Major strengths and weaknesses and Aston MBA career development

¶ … Aston Business School has a vaunted reputation, a program defined by excellence and a metropolitan context that I personally find extremely compelling. Indeed, the qualities which have made Aston Global MBA's 12th ranking MBA program in all of the United Kingdom are the very same which I pride myself for possessing or working to refine. Its tradition for education in the practical, ethical and innovative aspects of business management and the assumption of leadership echoes the very priorities which I bring to my education and to my professional development.

In particular, I am moved to great interest by the record that Aston boasts in terms of its accreditation, as the school is recognized by The Association of MBAs (AMBA), The European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD), and The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). This denotes a level of esteem in the international community that I consider fully essential to a business education in a globalizing economy. With respect to my particular set of strengths, only an environment of the caliber maintained at Aston will suffice. That is why I have submitted this application for a scholarship to Aston's full time MBA program. As I look to a path of great opportunity and anticipated success, I am certain that Aston is most fitting as my next stop.

I have a great many strengths which I look forward to refining to the benefit of the Aston community. Such core modules as Organisational Behaviour and Leader Development seem to provide the proper measure of instruction in areas where I am particularly skilled and in areas where I still have much to learn. To the point, I believe I am extremely well-qualified to function in a group setting, to work to fruition with those around me and to engage teams in meeting specific goals. These skills resonate closely with the content of the Organisational Behaviour module, which claims its focus to be on "psychology, sociology and anthropology to give you a deep understanding of organisational behaviour and how it can improve the performance and well-being of people at work. The module examines issues of globalisation, diversity and cultural differences." I derive great excitement from these areas of consideration, as I am possessed by a strong foundation of personal gifts in these areas.

Indeed, I take the greatest pride in my strength as a communicator. In the written medium, in one-on-one conversation and in group settings, I am capable of effectively expressing my point-of-view, the operative ideas of this view and a sense of empathy for the recipient of my communicated message. A skill which I have improved upon over the course of my personal, educational and professional life through a goal-oriented conversational approach, I have found it to be immensely useful in achieving my aims and fulfilling my intents.

It appears to me that the Organisational Behaviour module would aim to channel these skills into usage in the organisational context. With the proper instruction and experience, I believe I could make these innate skills an incredible benefit to the right organisation. It is thus that Aston appears to be a natural fit for me. I look forward to making the best use of your faculties, facilities and generations of insight as attempt to realize the fullest of my leadership potential.

Quite to the point, the Leadership Development, Strategic Management and Innovation and Entrepreneurship modules seem to collectively aim for the construction of the ideal modern leader, armed with an awareness of the evolving conditions of global business and instructed in a legacy of theoretical constructs which remain important to our understanding of leadership's core principles. Such is noted in the course description for Leadership Development, which aims to strengthen "specific skills for improving your own leadership behaviours and a personal mastery plan for your continued leadership development. The course team draws upon its extensive corporate connections with national and international corporations and with Wharton School's Global Leadership and Organisational Effectiveness Programme."

Beyond the exciting prospects of connecting with an international community of future business leaders -- also implicated by the opportunity to visit a top business school for one week anywhere in the world -- Aston's leadership development courses will demand and attend to my innate diligence. I am an incurably hard-worker, perhaps even at times to a fault. I am a fiercely competitive achiever and generally expect the best of myself. Though I am a quick study and in some contexts am accustomed to skills coming naturally -- especially where education is concerned -- I may have the tendency to developing something just short of obsession in terms of gaining those skills which come to me less naturally. It is my expectation that, as a well-rounded individual, I should make it my effort to achieve an adequate skill level in as many pursuits, disciplines and areas of life as possible. Therefore, I have found that being hard-working is a strength equal too if not greater than the possession of sheer intelligence or ability. These latter two qualities, without the former, may well be wasted.

As a function of this belief, I work toward constant self-improvement, a priority that will no doubt be absolutely necessary if I am to brave the rigors of Aston's excellent course programs and if I am to seize on the opportunities of its access to the greater world of international business. Therefore, I am above all things, armed with a determination that cannot be swayed. I anticipate success in all things, victory in all competitions and, at the very least, completion or attendance in all responsibilities that are mine. Such anticipation cannot be had without the sacrifice of one's greatest energies and most diligent commitments. The MBA program at Aston describes itself in such a manner as to suggest that beyond a reasonable doubt, I will be required to summon these if I am to succeed with the excellence I demand of myself.

