Stanford’s MBA Gatekeeper On A ‘Heartbreaking’ GSB Myth

Stanford University Graduate School of Business – Ethan Baron photo

For years, you had the opportunity to be a leadership facilitator at Stanford. What did you learn about the raw material people need to have to become strong leaders?

Working as a facilitator in the GSB course, Interpersonal Dynamics, has been one of my favorite professional experiences thus far. For someone who is a self-described “leadership geek”, it was analogous to being a medical school student who finally gets to enter the operating room. Although we all can read about leadership research, this class puts the theory into practice. Throughout the course, students have the opportunity to observe and experiment with different behaviors to increase their influence with and connection to others. Over the course of the term, together, we discover how our specific leadership style and behavior impacts our connection to every other person in the room. We also learn how the subtleties of gender, culture, ethnicity, and even socio-economic status affect others’ response to our behaviors. We each have the raw material to be influential leaders. The challenge is understanding how this raw material needs to be molded. Stanford provides a safe place to experiment and practice.

How to you assess a person’s potential to lead in an MBA application?

Simply stated, the Stanford MBA Admissions team looks at what impact you have had on the organizations or communities to which you belong. We are agnostic about the type of organization – it could be professional or extracurricular – but we want to know how those communities are different because you were there. We look for this evidence in recommendations, in essays, in application responses, and during interviews. We also care about what the applicant values and what motivates them. Highly effective leaders are aware of who they are and where they want to go. Lastly, we look at the perspective you will bring to the classroom and the GSB community. At Stanford, one of our greatest strengths is the diversity of experiences of our students.

Kirsten Moss, assistant dean of admissions & financial aid at Stanford GSB

Without looking you up on LinkedIn, few applicants are likely to know you are the first admissions director at Stanford who also held the top job in MBA admissions at Harvard from 1999 to 2001. Are there any meaningful differences in the way you approached your job at HBS and now at Stanford?

Yes, there are differences in the way I approach my role now. In 1999, I did not have any experience in admissions or talent selection and had to rely mostly on my gut. Today, I still listen to my instincts in making admissions decisions, but they are informed by years of experience in leadership assessment, development, coaching, and research. This background brings focus and clarity to the way we make decisions on the admissions committee. Our admissions officers look for specific evidence of how a candidate has impacted his or her organization or university rather than, for example, just focusing on the “brand name” of his or her professional institution or universities. In fact, members of the Class of 2020 came from over 170 different universities and over 300 professional organizations, because leaders can be found across the globe in any kind of organization.

Do you think that both Stanford and Harvard are looking for the same traits in applicants?

I left Harvard long ago, so I couldn’t tell you what they look for now. At the GSB, though, we look for individuals who dare to dream, who know themselves, who are curious, and who have changed the lives of those around them in some way. I always encourage candidates to start the application process thinking about things they have done that have made them most proud. Undoubtedly, these would be the same stories in which our admissions team would be most interested. Maybe you are a natural mentor, or maybe you have original ideas, or maybe you have found a new way to get things done. Leadership comes in hundreds of flavors, and we just want to know more about yours.

The Class of 2020 is your first class of MBAs at Stanford. What can you tell us about the quality of the latest crop of incoming MBA students?

Last week, I had the great pleasure of giving a welcome speech to the members of the Class of 2020. To see them all assembled in Cemex Auditorium on the Stanford GSB campus was a remarkable moment for me. These students have overcome hardships and challenges, discovered new ideas, taken risks to go beyond what is expected, and made those around them better. Their passions are as diverse as their experiences — from making movies to singing rock songs, from discovering cancer cell movements to founding stem cell start-ups, from launching space craft to manufacturing self-driving cars, from creating sustainable chocolate to selling beefless burgers, from investing for social impact to leading social activism campaigns. Each one told us their story about what matters most. And we had such fun listening. This class is a true compilation of these journeys and dreams.