WORTH IT

iUniverse, Inc.

Contents

Foreword..........................................................viiPreface...........................................................xiAcknowledgments...................................................xvIntroduction......................................................xix1. Selling Sushi..................................................12. The Gold Watch.................................................43. The Self-Made Man..............................................84. The Midas touch................................................125. The Boy Wonder.................................................156. Far from Home..................................................187. The Predestined................................................228. Never too Late.................................................259. The Brazilian rock Star........................................2810. The Entrepreneurial Dentist...................................3211. Brancaleone's Army............................................3512. The King of the Waters........................................4313. The Audacious Office Boy......................................4614. The Tailor's Pen..............................................4915. Culture Shock.................................................5216. All for a Harley-Davidson.....................................5617. The Guy Who had Been Expelled.................................5918. The Mutant....................................................6219. The Jungle Boy................................................6520. United by the MBA.............................................6821. From Cascavel to Vancouver....................................7222. The Man Who Inspired a Case Study.............................7423. The russian Prince............................................7624. The Parachutist...............................................7925. The Man Who Dreamed of Wall Street............................8126. The Ambassador................................................8427. Head of the Derivatives Desk..................................8728. The Best Medicine.............................................8929. The Son of the trumpeter......................................9230. The Gladiator.................................................9531. The Nerd Who Wasn't...........................................9832. The Metamorphosis.............................................10133. The repentant Mafioso.........................................10434. The Paradigm Breaker..........................................10735. The Shinto Monk...............................................10936. The Comeback..................................................11237. The Noble Frenchman...........................................11538. The Man Who Navigated the Internet Bubble.....................11739. A once-in-a-Lifetime opportunity..............................11940. The Six-a-Side Soccer Guy.....................................12241. The Flight of the Seagul......................................12442. The Video game Girl...........................................12643. The Paulista Who Was Born a Carioca...........................12944. A Brazilian Saga..............................................13145. The Creative Engineer.........................................13346. Jack-of-All-trades............................................13647. The Family Business Dilemma...................................13948. The Pernambucano..............................................14249. The King of Agribusiness......................................14450. The Can that Made the Man.....................................14751. Chasing Pearls................................................15052. The Voice of the Client.......................................15253. Global Recognition and the Birth of AIGAC.....................15754. Setting an Example............................................16155. Under the Tuscan Sun..........................................164

Chapter One

Whenever a new client comes into my office and I try to explain exactly what my job is as an educational consultant, I realize that it is easy to understand the informative part—choosing the courses most appropriate to each candidate (profile matching), verifying English and mathematical proficiency, referring them to teachers specialized in the TOEFL (test of English as a Foreign Language) and the GMAT (Graduate Management Admission test), drawing up a schedule, explaining each step of the selection process—but it is not so easy to explain the intangible component of the process, which is the positioning strategy of the candidate for each school desired. this positioning allows for different nuances in the presentation of facts, but should never hurt our basic premise of always telling the truth.

To facilitate understanding, I use the metaphor of a Japanese restaurant. It goes like this: on a busy street, there are two Japanese restaurants quite similar in size, quality, cost, service, and location. however, one of them is always empty and the other always crowded. the empty restaurant has a sign outside that reads," We sell overpriced dead fish, and we serve it raw, cold, and sliced." the crowded restaurant, in turn, has a color photo out front of sushi being prepared by a smiling sushi chef, with the inscription, "Come and taste our delicious sushi." Both tell the truth, but quite differently, with directly opposite results.

So it is with the selection process for MBA courses. In some schools, there are over ten thousand candidates for 900 to 950 spots—that is, a less than 10 percent admission rate. Many of the candidates have all the desired qualifications—high scores in the TOEFL and GMATs, solid academic records, good work experience, some international experience, favorable letters of recommendation, and so on. What, then, makes the difference for more than 85 percent of applicants who are rejected at each school? My response: many do not know how to sell sushi. the way a candidate positions him or herself in this competition is undoubtedly the decisive factor in the whole process; it is what will determine the success or failure of a whole life plan. In our office—modesty aside—we know how to sell sushi. here, 92 percent of our customers achieve their goal of getting into a top MBA program.

