When Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs won the Super Bowl this year, they had a playbook that they followed for every game situation. In an emergency room, doctors follow predefined protocols and procedures when handling medical emergencies such as suspected heart attacks and strokes. In military situations, standard operating procedures guide soldiers in executing tactical maneuvers and providing logistical support so that soldiers act decisively in combat situations.
This same kind of playbook exists for MBA applicants as they select their recommenders for business school and consider what qualities they should ask their recommenders to highlight.
What is a GMAC recommendation?
The Graduate Management Admissions Council (GMAC) worked in partnership with many top MBA programs to identify the most compelling traits and competencies of business school applicants in order to simplify the MBA recommendation process for both applicants and recommenders. The GMAC Common Letter of Recommendation is the result of this partnership. Business school applicants can use this document as a playbook to think strategically about their MBA profile as they reflect upon their own best-in-class examples of the competencies and character traits that MBA programs value.
What are the key leadership qualities that business schools value?
The GMAC Leadership Assessment Grid focuses on 12 competencies that span the following five categories:
- Achievement (initiative and results orientation)
- Influence (communication/professional impression/poise and influence/collaboration)
- People (respect for others, team leadership, and developing others)
- Personal Qualities (trustworthiness/integrity, adaptability/resilience, and self-awareness)
- Cognitive Abilities (problem solving and strategic orientation)
How can you be strategic in highlighting these characteristics for business school?
These characteristics are behavior based, meaning that they are characteristics your recommenders can observe in you. The leadership assessment grid defines each category with specific examples of lowest and best in class. For example, under Achievement, the grid notes that both initiative and results orientation are important components of leadership. The grid further defines initiative as “acts ahead of need/anticipates problems.” You can give yourself an informal leadership assessment by recalling situations where you performed at the highest level. Let the leadership assessment grid’s description of “proactively seeks high-impact projects, steps up to challenges even when things are not going well” guide you in thinking about where your GMAC Letter of Recommendation writers may have seen you exhibit these kinds of best-in-practice examples.
What does it mean to demonstrate influence?
Under the category of influence, the GMAC Leadership Assessment grid defines communication, professional impression, and poise as “delivers messages and ideas in a way that engages an audience and achieves buy-in; uses listening and other attending behaviors to reach shared understanding; remains calm and measured even in times of crisis or conflict.” Use the descriptions offered to mine your past and think about situations when you displayed these traits—maybe you had to give a PowerPoint presentation from memory if the power went out during a critical meeting. You can see from the grid that a low response to this trait would be “struggles to get point across, neglects to understand audience’s input or perspective, lacks confidence and gets flustered under pressure.” As much as possible, you want to think about examples in your own life where you performed at the highest levels of the trait and demonstrated that you are a well qualified individual.
Influence also encompasses collaboration. Business schools want to admit students who have already displayed the ability to work well with others—and then help them develop their collaborative and influencing skills even more over the course of the program. Think about when you have been effective in influencing people even when they are not a direct report, and have these examples in mind to share when you discuss your profile with your recommender.
What are “people” skills?
The GMAC leadership assessment grid highlights respect for others, team leadership, and developing others as important characteristics of people skills. Reflect upon those examples where other people felt supported by you and where you have been able to recruit effective and diverse teams to work together. When have you identified potential in your colleagues? When have you helped someone else develop their full potential?
What are “personal qualities”?
Trustworthiness/integrity, adaptability/resilience, and self-awareness are all key personal qualities that MBA programs value. Think of examples when you “act[ed] consistently in line with or follow[ed] explicit values, beliefs or intentions” and “adapt[ed] to changing demands and circumstances without difficulty.” Maybe you were the first to offer support to the leadership team during a merger when your peers were complaining about what was lost. Self-awareness is also so important to MBA programs as they seek applicants who are “aware of and [seek] out additional input on [their] own strengths and weaknesses.” Even more important than just seeking out this information is to identify specific examples where you demonstrate that you have taken action to improve your weaknesses.
What are “cognitive abilities”?
Problem solving and strategic orientation are also leadership traits that MBA programs value highly. Think about examples where you have “frame[d] problems, analyze[d] situations [and] identifie[d] key issues” as well as thought with a strategic orientation to go “beyond one’s span of control and into the future to reshape the approach or scope of work.”
What other questions are asked in the GMAC Common Letter of Recommendation?
There are three general questions that comprise the Common Letter of Recommendation. The first is about the context for which the recommender knows you. Ideally, your recommender knows you in some type of supervisory role. It is not as helpful to the MBA programs to have peers writing recommendations for other peers.
The second question asks how the business school applicant’s performance compares to other individuals in a similar role. This question is the meat of the recommendation where your recommender can speak to your strengths and provide specific examples to support their claims. Your recommender must answer this—not you. However, in your conversations with your recommender, you can remind them of your biggest wins and remind them of specific details that can strengthen their support. Business school admissions teams find this section very helpful in assessing how you rate against your peers. Specific examples that demonstrate how you are a top performer are extremely valuable as business school admissions teams consider your profile.
The final question about the applicant’s response to constructive feedback shows just how important it is for applicants to demonstrate that they have a growth mindset and can not only accept criticism but also use it to keep improving. Think about feedback you have received and the specific steps you have taken in response. For example, if you were told you needed to develop your presentation skills further, it could be helpful to share with your recommender how you joined a group like Toastmasters or volunteered to make a presentation during a key client meeting.
Letters of Recommendation for Business School
In the end, you want to choose a recommender who really knows your work firsthand—and most often, this is a direct manager. Your direct manager has the best knowledge of your work accomplishments and focus areas, and they are best positioned to share specific examples about your work experience. Of course, there are special situations where you can’t use a direct manager, such as if you have only recently started reporting to this manager or if you are concerned about sharing your MBA plans with your current firm.
No matter who writes your letter of recommendation, do your own leadership reality check by honestly assessing how you align with these key characteristics noted in the GMAC Common Letter of Recommendation grid, noting where you are strong and where you should spend more time in the future beefing up critical leadership skills.
Our Stratus team comprises former members of admissions teams, supervisors, and recommenders. We understand all aspects of the MBA admissions journey, including recommendations. See our Four Steps to a Five-Star MBA Recommendation for more guidance on selecting recommenders. We would be glad to answer any of your admissions questions during a free consultation.