Most significant leadership experience

During the last three years I have devoted a significant amount of time and energy to the betterment of young entrepreneurs, who in this country are mistreated, stripped of opportunities, and looked down upon. In my quest to start my own business, I faced many obstacles that I later found to plague all entrepreneurs in my country. Established family heads discourage their younger members from starting separate businesses; they would rather their younger members join them in the so called "safe business." Moreover, companies and government organizations will not award contracts to young people since older people earn respect for their age rather than their ideas in this traditional sub-continental culture. With an uncooperative family and no sources of funding, young entrepreneurs face little chance of success.

In these difficult conditions, I realized there were many young people who were full of potential but lacked support. By meeting with these people, I motivated them to believe that together we could help improve collective situation. In October 1996,the seventeen of us founded the "Young Entrepreneurs Society" (YES). I served as the coordinator for the first two years. We figured that in order to get our message heard, we needed to prove ourselves a significant lot. We started with social activities like helping poor students with registration fees for matriculation exams and organizing blood donation activities, etc.

We held our first seminar on the "Prospect of Software Development Business inBangladeshand the Government's Role, " and five months later we had our second seminar on the "Obstacles for Young Entrepreneurs inBangladesh' with the finance minister as the chief guest. Following our seminar, the central bank extended loan facilities of up to Tk. 5 lac (US$ 10,000 Apr.) to new businesses whose proprietor or director recently graduated. Our organization continues to push its agenda.

In addition to taking initiative, I managed to lead a group of people to a collective objective that had previously not been identified. Through my leadership, I effected change inBangladesh.

點(diǎn)評

結(jié)構(gòu)：

本篇文章是一篇哈佛商學(xué)院關(guān)于描述申請這最有意義的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)經(jīng)歷的essay。文章敘述了作者很同情那些年輕的企業(yè)家們，他們具有潛在能力但卻因?yàn)榧依锘蜃陨頉]有資金支持而不得不放棄自己創(chuàng)業(yè)。作者組織了兩次研討會，最終通過自己和同伴的努力使中央貸款額放寬了，并且使孟加拉國發(fā)生了改變。

分析：

一流的學(xué)校希望，他們培養(yǎng)的學(xué)生在將來能成為社會各領(lǐng)域的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者。他們要尋找的是那些已經(jīng)表現(xiàn)出非凡領(lǐng)導(dǎo)才能的申請者，因?yàn)?，過去的表現(xiàn)就是將來的表現(xiàn)最好的象征。了解你的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)才能還能讓招生委員會知道，你如何與他人交往，你在群體當(dāng)中是否表現(xiàn)得很突出，以及你獲取成功的決心有多大。

可借鑒要素：

申請者常常會講自己所在的團(tuán)隊(duì)取得過重大成就，但是，卻很少會講清楚自己正是這項(xiàng)活動的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者。另外一些申請者則把這一問題等同于講述重要成就的短文，焦點(diǎn)放在了最終結(jié)果或者成就上，而不是側(cè)重在領(lǐng)導(dǎo)才能方面。還有一些申請者討論某一職位，通過頭銜－他們被指定為領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者并擔(dān)任這樣一個(gè)職位，但是，卻沒能表現(xiàn)他們是怎樣來擔(dān)當(dāng)這一職位，又是如何出色地完成了任務(wù)。被冠以一個(gè)領(lǐng)導(dǎo)頭銜與在這一職位上做出成績完全是兩碼事。

你的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)品質(zhì)應(yīng)該和那些成熟的成年領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者一樣：考慮周詳、反應(yīng)敏銳、全身心地投入、決策果斷、重視他人意見、有影響并與各種人溝通交流的能力、有把各自獨(dú)立的個(gè)體融合一個(gè)位整體的能力、誠實(shí)、還要正直。

譯文：

最有意義的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)經(jīng)歷

在過去的三年中我投入了大量的時(shí)間和精力去改善那些被虐待、被剝奪機(jī)會，并且被蔑視的年輕企業(yè)家。在我尋求開始我自己的事業(yè)時(shí)，我面對了許多的障礙，而這些障礙是幾乎每一個(gè)青年企業(yè)家都要經(jīng)歷的。家庭成員中一些已經(jīng)有了自己的商業(yè)的長輩，不愿意年輕的家庭成員再去建立新的事業(yè)，相對來說他們寧愿一些年輕成員加入到他們的所謂的“安全的生意”中來。此外，公司和政府組織將不愿跟這些年輕人簽合同的，因?yàn)樵诖箨憘鹘y(tǒng)思維的影響下，年長一些的人也許并不一定在想法上比年輕人獨(dú)特，但是他們的年齡會為他們贏得尊敬。面對家庭的不支持和沒有任何資金的來源的情況下，年輕企業(yè)家們幾乎沒有成功的機(jī)會。

在這種困難的條件下，我意識到現(xiàn)在還是有很多很有發(fā)展?jié)摿Φ哪贻p人但是他們?nèi)鄙俚木褪莿e人的支持。和這些人見面后，我鼓勵他們?nèi)ハ嘈盼覀兪强梢怨餐纳普w境遇的。在1996年，我們之中的17個(gè)人發(fā)起了“年輕企業(yè)家協(xié)會”。前兩年里，我在該協(xié)會負(fù)責(zé)協(xié)調(diào)工作。我們發(fā)現(xiàn)，想要引起足夠的重視，我們還需要很多的提升。我們開始進(jìn)行一系列的社會活動，比如幫助貧困生交注冊費(fèi)，還有組織獻(xiàn)血活動等等。

我們舉行了第一次的研討會，關(guān)于“商業(yè)軟件發(fā)展在孟加拉國和其中政府的作用”，5個(gè)月之后我們又舉行了第二次的研討會---- “孟加拉國年輕企業(yè)家的障礙”并邀請財(cái)政大臣作為主要的來賓。在這次研討會之后，中央銀行放寬了貸款數(shù)額，最多可以貸10，000美金給那些剛畢業(yè)學(xué)生創(chuàng)業(yè)者。我們的組織繼續(xù)爭取議程。

在提出倡議的同時(shí)，我設(shè)法組織一些人去達(dá)成那些之前沒有達(dá)成的目標(biāo)。通過我的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)，孟加拉國發(fā)生了改變。