Should you think bravely on your kellogg application

Should You "Think Bravely" on
Your Kellogg Application?

http://www.amerasiaconsulting.com/

Should You "Think Bravely" on Your Kellogg

Think Bravely: we believe that business can be bravely
led, passionately collaborative, and world changing

MBA Admissions Consultant | http://www.amerasiaconsulting.com

Should You "Think Bravely" on Your Kellogg

Kellogg recently launched a new "motto" that reads:
"Think Bravely: we believe that business can be bravely
led, passionately collaborative, and world changing."

The introduction of this laboratory-cooked slogan caused
much hand-wringing among Round 1 applicants, so now
that we have a moment, we wanted to address it and
help out those of you applying to Kellogg in Round 2.
So, should you focus your applications on "Thinking
Bravely"?


Let's break it down.

New Kellogg Dean Sally Blount, who spearheaded this
year-long attempt to create a slogan, believes that this
stated philosophy is truly unique.

It has been drummed into several information sessions
this fall and has become a touchstone of the Kellogg
marketing message.


Here is one quote where Dean Blount breaks it down, from a fairly
recent interview on the website Poets and Quants:

“There is no other business school I think that can say we believe
that business can be bravely led, passionately collaborative and
world changing,” insists Blount. “But that is what Kellogg is about.
Kellogg got on the map because we were different. We cared deeply
about how you build a strong organization and how you get people
to work together more effectively. We’re all about hard work and
ambition but doing it with low ego. It’s all about pushing the agenda
of the organization forward. It’s about reclaiming that and
reexamining how do we teach that in the 21st century. There is no
other school in the world that can claim that as readily as we can
because of our history and our culture.”


Before we give our advice on how to handle this in your
Round 2 applications, we should look at the bigger
picture for a minute.

There are more than a few business schools that will not
doubt take exception to the claim that "no other business
school" can say these things. Does any other school
have that same exact motto? Of course not.

For starters, "passionately collaborative" … that sounds
like something a 15-person project team came up with
and barely makes sense.


Wharton's mantra of "innovation through collaboration"
makes sense to us. It means the best innovating takes
place when you work hand-in-hand with others. Got it.

What is passionate collaboration?
We have no idea.

Maybe hugging each other really tightly?
Toasting a mug of beer with a little more gusto?
Smiles for everyone at the coffee shop?
You get the idea.


How about being "world changing"?

Well, every top business school thinks of themselves that
way. Harvard has it in its own slogan ("We educate
leaders who make a difference in the world"), as does
Stanford ("Change lives. Change organizations. Change
the world.").

Leading bravely? I guess that's a new one, but Chicago
neighbor Booth has displayed a fond appreciation of risk
and courage for years.


To be brutally honest, there's nothing "new" or
"revolutionary" about Kellogg's new slogan. More
importantly, there's nothing that is yet new about Kellogg.

Just because a business school dean, in her first major
push, has put a task force together to create a branding
hook, that does not mean that decades of culture
creation, faculty building, and alumni spawning goes right
out the window.

Kellogg is still a place that puts a premium on soft skills.
It is still a place that prizes teamwork (it's just
"passionate" now!).


It's still a place that features a "play hard" dynamic of
people having fun and enjoying the experience outside the
classroom (as does Stanford, as that cultural aspect of
GSB did not just vanish the minute they got a fancy motto).

So where does this leave us?

For applicants who want to nail the DNA of Kellogg, our
advice is simple: do not throw out all the evidence we have
of what Kellogg is and has been for years. Do not sacrifice
your passion for teamwork, your stories of helping others,
and the showcasing of a well-rounded personality (social,
fun, kind, engaging), all in favor of "thinking bravely."


Can you throw the motto in somewhere?

Sure, why not. Specifically, Kellogg has provided an
Essay 4 "choice" essay option for this. It can also be a
strong aspect of a leadership example in Essay 2.

It can also be the theme of Essay 3, in terms of who you
are. But try to keep it to one of those uses, and then bring
the rest of "you" to the table in the other spaces.

Just remember that Sally Blount will not be reading your
essays. Turning in a four-essay soliloquy on how much
you love the new marketing slogan is not going to impress
a reader in the Kellogg admissions office.


Telling a Kellogg alum in an interview that you have
"bravely led" teams is going to evoke nothing more than an
eye roll (not outwardly, of course, and not even aimed at
you - rather aimed at the fancy new marketing slogan).

Don't play to the sound bite, play to the full, rich culture of
Kellogg. Most importantly, be yourself and let your natural
and appealing qualities come through without trying to
package them into a slogan that sounds like the Two Bobs
from "Office Space" wrote it.

And, not that they are asking, but we would give Kellogg
the same advice.

- The Amerasia Consulting Group

If you are interested in our help on your Kellogg application,
please email us at mba@amerasiaconsulting.com. We are
currently offering late-stage essay evaluation options for any
remaining Round 1 programs and we are now taking free
consults for interested Round 2 applicants.

http://www.amerasiaconsulting.com/

Should you think bravely on your kellogg application

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Should you think bravely on your kellogg application