I recently asked the Wharton adcom for copies of my own essays (I'd lost them). Here's my failure essay.
Question: Describe a failure that you have experienced. What role did you play, and what did you learn about yourself? (500 words)
Absolute US was an annual event in Singapore that helped prospective students meet those of us who were already schooling in USA. It is now defunct, but I’d once tried- and failed- to resurrect it.
When I took this up, Absolute US had been on the brink of death, and I’d begun the project by formulating a three-faceted revival plan. First, it’d previously been held at Singapore’s largest club, and I decided on a smaller and cozier venue instead. Second, some games would be organised to spice things up. Finally, a team of motivated shareholders- rather than low-energy volunteers- would be assembled by pitching Absolute US as a money-making venture. Besides arming myself with a good plan, I also worked extremely hard, playing whatever role was necessary- be it the leader who’d formulated the entire plan; the more hands-off project consultant; or the event’s game designer- to make my re-conceptualization a reality.
I had a good plan, a dedicated team, and had been doing whatever it took to succeed. But in spite of this, Absolute US 2006 boasted historical attendance lows and didn’t make a profit. What’d gone wrong?
Having reflected upon the affair, I now realize that the project had been doomed from the start, because of three errors in execution.
First, we’d ignored local contexts. Making plans from abroad left the project without proper intelligence on the ground. I’d designed the new, apparently perfect, plan and organized the team when I was in Chicago in April 2006. When my team returned to Singapore in June after school had ended, I went to Thailand for a month of social work. As students who’d spent the year abroad, we eventually picked a venue that turned out to be a has-been so past its popularity peak that it folded a month after our event. A better appreciation of the need for ground-level research would have served us well.
Second, as leader I’d failed to strike a balance between involvement with the project vision and its details. I’d worked hard, involving myself in all the project nitty-gritty’s. However, my trying to go it alone working out every detail, rather than trusting others to execute, not only caused a breakdown in communication of the project vision to my team, but also left them without a leader for a short period when I was in Thailand. Though I’d immediately stepped down and become a project consultant instead after realizing the problem, it’d been too late. The leaderless period had already demoralized my team.
Third, I’d lacked a backup plan. I’d taken for granted that no hiccups would occur, and when one did, I was caught unprepared. In particular, I’d planned to communicate from Thailand via email, but this eventually proved unfeasible because I’d unexpectedly lacked internet access.
What I’d learnt, in short, was that having a neat idea is no guarantee of successful execution. This had been a painful but educational experience, and I look forward to doing things differently- and succeeding- in future endeavors.
-- by 会员 jelt2359 (2010/2/23 4:31:00)
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发表于 2010-2-23 04:53:32
2) it shows that, you are able to learn from something EVEN WHEN you had a good plan to begin with. It's often easy to say, "I screwed up, something must change". But it's harder to say, "I may have done well, but how can I do better?"