Truthfully, if any one of our clients were to write an autobiography, they would probably quickly fill a book two hundred pages long or more. they have so many interesting things to share. But in the MBA admissions process, applicants are forced by the required word constraints imposed by each university to limit themselves to a total of five to ten pages. What are the ten most important pages among the potential two hundred of a person's autobiography? Which 5 percent of a person's life should decide 100 percent of his or her future? that is the challenge in positioning yourself. So, yes, telling the truth is important, but the challenge lies in doing so in a way that helps you win the game. Positioning yourself also means differentiating yourself from your competitors.

If you are an engineer or businessperson and work in consulting or the financial market, chances are you'll have hundreds—maybe thousands—of competitors with the exact same profile. What will make the Admissions office of X School choose one applicant and not another? It is the details one of them offers that will make a difference. It is the paths one of them has traveled, the examples of experiences given, the extracurricular activities the applicant has engaged in. Anything can be important, so long as it is placed in the proper perspective.

When my friend Paulo helped me in my brainstorming sessions, we were not sure whether we should inform the admission officers that I was a backgammon referee. or that during college I wrote skits for the Med School Follies Show, in addition to playing the piano. It was information that could be omitted without harming the whole, but I decided to use them as examples of versatility and multiplicity of interests which, by intuition, we thought could weigh in my favor.

Today, I know these things are important, as are applicants' family backgrounds and their involvement in community activities.

These details, if properly revealed, become what we call hooks, and these hooks are what bring the desired result. to demonstrate their importance, we have used them to organize the structure of this book: each title of almost every chapter names the hook we used to capture an admission officer's attention and arouse interest in our applicant. In the exceptions, the title refers to where professional success led our client post-MBA. Such is the propulsion potential in a good hook.

Chapter Two

Our first interview with a potential MBA applicant is always free. this is how the client and I evaluate whether there is empathy between us, a good fit, and a willingness to work together. Normally it takes ten to twenty-five meetings to produce material for the application, depending on the number of schools to which the person is applying, so compatibility is key.

On this particular Tuesday, I was holding a first interview with a young gentleman by the name of Rodrigo, who had long brown hair and a solid physique. he sat in front of me speaking quite firmly, getting straight to the point. It did not take him long to refer to a hurdle between him and his goal. he had great difficulty with tests and did not know whether the good grades he had obtained in college would be sufficient to gain admission to a prestigious program. he asked me straight out what his chances were, not wanting to waste time. If his chances were almost minimal, as he thought might be the case, he would consider calmly letting go of his desire to accomplish an MBA. What was clearly an old insecurity hidden behind a studied assertiveness was rearing its head. We talked a lot. I made him see by the end of our first meeting that it was worth a shot.

In the next two meetings, we used a technique I always use—brainstorming—to deepen our understanding of the task at hand. Rodrigo told me details of his life, career, successes, joys, disappointments. Free-associating such stories can provide lots of insights. When we are freed from thinking in a logical sequence and allowed to go back and forth in time, seeking anecdotal memories that may even be almost forgotten, people end up revealing that one bit of information that makes all the difference. Brainstorming, then, is a force that opens the door to the dream.

This is where my experience is crucial. I have learned to search carefully for the gold in the story of a client's life and discover what makes him or her special. Mostly, I look for the story—that one particular and beautiful moment when my clients reveal the thing they most seek. I was deeply touched by this story that Rodrigo told me and have never forgotten it:

My father, an airline pilot, died when I was very small. he did not leave me much besides memories. he did, however, leave one material thing, something full of meaning, symbolic if you will. With it, I marked the time from then on. It was a gold watch.

I remember staring at the second hand till I drooped. Watching it turning, turning, feeling entranced, deep in the past. It always made me sad. I kept the watch in the nightstand drawer. Sometimes, when I dreamed of my old man, I woke in the night, lit the lamp, looking for the watch in the drawer, searching for that golden glow I knew so well. then I would bring it to my ear and listen to the endless whispered ticking. I never forgot to wind it. I did not want to ever see it stopped. The ticking was like a beating heart; a living inheritance from my father.

Time did not bring my father back. Instead, it turned him sepia. he became a shadow in my memory.