No doubt, those of you commissioned to the task of reading this scholarship application will note my confidence. This is a trait which I can assure you is not feigned simply for the purpose of elaborating claims to my strength. Quite to the contrary, this is a sense which only accompanies the believe that I have always worked my hardest, done my best and sought to see through those things which I have begun. Such is to say that the confidence you find on display here is a simple pride in these important areas of self-improvement, which I recognize is a process which must always be ongoing.

Therefore, even this confidence is tempered by a humble sense that I am therefore assumedly quite far away from the man I am one day capable of being. Certainly, among the key features of my self-confidence is the willingness to admit error, the ability to accept defeat and the capacity to learn from failure. We are none of us perfect, nor are we capable of negotiating the whole of life without committing some mistakes, and even many that we may have wished to take back. With the proper footing of self-confidence, any of these instances must be taken as a chance to gain a greater understanding of the world, of other people and, indeed, of one's self. I would also denote then that one of the greatest strengths that I have to aid my travels through the Aston MBA program is the degree to which I am determined to learn from my mistakes. One must accept failure when it occurs, but one must also respond to that acceptance with an assurance that the knowledge gained from this event will be sufficient to prevent future failures.

Personal development in these areas can be crucial to making one a valuable member of an organization and a crucial installation to an effective team dynamic. My dual focus on leadership development and organizational behavior as a general disciplinary framework comes form some degree of experience working in the group setting. I have often worked in intimate team contexts and have found that I thrive in such a setting, tending to take a lead role in coordination, the delegation of responsibilities and the contribution of input to the decision-making process. I have natural tendencies toward organization and have the capacity to naturally understand the most optimal ways in which to prioritize tasks and interests.

As a result, I am gifted with respect to time-management, finding punctuality to be of great importance in commanding the respect of those around you. Especially from the perspective of one assuming a leadership role, it is important to arrive to meetings, functions and everyday locales on time. Likewise, meeting deadlines is especially central to effective group and team orientation. This denotes an understanding of the fact that when I am a member of a team, what I do impacts others. With respect to Aston's core modules on organizational behavior, this would seem to be a central philosophical premise.

It is likewise something that I have learned in my organizing experience. In a number of extra-curricular, entrepreneurial and personal experiences, I have channeled these abilities into great planning success and to the amicable assumption of some responsibility by all those involved. As I consider these successes though, I am forced to consider some areas of weakness which have become more evident to me. In doing so, I would also note that many of these are areas in which I anticipate achieving improvement through Aston's course program, content and general induction into a positive learning environment and metropolitan community.

To this point, I am caused to consider the course description for the Strategic Management module, which promises to instruct MBA participants such that the "course develops your strategic awareness and strategy skills, making you critically aware of the factors that contribute to successful business strategies - in the context of global economic and political forces, and new information technology." Again, the incorporation of specific areas of study with relevance to the changing frontier in modern business is of interest here. However, the focus for me concerns strategic awareness and 'the factors that contribute to successful business strategies.' I anticipate that having such skills will help to give me pause and positive reflection when I encounter some of my own personal roadblocks.

Among them, I have already noted that my desire to succeed causes me to work almost to a fault in some contexts. To the point, I am extremely competitive and while I do like to be a good sport, as it were, I sorely dislike losing. Therefore, though I always find time to reflect and learn from my mistakes, I can be very aggressive in the pursuit of my immediate goals. I anticipate that with the educational maturation which I will achieve at Aston, I will learn how to channel these instincts positively so as not to alienate or attempt to best those business associates and fellow team members whom I must regard as my allies.

The instinct to always achieve victory, to ascend to recognition and to better my own personal high marks can strike others as egoistic, especially when this occurs in the organizational setting. Therefore, it seems only appropriate that a greater grasp on both organizational psychology and the strategic management theories here explored would provide me with a greater insight on how to funnel this intensity into greater organizational commitment. Of course, I also believe that at least within the reason provided by business ethics -- another Aston core module area where study is of value to all future business leaders -- a certain degree of ruthlessness is necessary in order to survive in a tough business world. The Aston MBA program holds the promise that I can sharpen these instincts so that they are of use to achieving organizational goals rather than simply serving as a demonstration of my emotional investment in effectively achieving these goals.

Another area of deficiency that I expect I will spend some effort undoing is that concerning my patience. As with many competitive, energetic and highly confident individuals, I am often extremely eager to succeed, to complete a wide array of tasks and to record accomplishments with constant advancement. As a result of these generally positive ambitions, I can sometimes be extremely impatient. When I, for instance, am not in a position to complete an assigned task according to the deadline either through the intervention of others, through the occurrence of unpreventable external incidence or through my own cause, I can become very frustrated. I must often work hard to restrain the instinct to lose patience, and to keep matters in perspective.