portfolio

 Leadership Interview Portfolio (500 words max total, private

dropbox on carmen)

You will build a structured portfolio of behavioral interview responses using insights from this course

and your own experiences. The purpose of this assignment is to help you translate leadership topics

from class into clear, mechanism-driven interview answers. You will submit three structured responses

(approximately 150–170 words each), integrating class concepts/cases, with your own professional

experiences/insights.

Choose Three Prompts

• Tell me about a time you led without formal authority.

• Tell me about a time you experienced what felt like a ‘failure’.

• Tell me about a difficult decision you made under uncertainty.

• Tell me about a time you motivated others.

• Tell me about a time you influenced someone who disagreed with you.

• Tell me about a time your team was not aligned.

• Tell me about a time you navigated a significant disagreement at work. What was at stake, how

did you approach it, and what was the outcome?

Required Structure (STAR+)

S – Situation (2–3 sentences): Briefly describe the context. What was happening? What was at

stake?

T – Tension (1–2 sentences): What was the core tradeoff, ambiguity, or leadership challenge?

A – Action (3–4 sentences): What did you specifically do?

What principle or framework guided your action?

(Where relevant, incorporate course concepts such as risk vs. ambiguity, coordination failure, unclear

decision rights, status dynamics, influence principles, incentive alignment, etc.)

R – Result (2 sentences): What changed? What was the measurable or observable outcome?

Management and Human

Resources MBA 6201 Syllabus

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L – Leadership Insight (1 sentence): What did you learn or refine as a leader?

Example: Team alignment

S – Situation

During a high-stakes consulting project, our team was preparing a client presentation with significant

time pressure and competing perspectives on the recommendation.

T – Tension

Team members became cautious about voicing concerns because earlier suggestions had been

dismissed quickly. The tension was between maintaining momentum and creating space for honest

input.

A – Action

I recognized that performance was constrained by low psychological safety rather than capability. I

paused the discussion and reframed disagreement as risk identification rather than criticism. I explicitly

invited dissenting views and modeled vulnerability by acknowledging uncertainty in my own analysis.

We agreed to separate idea generation from evaluation to reduce defensive reactions.

R – Result

Participation broadened, key risks surfaced early, and the final recommendation was stronger and

more defensible. The team operated with noticeably greater engagement.

L – Leadership Insight

I learned that under pressure, motivation increases when people feel safe contributing — not when

urgency is amplified.

Objective

By the end of this assignment, you should have:

• Three polished behavioral interview answers

• Clear leadership narratives you can confidently deliver in an interview

• Mechanism-based language that show deep understanding of management/leadership

This assignment is designed to help you convert your experience and class concepts into signal for

hiring managers.