 segments: You start off by focusing on the strengths—what you like about the item in question. Then, you provide the criticism—things you didn’t like; the areas of improvement. Lastly, you round off the feedback with (a) a reiteration of the positive comments you gave at the beginning and (b) the positive results that can be expected if the criticism is acted upon. The analogy with a sandwich is made because you wedge your criticism between an opening and an ending – like a patty is wedged between two buns. The sandwich method is a good framework to use in providing constructive.