High-stakes problem solving is one of the most common and effective style of narrative. This style is not just limited to MBA essays. Even in movies, the reason why you are not hooked to a narrative is because of the predictability of the ‘high stakes’ problem.

Superhero movies are one such genre that is now getting saturated because it is almost always about the ‘end of the world’.

Why Applicant’s Essay Don’t Stand Out - Harvard MBA Leadership Essay

For Harvard MBA leadership essay, the reason why the essay is not impactful is because of the applicant’s inability to offer context around the problem.

The context is not just about the details. It is capturing the scale of the problem.

Scale: And when I talk about scale to a client, the first thing that they introduce into the essay are multimillion or billion dollar deal size in the narrative. This is a repetition of the resume, which might seem lazy for the admissions team.

Secondary Impact: If you are in finance, the secondary impact of the deal – either in helping your company’s brand position or growth or impact on a community/industry are much better narrative threads for your leadership essay. And luckily for applicants, the stakes if captured with the right emotion is not dependant on the size of the deal.

A million dollar deal could mean a lot for a startup, but for an established firm, it might just be a small change. So understanding the size of the company, the size of the team, the deal size in the industry, but most importantly capturing the ‘problem’ that is a direct hindrance from getting a deal through should be the core of the narrative.

Incentives: Some of the best hindrances in a problem that you should capture are around incentives. Why certain stakeholders continue to offer remarkably poor level of service or why the culture perpetuates certain power dynamics. All these insights will elevate your standing in a crowded Harvard MBA application pool.

Dilemma: Another great way to capture the challenges governments face (if you are working with the government through non-profits or directly), is by citing dilemma. And if you are offering advisory service, first capture the dilemmas before you introduce your solution. This way, you won’t trivialize the problem.

For the access to Education in rural south Africa Harvard MBA Essay example that I had captured for F1GMAT’s Harvard MBA Essay Guide, the focus is on capturing ‘why’ children from rural south Africa are behind in educational milestones, the tools that could solve the problem and the stakeholders who are perpetuating status quo.

I have also captured dilemma the government and stakeholders are facing so that the solution looks truly innovative and not just something that anyone can do it.

I have shown how to capture the high stakes problem with nuance. You may download it with F1GMAT’s Harvard MBA Essay Guide