Describe an example of your leadership experience in which you have positively influenced others, helped resolve disputes, or contributed to group efforts over time.
“The simulation begins now. Due to technical errors, your ship collided with an iceberg. There is room for 40 people on the lifeboat. There are 63 of you.” The room was silent as sixty-three teenagers, mostly strangers, sat in a circle at a leadership conference and solemnly processed the situation. The director continued: “The first thing you must do is to elect a captain to decide who lives. The captain always goes down with the ship.”
I wondered: Would I give up my spot? Before I had the chance to search my conscious, a voice pierced the silence. “I nominate Kitt for captain.” Startled, I hardly noticed the rest of the proceedings until it was announced that I had won (or lost) and was now responsible for sixty-two lives. I was stunned. Me? I thought of other times when I was under pressure: how I dropped the game winning pass in sixth grade and completely botched my solo in the Reno Jazz Festival a couple of years later.
My mind began racing. I frantically tried to make my way around the circle, asking everyone if they would take a spot. After listening to the passengers’ testimonies, I knew that each person on the ship deserved to live. I addressed the director, “The ship is carrying cargo stored in barrels. Some passengers can float in those.” He agreed, a glimmer of a smile lighting his otherwise stoic face.
Ten people saved.
Four more floated in bathtubs, five clung to water tanks, and the last two sat on a surfboard found in the luggage area.
Only I was left.
The director cut in. “Time’s up, the ship sunk, everyone got off except the captain who went down with the ship. Simulation over.” I didn’t feel satisfied with the outcome. What about me? But as everyone stood to cheer and salute me, I realized that I had succeeded. I did not settle for the suboptimal solution. Even though I did not save myself, success involved determination to be creative, to think outside the framework….