At sixteen, I decided I needed an international experience. I needed to travel, see other parts of the world, learn a language other than Portuguese. But I had no money to pay for my dream. only it was not a dream to me. It was a necessity. I felt that my future would depend on being able to travel at that time in my life, a time when my mother could barely look me in the eyes, so ashamed was she of not being able to help. I feel badly for her even today; I know now how hard it must have been.

I decided to sell the watch. I mean ... it wasn't like that, from one moment to another. I suffered a lot. I went back and forth many times before the final step. Even today, I remember the day I sold the watch. I felt lost, bewildered; the money in my pocket seemed to burn my skin underneath it. It was a horrible shame, a feeling of guilt that has never really left me.

The amount I got for the watch was small, but enough for the ticket and some pocket money. off I went to Europe, without a definite plan. With the amount raised, I could not expect much from the adventure. In France, I got a job as an au pair.

I took care of a boy with severe physical disabilities. I took him to physical therapy every day. I was moved by the boy's struggle and I gave him the best care I could. I felt really great affection for him. And then luck smiled at me. The boy's father, impressed with the devotion that I had in caring for his child, and knowing of my financial troubles, granted me a spot in a course at the university at which he was a dean. I was able to stay there for a significant amount of time. For someone who only had had money for the plane ticket, it had been a victory.

I came back. the time I'd spent abroad was crucial to obtaining employment as a trainee in a multinational company, where my career quickly advanced. that's when I began my university studies in earnest. And the second hand did not take as many turns around the proverbial clock face as I had anticipated in order to accomplish all of this.

I have made many friends at work. Many remain friends still. this is only natural for, with so many intimate details revealed, I end up creating a place in my heart for them, a place filled with trust, respect, and affection. there's always something about their stories with which I identify, and that ultimately brings us together beyond the work we are trying to do. Rodrigo was no exception. I was touched by the challenges he faced, from childhood forward, and from the lack of money in his household. having also come from a humble family, remembering well the sacrifices that my parents made to give the best possible education to their two children, I have always felt moved by people with financial troubles.

The story of the watch, I'm sure, was decisive for Rodrigo to be admitted to the thunderbird School of Global Management in Glendale, Arizona, a highly-ranked international business school. When we decided to tell it in his essay, we knew it was full of meaning and strength, a passport to the program he wanted. After that, overcoming his difficulty with the GMAT was a simple matter of training.

Upon completing his MBA at thunderbird, Rodrigo admitted a job working for one of the largest food companies in the world. Later, having somewhat of an entrepreneurial spirit, he switched to the editorial area, where he is today a very successful executive. he has lived and worked in the United States since 1997.

Chapter Three

When dealing with people on a close personal basis, it's difficult to remain indifferent to certain characteristics of their personalities. In not-so-straightforward ways, we end up identifying with the difficulties they confront, the paths they choose, and the moods that prevail. With Osvaldo, it was no different. In our first conversation, I saw a lot of myself in him—the same tendency to introversion and the same shyness. I also saw in osvaldo an iron will to grow and to offset a humble beginning by lifting barriers.

Osvaldo was born in Santos. his family had little formal education. His father was a chauffeur and his mother a housekeeper. Consequently, he had access only to the rather precarious Brazilian public schools. However, through much effort and studying on his own, he got into ITA (Instituto tecnológico de Aeronáutica), a renowned Brazilian university that trains engineers to build airplanes. Undisputedly one of the best engineering schools in the country and also one of the hardest to get into, it offers free tuition and subsidized housing once admission is gained. Upon entering ITA, Osvaldo took a big step toward the independence he desired and needed. here is his story, as I remember it, of course:

I gradually freed myself from the English dictionary. It became less and less often that I had to look up the words I needed to read, to understand, and to use later in my own writing.

Blessed was the moment when I joined the Pen Pal Association. those solitary exchanges of letters with friends at an unknown distance, letter by letter, word for word, began to bear fruit. Already I could understand, almost without interruption, entire texts written in English. Finally, I was progressing. Now I just needed to broaden my horizons—to write to more people. Quantity would make a difference. The more cards I received, the more I would have to answer. The more letters I answered and the more training I had, the more knowledge and foreign language proficiency I would get.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from WORTH ITby Ricardo Betti Ricardo Filho Copyright © 2012 by Ricardo Betti and Ricardo Filho. Excerpted by permission of iUniverse, Inc.. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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