[Prompt: Describe what you feel to be your two most substantial accomplishments to date (at least one must be professional), explaining why you view them as such.]

Consulting Achievements

While working for Holcim, the second-largest cement producer in the world, I found myself on a team of disparate individuals with varied backgrounds and motivations. Sent to one of Holcim’s Mexican subsidiaries to lead this team, I realized from the start that the project would not be easy.

Directed to bring savings to the subsidiary of about $29 million, my strategy team consisted of two Swiss senior colleagues from Holcim, four local subsidiary managers, and five McKinsey consultants from Mexico and Switzerland. We faced problems right away. Still, I was determined to encourage team unity by organizing social events and fostering open communication. Unfortunately, there was local resistance to reforming the subsidiary. Learning Spanish by night and running meetings by day, I worked extensively with local managers to understand their concerns and integrate their suggestions into our plan. Ultimately, the project was successful: we surpassed our savings objectives, and I received an early promotion.

Despite the rewards of working for Holcim in Mexico, my most challenging -- and fulfilling -- accomplishment came in my work as a leading consultant to a taskforce group of eight experienced production and finance managers from a worldwide specialty chemicals company. Assigned by McKinsey as an expert in working capital (W/C), I was charged with helping the client managers identify $20 million in W/C improvement actions and ensuring that these actions were implemented within two months to prevent a default on debts.

When I started the project, I was terrified. With over 35,000 product references in inventory, the business was extremely complex. I was expected to lead a group of skeptical, experienced managers in identifying improvements for their own business. I had no idea where to begin. After much mental debate and inevitable trial and error, I eventually learned that by focusing on the fundamentals -- my analytical abilities and my strong grasp of finance -- I could convince my superiors at least to listen to what I had to say.

The managers realized that I was young and inexperienced, but they also saw that I was focused on performance. As I began to introduce innovative and methodological approaches to problem solving, they grew eager to teach me what I needed to learn. Ultimately, we implemented twice the targeted improvement, saving the company from a potential bankruptcy. The CEO personally asked me to accept broader consulting tasks within his organization, and I was promoted to associate just a year after joining McKinsey.

點評：

本文題目是要申請者描述一下目前為止最有成就的兩件事。

一個人的品質和人生觀往往是從一些重要經歷中形成的。如果講出來能讓人信服，這些經歷就能成為很有趣的故事。招生委員會希望申請者有這種自我反省的能力，這種能力有助于人們在回望人生的過程中，善于留意某些具有重要意義的人生經歷。有了這樣的能力，表明你的成熟和自我意識。招生官員之所以問這個問題，還因為他們想了解你的價值觀。通過哪些你所說的、有意義的事情，你也就對自己的價值觀進行了闡述。

本文作者所描述的第一件事是在Holcim工作其間，被派到墨西哥一個分公司去領導一個團隊時，團隊中的同事有著不同的背景，不同的語言，外界環境的改變，都導致了這次任務的艱巨性。但在面臨各種困難的時候，作者還是不斷的鼓勵隊友，最終取得了勝利了，并且得到了提前晉升。

另一件事是作者到McKinsey工作時，領導咨詢師運轉資金，幫助客戶經理證明2000萬美金去預防債務拖欠。項目剛開始時作者對35000產品參考書目，完全不知道從何做起。在經歷了精神斗爭，不可避免的考驗和一系列的錯誤后，最后執行了兩次對目標的改進，終于潛在的破產中挽救了回來。公司CEO對我十分重視親自要求我涉及更廣泛的咨詢任務。在McKinsey工作一年后取得了晉升。

這兩件事情作者并沒有冠冕堂皇的做一些表面描述與夸浮的吹噓，或是指揮別人做了什么事，而是自己實實在在的做了事情。要理解所謂的有成就的事情并不一定是什么驚天動地的大事，對自己有多大的沖擊，或是對將來有多大的改變。只要你能從這些事情的細節中體會到了變化，從這些變化中體會到了自己的成長與進步。美國招生辦真正想看到的也就是你真實的做了哪些事，從中學到了什么，悟到了什么，你真正的能力體現在哪里。