Essay questions and response frameworks

¶ … career objective and how will the Wharton MBA Program for Executives contribute to your attainment of these objectives?

My current career objective is to become vice president of FactSet Research Systems Inc., while my long-term career objective is to be FactSet's director of sales and leverage that position to establish a prominent presence in the growing African investment market. At present, FactSet is a global leader in corporate and investment research, with almost 5,500 employees. The company is clearly poised to experience continued growth in the future, and FactSet will need a talented executive leadership team to achieve its corporate goals. These objectives are congruent with my experiences with the company and provide me with the skill set that is needed to succeed in the financial services industry today. For example, I started work with FactSet in 2001 as a consultant, and became a senior consultant a year later until 2003 when I was promoted again to account executive. Following the launch of another corporate enterprise, I returned to FactSet in 2010 where I was advanced to my current position in institutional sales.

In this position, I have consistently endeavored to provide exceptional support in generating new business among sell-side, private equity, valuation / restructuring/M&A advisory, IB boutique, and institutional independent research firms throughout the Northeast United States region. In addition, my responsibilities have included prospecting, closing trials, and ensuring that new clients are able to maximize the market data available from FactSet. In sum, my career path has been characterized by increasing responsibility and opportunities, and Wharton is the MBA edge that I need to take me to the next level of organizational leadership in an increasingly competitive marketplace. Wharton's program is a different caliber and I am likewise in a different point in my career that requires what the MBA program offers. Given the time, effort and costs that are associated with completing an MBA today, it is important to focus these resources where they will do the most good, and for me, that MBA program is the one offered by Wharton. Therefore, the foregoing short- and long-term objectives to become FactSet's vice president and president, respectively, represent a natural extension of these experiences into the future -- providing that I access the valuable insights and empirical observations in corporate leadership that the Wharton MBA Program provides. My short- and long-term career goals are discussed further below.

Currently, I work in the financial services industry at FactSet and my short-term goal is to become vice president of sales. After serving in this capacity for approximately 10 years, it is my long-term goal to be appointed director of sales and use that position to open a FactSet office in West Africa where I believe the market has great potential. My proven track record of success and professional growth at FactSet, as well as my past experiences with entrepreneurial activities at startup ventures in the past, have positioned me to greatly assist FactSet's future plans in entering the burgeoning African market.

There are two main reasons why I need an MBA education at this point in my career. The first is that my career path and trajectory at FactSet are consistent with my short- and long-term career goals, so I therefore want to advance my career by broadening my business knowledge of strategy and general management in a classroom setting with my experienced peers and faculty that an EMBA program can provide. The second reason is that it is important for me to gain more managerial and strategic perspectives that I can immediately apply while working at FactSet. Building a network through social networks and other EMBAs across different industries will help me reach the next level in my career and build on my previous successes.

Although I have a long history working at FactSet with consistent career progress, further advancement requires the knowledge and insights that an EMBA degree provides. Clearly, the sooner a program of educational instruction is started, the sooner it will be completed and there is no time like the present for beginning an EMBA program to further my educational goals. In an increasingly competitive job market, I need the edge that an EMBA provides. By beginning an EMBA program now, I will be able to apply the knowledge, strategic perspective and confidence I need to reach new levels in my professional career at FactSet -- and the sooner the better.

It just makes good business sense to focus scarce resources where they will do the most good in achieving one's goals, and this is why I am pursuing an EMBA degree at Wharton. After all, there is only one Wharton MBA and this is why I am pursuing Wharton -- because of its potential strong impact on my career development. Based on my career goals of wanting to advance in my career at FactSet, an EMBA from Wharton will help get me there and beyond. Courses such as The Foundations of Leadership and Teamwork courses look at individuals, teams, and organizational leadership to develop optimal solutions. These curricular offerings will establish the groundwork for examining and developing my own personal leadership capabilities in any professional leadership capacity.

Then, there is the Wharton Leadership Ventures course that takes students out of their comfort zones and into hands-on experiences in order to explore the qualities of effective individual and team leadership in business and beyond. In addition, I very much desire to take Linda Richardson's sales class. As the founder of global sales training firm, Richardson teaches sales and management courses at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Like Linda says, "The issue is that sales as a profession is much more sophisticated than before, and sales is a driving force in any economy." Outside the classroom, Wharton's well established close networks and friendships are priceless. For example, on Friday evenings when the study groups get together to review course material students form personal and professional bonds which last long after graduation. In addition, Wharton's online community, WhartonConnect, gives current students and alumni an easy way to find colleagues in just about any field and the Wharton Alumni Club comprises a lifelong network of leaders providing support and opportunities for Wharton graduates worldwide.

Although it is clear that I stand to gain a great deal from completing an EMBA at Wharton, there is the issue concerning what the school will gain by admitting me that they will not gain by admitting someone with an 800 GMAT. My sense is that my potential contribution centers on two things: my African experience/network and my financial services/sales expertise. These attributes can help me strengthen Wharton's ties with Africa. In addition, I could also serve as a mentor to fellow MBA students and/or Wharton undergrads that have like-minded ambitions in the emerging financial services and sales sectors in Africa today.

