My SoP to Great Lakes

Dear Professors / Evaluators,

A review of my work profile will give clear indications that I am a professional who has scaled from the lower to middle management rungs of the corporate ladder. I would recollect myself as a green horn back in 2014-15 when I had stepped into the IT services industry, those were the days when I would read through corporate slide decks and abruptly disconnect client calls under the fear of being questioned.

As I push forward a decade, having interacted and negotiated with countless CXO designates, won marque million dollar accounts, strategized on conducive market segments, resolved dozens of professional relationships under conflict, the feedback that attracted many brickbats followed up by laurels, I paused to reflect upon my journey. A simple question popped up, “Since when did I stop reading from the slides?”

My second paragraph is enough to validate the fact that my professional experience has certainly refined my character and capabilities in profound ways. In the current stage of my career, my presentations only contain highlight points and maybe a few relevant pictures to give the audience an idea on the direction of discussion, the story narration completely rests on my shoulders. The practice has given me two distinct advantages, I either end up winning the deal or leave a strong impression, leaving far behind the misconceived idea of failure.

I could sense that my work life has groomed me to a higher league, the acquisition of capability brings along superior confidence which made me feel that I can simply wield my sword to move forward. However, as I pause for a deeper reflection, it dawned on me that the arsenal necessary for the pinnacle may not be a resident attribute in my case. On top of it, what’s the edge I do have with my peers when almost everyone claims to have an equal or higher experience. Now, that brings my attention to place like Great Lakes, your glorious chapters or the heights attained by alumni beyond campus space, needs no mention, it speaks loud by itself.

Beyond aspirations, I am an avid bibliophile with scores of books racked up on my TV cabinet, a furniture not really designed for the said purpose, goes without saying that such a practice can annoy a spouse. Adding onto the woes, my count of unread books always outscores the read ones by a ratio of 4:1, as expected it’s a statistic that my better half isn’t too happy about. Ofcourse, I haven’t factored the numbers from my virtual library in Kindle, it can potentially skew the numbers further. However, since it doesn’t occupy physical space, my wife doesn’t seem to care much, which saved me from holding another round of tough defence.

A natural byproduct of voluminous reading flows towards writing, every time an article is expressed by my own words and narrative style, joy springs out within me on being a creator. I discovered my flair for writing in the early twenties but it’s not until my late thirties that I began to write regularly. Needless to say that I have thoroughly enjoyed the creative juices flowing out of a writing experience. No one could understand why I spent hours on a coffee day sipping a cappuccino, maybe a full time author could.

I strongly believe an MBA is not just about absorbing curated content by acclaimed professors, the real learning happens when concepts and ideas are bounced amongst a group of top talent. 

With the given context, a sparkling professional experience and a persona of expressed passion, am bound to make an excellent mix in your next batch of potential leaders.

Regards,

Manoj Bharadwaj - An ardent student

P.S - An email from Great Lakes Institute confirming admission