I grew up in a small fishing village in Maine, surrounded by family. Expectations and aspirations are limited in such an environment. I could have made a living exploiting the sea, but chose to do similar work as a corporate executive. Although I have no siblings, my hometown contains over fifty family members, and our agenda of family activities is always packed. Most of my family is employed in the commercial fishing industry, which instilled in me at a very young age, the concept of work. At age eleven, I started babysitting and mowing lawns, and at the age of fifteen I applied for my lobster license. The first summer with my license, I took a job as a sternperson with a fellow female. We were the only two females out there, which was definitely an experience. When the lobstering season ended that year, I took a job at a grocery store bagging groceries. I saved enough money to build a boat and to buy fifty lobster traps; I was on my way. The following summer I continued to work as a sternperson, and I also fished my own traps. I continued lobstering throughout the rest of high school and college, and it helped me finance my college education.

    In addition to being ambitious and motivated enough to put my heart into even mundane, low-level tasks, I am also extremely organized. This is one characteristic that has always received praise. I pay particular attention to detail, which I believe has contributed to my success thus far. I take pride in my work, and I look at it as a representation of myself. In my position at Sanford Bernstein as a Consultant Liaison, I market my firm to the financial consulting community. Maintaining the integrity of the firm is vital and errors are disastrous. When training new group members, I stress this point most thoroughly.

    I work in a group that currently has six members. The group serves as a central source of information for the firm, and its success relies on an extraordinary amount of cooperation from each of us. As a senior member, I am able to contribute to the group in several ways including: training group members, controlling the quality of the group’ s output, managing and accurately completing multiple requests with short turnaround times, gathering and conveying information from senior investment professionals, collecting and calculating data, maintaining databases, overseeing projects aimed at making long-term improvements to the group’ s processes, and strengthening my own foundation of knowledge to be used as a resource. Recently, as the result of a manager leaving the firm, I have also taken on some of the managerial responsibilities for the group including prioritizing and delegating assignments.

    Though I am an excellent team player, in business school I would like to sharpen my managerial skills. I have found that I need to overcompensate for my “ soft” appearance in order to get my point across. I hope to improve my negotiating skills and to gain more experience in getting group members to carry their own weight. At the same time, I do not want to become a tyrant. To be effective, it is important for a manager to maintain the proper balance of power and compassion. Only in this way, will I be able to lead a team of people to realizing the goals of a firm.

    点评：

    结构：

    文章采用了回忆式的结构,可以推断出现在的作者已经是一个出色的公司主管。文章要求是向MBA的同学介绍自己。这种自我介绍的文章如果把握不好的话，很容易写成枯燥乏味的流水账。一定要知道核心是什么，怎样体现出这个核心。所以作者要考虑介绍自己什么事呢？不可能是自己从小到大每件事都放到这来说。这里面就要突出一个重点。因为是向“MBA”同学介绍，所以这里面的重点就是要清楚MBA需要什么样的人才，看中什么样的能力。争取在一篇文章里把自己符合的这方面的能力全部体现出来。

    分析：

    本文描述了作者在一个小渔村长大，特殊的环境造就了作者本应该像她的家族成员一样从事普通的渔业工作，而不是像现在一样做公司主管。而正是由于作者经历了别人没有的特殊经历，造就了自己不怕吃苦的精神，并且凭借着自己远大的抱负，坚持的奋斗到了今天这个地位。作者在整篇文章中很自然的体现出自己的领导力，沟通组织能力，以及积极自信的做事态度，而作者也并没有因此二骄傲自满，在工作的过程中也意识到自己有一些不足，并希望能够在将来的学习工作中改掉这些不足。

    可借鉴要素：

    本篇文章的成功之处在于作者并没有枯燥的描述自己的成长经历。因为美国大学对你的成长历程并不感兴趣，他们关注的是你所表现出来的这些特质是否符合商学院的要求，你是否适合来stern 商学院学习。其实本篇文章题目是比较大的，你需要去选择自己身上什么样的性格真正符合商学院的要求。所以这样的文章是在考察你是否知道商学院需要什么样的人才，而你自己是不是这个人才。

    译文：

    命题要求：向你的MBA同学介绍你自己，可以用任何方法来进行表达：文字，图解等。

    我在缅因州的一个小渔村里长大，一直和家人在一起。在这样一个环境中，人的前途和抱负都是很有限的。我本应该留在那过着一种依海而生的日子，而不是做公司事务主管之类的行业。虽然我没有兄弟姐妹，但是我们家族在家乡有五十多人。我们的家庭活动经常的成群大伙的。我们家族的大部分成员都是在商业性的渔业公司打工，这对我的工作观念影响很大。十一岁开始我就给别人当保姆、剪草坪，到十五岁的时候，我就申请了捕虾证。就在那年夏天，我和一个女同伴找到一份“监督人”的工作。那里只有我们两个女的，那真是一次不错的经历。捕虾季节结束之后，我在杂货店找到一份整理杂货的工作。我攒了足够的钱买一艘船和五十张虾网。从此我找到了门路。来年夏天，我照样找了一份监督员的工作，而且自己捕虾。在接下来的高中和大学期间我一直靠捕虾来支持我的学费。

    另外，为了使自己更有抱负，激发自己的斗志，我从事世俗认为低级的工作。我也认识到，这是一种常常会受到好评的特性。我对细节特别的关注，这一点对我现在的成功有很大的帮助。工作中我很自信，把我的经历运用到工作中，把工作看成是我的象征。我在Sanford Bernstein担任联络顾问的时候，我将我的企业市场选择在商业联系会。包括对企业的完善是极其重要的，错误将会带来灾难。在培训新成员的时候，我反复强调这一点。

    我现在的工作团队里有6名成员。这是一个为公司提供信息的中心。它的成功与我们之间的合作是密切相关的，作为一个前辈，我可以通过不同的方式对这个团队做出贡献，包括对新成员的培训，对团队工作成果的监督，尽快的准确的满足不同的人的要求，搜集整理专业调查结果，搜集和整理数据和数据库，对团队的长期进步进程的监督，加强我自身的知识基础以便更好的出谋划策。最近，由于公司一个领导的离开，我已经担任起一些团队的管理工作，包括整理优先顺序和摊派工作等。

    虽然我是一个善于配合的人，但是在商学院，我想提高我的管理能力。我发现要达到我的愿望，我需要克服我温和的外表这一关。我希望提高我的谈判能力并且在让团队成员发挥他们自身优势方面得到更多的经验。同时，我不想做一个专横的领导者。事实上，要做一个成功的领导者，最重要的是把握好严厉与温和之间的平衡。只有这样，我才能够领导团队实现公司的目标。