When I was invited to become the Vice President and General Manager at Third Way Associates (TWA) two years ago, the company was in financial and administrative disorder. Employee retention was poor, and TWA took too long to pay vendors because of poor communication and accounting processes. Cash flow was managed based on immediate needs rather than by the logic of budgets planned by project and city. Sloppy expense reports that were turned in with no receipts were reimbursed to employees.
TWA founders Scott Womack and Glenn Land had good intentions, but spent most of their time selling sponsorships and getting new clients rather than directing and managing the company. As we begin 2025, TWA is much healthier in every way. Under my direction, vendors are paid in an average of 20 days from the date of the invoice, instead of 60 days or more. Our cash flow is better administered since I introduced very specific detailed area budgets, which include over 125 budget lines per city. Because I can give the company founders much better stability and a clear macromanagement vision, the three of us are able to plan more for the future, rather than simply putting out fires.
Despite the difficult economy in 20XX, we not only retained our same clients but also signed several new client agreements for three years or more, including a two-year contract with Big Shoe Company worth $1.3 million. I’ve brought fresh accounts and industries into TWA, including Bright Airlines and Drink Y, among others. Combined, these accounts generated more than $500,000 in 20XX, and we estimate close to $1 million dollars in the following year.
Since my arrival, we have a much wider and broader sales menu which has been crucial to generate more revenue. I’ve expanded our most popular sports events to 25 cities, giving our clients new investment opportunities. These events range from recreational soccer clinic tours to professional soccer games broadcast on TV.
I also expanded our field staff, and at present we have 25 strong and reliable managers who report directly to me from each city. Despite the economy, 20XX was not a bad year for TWA, and this year promises to be even better if we continue our current strategy and continue to work as a team.
The leadership essay, generally speaking, should focus on a specific occasion/incident/project (or maybe two) in which you put your strong leadership skills to good use to solve a problem or set of problems and/or use your leadership skills to innovate/motivate success. In this way, it differs from a cover letter or rehash of your resume, which typically provides overviews of many different projects/problems, etc. The leadership essay sinks or swims based on its specificity and detail related to the incidents, projects, or occasions discussed. This essay’s successfulness lies in its details, which I will go into further, along with other strengths below.
In the second paragraph of the essay, our writer does not merely say, “I made invoice payment times shorter and balanced the budget.” Instead, the reader learns that the invoice payout time went from 60 days to 20 days and the budgets have been made much more detailed, organized by region and with “over 125 budget lines.” This gives us as readers a real sense of the extent of these accomplishments and the scale of the work our writer enacted. We see details like this all over the essay, which really help sell the extent and scope of the accomplishments. It also makes the accomplishments feel more real, as they are grounded in specific numbers and action items. Numerical details (stats or figures) are typically something added to a resume, but again, in a resume you are covering many different projects/companies for which you enacted plans. Think of this essay as a chance to expand upon the action items for one or two bullets on your resume and really flesh out how you helped lead to these victories/solve these problems.
The essay’s structure is also a strength:
Paragraph 1 presents the problem (bad finances and administrative processes at a specific company) and the role our writer played in helping to solve these issues (VP/GM of the company). Since this role is a clear leadership position, the writer doesn’t need to spend as much time speaking about leadership responsibilities/opportunities taken. If you are part of a team and not the designated lead (which isn’t bad as it means you went above and beyond!), you may need to spend more time explaining what leadership duties you took on.
Paragraph 2 explains some ways in which the writer helped solve the disorder in the company.
Paragraph 3 and 4 explain new projects and actions taken to further expand the company (moving beyond just the problem solving phase)
Paragraph 5 looks ahead to the future with an optimistic tone (thanks to the writer solving and innovating, the company has a lot to look forward to and plan for)
The structure overall moves linearly from past (the problem) to the future (the future is bright at the company). Organizing your essay from problems to solutions and beyond makes it easy to read and navigate.
Improving this essay:
There is always room for improvement! One improvement I would suggest to this writer is adding a sentence or two in each paragraph that speaks to the teams they managed or ways in which they got other people involved in their plans. Leaders need someone to lead, so it would be good to speak to the teams that helped enact their visions for the company. They finally mention teams/managers in the last paragraph, but an even more successful essay would have that mentioned throughout the essay to demonstrate that they know leadership is not a one-person sport.
The second improvement suggestion for this essay is providing a bit more context about the company. We don’t learn anything about what the company does (what services/products/etc. it provides) until the fourth paragraph–and even then it isn’t entirely clear! Obviously, if you are talking about your work at a huge company, such as JP Morgan Chase or Google or some such, you will not need to provide detail about what the company does. But in this case, some indication as to the industry or general idea of what the company does placed early in the essay will help orient the reader and put everything into context. Additionally, even if you are at a huge company, you may want to provide a little bit of context about what your division or team is responsible for. This can really help the reader get a better understanding of the stakes, stake-holders, and other factors involved in your story.
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