ESMT Berlin MBA Recommendation Questions

The ESMT Berlin MBA application requires two professional recommendations, preferably from a direct supervisor or someone who can speak to your professional qualifications and leadership potential. ESMT Berlin uses a modified GMAC Common Letter of Recommendation (LOR).

2024-2025 ESMT Berlin MBA Recommendation Questions

Section 1: Recommender information

Context of Relationship:

• Current Employer
• Previous Employer
• University/Academic
• Extra curricular/Community
• Other

Nature of Relationship:

• Direct Supervisor
• Other Supervisor
• Advisor/Mentor
• Colleague/Peer
• Direct Report
• Indirect Report
• Client/Customer
• Business Partner/Investor
• Advisor
• Professor/Instructor
• Other

How long have you known the applicant?

Section 2: Leadership Assessment Grid

In this section, you will find 8 competencies and character traits that contribute to successful leadership. For each competency, please select the one button that corresponds to the behavior that you have seen the applicant most consistently exhibit. We acknowledge that all applicants have both areas of strength and areas of needed development. Your candid and honest appraisal will assist in evaluation of the applicant. Please assume that each level builds upon behaviors described in the previous level.

• No basis for judgment
• Struggles to delegate effectively (e.g. micromanages), does not organize activities or provide appropriate information to complete tasks
• Assigns tasks and tells people what to do, checks when they are done
• Solicits ideas and perspectives from the team, structures activities, holds members accountable
• Actively engages the team to develop plans and resolve issues through collaboration, shows the impact of individual/team contributions
• Recruits others into duties or roles based on insight into individual abilities, rewards those who exceed expectations, provides strong organizational support

• No basis for judgment
• Reluctant to take on new tasks, waits to be told what to do, defers to others
• Willing to step in and take charge when required to do so Takes charge spontaneously when problem needs attention
• Volunteers for new work challenges, proactively puts in extra effort to accomplish critical or difficult tasks
• Proactively seeks high-impact projects, steps up to challenges even when things are not going well

Results Orientation: Focuses on and drives toward delivering on goals, objectives, and performance improvement.

• No basis for judgment
• Focuses on fulfilling activities at hand, unsure how work relates to goals
• Takes actions to overcome obstacles to achieve goals
• Independently acts to exceed goals and plans for contingencies
• Documents activities and outcomes to learn from past, introduces incremental improvements to raise the effectiveness of team
• Invents new approaches with measurably better results, works to deliver best-in-class performance improvements

• No basis for judgment
• Struggles to get point across, neglects to understand audience’s input or perspective, lacks confidence and gets flustered under pressure
• Works to get point across, acknowledges feedback, reframes statements when necessary to make clearer, speaks politely, remains composed in known circumstances
• Presents views clearly and logically structures content for a broad audience, listens and responds to feedback, prepares in advance to appear confident, leaves a positive and professional impression, responds confidently in unfamiliar situations
• Uses tailored language that appeals to specific groups, restates what others have said to check for understanding, comes across as confident, responds rapidly and strongly to crisis, looked to for advice and guidance
• Structures content for senior-level meetings, maintains composure when challenged, solicits opinions and concerns, discusses them openly and adjusts communication, when in strong conflict or crisis, remains cool under pressure, channels strong emotion into positive action

• No basis for judgment
• Follows the crowd, takes path of least resistance, gives in under pressure
• Acts consistently with stated intentions, values, or beliefs when it is easy to do so
• Acts spontaneously and consistently with stated intentions, values, or beliefs despite opposition
• Initiates actions based on values or beliefs even though the actions may come with reputational risk, demonstrates the values of the team or organization publicly
• Demonstrates high personal integrity even at personal cost, holds people accountable to the team or organizational values

• No basis for judgment
• Avoids problems, when faced with problems, sticks to what worked before, or chooses an obvious path
• Offers solutions when the risk is low, focuses on immediate, short-term implications instead of the big picture
• Looks beyond the obvious, identifies and focuses on the critical information needed to understand a problem, identifies root cause(s), and comes up with reasonable solutions
• Gathers and analyzes key information using complex methods or several layers deep, integrates perspectives from a variety of sources to arrive at unexpected but practical and effective solutions
• Applies logic to break complex problems down into manageable parts or sub-problems, solves tough and interconnected problems and can explain how the pieces are connected

• No basis for judgment
• Lacks awareness of how he/she is perceived, denies or offers excuses when confronted
• Acknowledges fault or performance problem when confronted with concrete example or data
• Describes own key strengths and weaknesses accurately, welcomes feedback from others and discusses opportunities to change with select individuals
• Actively seeks out feedback to explicitly address desired improvement areas or build on strengths, explores reasons for problems openly, including own faults
• Seeks out challenging and potentially risky experiences to improve, identifies and engages with resources—people, processes, or content— to maximize strengths or mitigate weaknesses

• No basis for judgment
• Focuses on completing work without understanding implications
• Understands immediate issues or implications of work or analysis
• Develops insights or recommendations within area of responsibility that have improved near-term business performance.
• Develops insights or recommendations within area of responsibility that have shaped team/organization strategy and will have impact on long- term business performance
• Develops insights or recommendations beyond area of responsibility with impact on long-term business strategy and performance

Is there anything about your ratings on which you would like to comment?

Based on your professional experience, how do you rate this applicant compared to her/ his peer group?

• Unable to assess
• Below average
• Average
• Very good (well above average)
• Excellent (top 10%)
• Outstanding (top 5%)
• The best encountered in my career

• Do not recommend this applicant
• Recommend this applicant, with reservations
• Recommend this applicant
• Enthusiastically recommend this applicant

Section 3: Recommendation Questions