Essay #2: Describe the most significant way, either in or out of your job, that you have demonstrated leadership.

Based on my firm belief that organizational leaders must model the way for others, I have consistently sought to broaden my career horizons through demonstrated leadership in the progressively responsible positions I have held with FactSet. For instance, my demonstrated leadership initiatives at FactSet include generating new business sales for the company; identifying and prospecting ranked investment banks in middle markets; bringing global investment banks on as FactSet clients; convincing the Information Services manager and CFO of the need to formally purchase FactSet licenses for the entire firm, initiating and overseeing trials with associates and VPs in NYC and LA; and, assuming the lead in negotiating pricing and contractual responsibilities.

Other notable leadership achievements include my efforts with securing Moelis, a global investment bank, as a client. This initiative required approximately 8 months to close and involved the coordinated harnessing of a great deal of corporate resources and today, Moelis is a new and valuable client. Likewise, I have demonstrated my leadership at FactSet by closing deals with private equity firms, consulting firms, and investment banking firms, thereby driving FactSet's portforlio growth and directly contributing to the company's bottom line. One notable example of this was my most recent success story was FactSet involving integrating information from O&M Media, my content media start up. As founder and director of this enterprise during the period 2008 to 2010, I created O&M Media's Top 100 Entrepreneurs in Africa, a television program featuring Africa's leading entrepreneurs and business icons. In line with the program's selection criteria for credible African business people, a comprehensive research methodology and strict short-listing was conducted by a management and public policy consulting firm on behalf of O&M. The purpose of its esteemed television project is to recognize other leaders in Africa and to tie that into my belief in becoming an African leader at FactSet. In addition, during my tenure as founder and director of O&M in 2010, I consistently provided exceptional services to company-owned television programs, which including the aforementioned Africa's Top 100 Entrepreneurs. My notable contributions in this capacity include obtaining investment funding and sponsorships, securing a co-production partnership with Storm 360, a leading West African entertainment company, and forging media partnerships with HiTV, Silverbird TV, NN24, and BusinessDay among others. In addition, I established and implemented overall business objectives of becoming a world-class production and broadcast company offering international broadcast content to strengthen the spirit of enterprise and human development throughout Africa and across the globe. Furthermore, I played an integral role in representing company in key business negotiations.

Further, I also played a pivotal leadership role in winning various team-based tasks, including developing and marketing a new fast-food chicken entree for Chicken Republic, planning and executing a hotel redecoration project at Eko Hotel & Suites, presenting a route to market's strategy for West Africa's largest cell phone provider, Celtel, and formulating a marketing strategy for a new energy drink for Nigeria's largest beverage company, Nutricema. Between 2008 and 2009, the company managed to receive investment funding and sponsorships valued at $75,000 during this global recessionary period.

In sum, I have consistently sought to follow up on contacts, leverage relationships, and focus on the real needs of the prospect. These attributes were demonstrated in a high-profile fashion a few years ago when I appeared on "The Apprentice: Africa, Lagos Nigeria" where I placed as first runner up in the 2008 competition. In fact, the competition for participating in the event in the first place was fierce, and I was selected as one of eighteen contestants from across all of Africa and the Diaspora to compete in this spin-off of the American reality TV series, "The Apprentice," which depicts a group of professionals competing in tasks that showcase emerging sectors in Africa's economy including telecommunications, banking, aviation, tourism, and hospitality. The grand prize was a one-year, $200,000 job at Bank PHB, supervised by Apprentice Africa CEO Biodun Shobanjo.

My leadership qualities were tested but proven during this production, particularly with respect to two challenging tasks that I won outright as Project Manager during the show include Task #5 which involved creating a mission statement and a television commercial for the Sahara Group, an oil and gas company headquartered in Lagos with operations spanning the energy sector. In addition, I won the competition for Task #14 which involved designing new school uniforms for a private primary school with a blended Nigerian and British curriculum. As Project Manager of this task, our team of two (including me) was pitted against Team Matrix, a team of three. The task involved designing new school uniforms for students at Abbey Junior Mixed & Infants School. The task included hosting a fashion show to present uniforms and achieving the highest number of votes without knowing who in the audience was eligible to vote. To win this competition, our team interviewed parents, teachers, and students on previous school uniform designs, researched other school uniforms in the area, sought the advice of local tailors and seamstresses. My team won. The other team listened a lot more to the students' wants/desires whereas my team listened to what the parents wanted to see in their children's uniforms. As a result, we won this competition based on our truly innovative design, simple and elegant, yet functional (no frills, wild colors, flamboyant cuts like the other team).

Essay #3: Given your already demanding job and the desire to remain committed to important family and personal obligations, how do you plan to handle the additional demands on your time once you enroll?

It is only natural that over time, individual definitions of success change and expand and that has been my case as well. Today, I place a high value on my family life and personal relationship by balancing these commitments with my professional responsibilities. Certainly, time management can be a challenging enterprise in any environment, and I acknowledge the significant demands that are associated with the MBA program at Wharton. Based on my previous experiences in pursuing rigorous academic coursework and despite the challenges that are involved, I am confident that my personal responsibilities, obligations and commitments to my family and personal relationships will not interfere with my academic pursuits in furtherance of my professional career.