During a course field visit to Benin, I toured a hospital where doctors substituted plastic baggies for sterile latex gloves. Patients had no hospital gowns, sheets, or mattresses. Supply shortages resulted in the reuse of needles. Before leaving, I made a promise to doctors and villagers to help improve their health conditions. To fulfill this pledge, I cofounded a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, Project Bokonon, which addresses acute medical conditions in Benin and spreads awareness of West African poverty in the United States.

To insure its sustainability, I designed an institutional infrastructure and composed bylaws. I recruited young professionals and students to a nineteen-member board of directors and organized a kickoff event to formally introduce the organization to the community. Raising over $25,000, cultivating donors, and recruiting volunteers, I visited over fifteen schools and universities and thirty conferences and civic organizations. On one educational visit, I traveled to a Harlem middle school. Though I worried that the audience, some of the poorest children in America, might not understand why we were sending resources elsewhere, the question-and-answer session concluded with a student asking, “How can we help?” This same young boy waited until the auditorium cleared to open his wallet and to hand me a lone dollar. His request: “Please spend this for me in Africa.”

My experience managing the inaugural board illuminated my lack of experience. I depended too heavily on e-mail correspondence and learned when a phone call or face-to-face meeting might be a more appropriate medium. I further assumed everyone shared equal levels of commitment. I also underestimated the difficulty of managing the expectations of those whom we intended to serve. Nevertheless, I learned about a leadership style I strive to adopt: servant leadership, which focuses on leading by serving first.

While good organizational skills and strategic thinking might make a good manager, effective servant leaders help others not only identify how they can contribute to a process but also inspire their hearts to connect an idea to action. My Project Bokonon experience defined for me the significance of enabling others, like the Harlem student, to act. In only a few years, Project Bokonon has built a clinic, established formal partnerships with other nonprofits and the United States Peace Corps, and serves ten health sites because of the lesson learned in the utility of sharing the ownership of a promise with others.

Analysis

The author is not your average applicant. Not everyone at business school has founded a nonprofit organization. For those that have, or have experiences that are not directly tied to traditional business school professions, this is an opportunity to stand out. It is important to note, however, that leadership comes in many different forms and does not require a grandiose project or setting. Merely starting a nonprofit does not explain what makes this a defining experience in one’s leadership development. A successful applicant needs to diligently answer the question at hand while telling a story that provides insight into the applicant’s life, character, and goals. The author’s accomplishment certainly stands on its own, but she also directly answers the question in the context of this exceptional life experience. She shares that she deeply values empowering others to act but recognizes that sometimes, to her detriment, she overestimates others’ commitment to their shared vision. She understands that she must adapt her style to her context to connect the hearts and minds of those she leads. Through this color, the reader develops a well-rounded picture of the author’s personality, beyond simply her accomplishments, as well as her personal definition of leadership as service—another point that sets her apart from the broader applicant pool.

That being said, the author could have improved her essay by shedding more light on her emotional reaction to the conditions in Benin. An unfiltered statement like, “I found the conditions appalling” would have given the reader even more context to understand her actions. Similarly, she could have gone into more detail regarding her motivations for such drastic action. Starting a not-for-profit is not necessarily the most obvious answer to the problems she discovered.

The author not only has the substance that makes her memorable, she also tells the story in a manner that resonates. The imagery and voice of the young boy from Harlem who asked that his dollar be spent in Africa is indelibly etched on the reader’s memory long after completing the essay. These essays are opportunities to voice a message, and this author clearly captures the hearts and minds of her readers.

From 65 Successful Harvard Business School Application Essays edited by the Staff of the Harvard Crimson. Copyright (c) 2009 by the authors and reprinted by permission of St. Martin's Publishing Group