Leland+ Content Library

Personal Project Blueprint: Build Something Colleges Notice

Learn how to design a thoughtful, student-driven project built around your genuine interests. This blueprint shows how to develop curiosity ce into a meaningful initiative that reflects depth, leadership, and purpose.

Are You Thriving or Surviving as a Leader?

Are You Thriving or Surviving as a Leader? A 3-Minute Leadership Check-In Why This Matters High-performing leaders are often the last to notice when they’ve shifted from thriving to simply surviving. This brief reflection is designed to help you pause, assess, and realign.

GRE Issue Essay Template & Writing Guide

This guide provides a clear structure for writing high-scoring GRE Issue Essays. It includes step-by-step templates for the introduction, body paragraphs, counterarguments, and conclusion, along with useful academic phrases for building strong arguments. Students can use these templates to organize their ideas quickly and write structured essays under timed conditions.

Harvard Essay 2 Example

Harvard Essay 2 example, female from a CPG start-up, accepted into the class of 2028.

Harvard Essay 1 Example

Harvard Essay 1 example of a female from a CPG start-up accepted into the class of 2028.

Time GRE Verbal Timing & Pacing Strategy

This guide presents a structured approach to managing time during the GRE Verbal sections. It explains how to maintain consistent pacing, prioritize question types strategically, and make effective decisions when encountering difficult questions. Students will learn how to use timing checkpoints, implement a skip-and-return strategy, and allocate time efficiently across Text Completion, Sentence Equivalence, and Reading Comprehension questions. The guide also outlines a practical system for reviewing flagged questions and maintaining control of the section under timed conditions. This framework is designed to help students maximize accuracy while avoiding common timing traps, ensuring they reach every question and make the most of the available time during the GRE Verbal section.

Deep Dive into Dental School Personal Statements

Your dental school personal statement can be the difference between an interview and a rejection—it’s where admissions committees assess your motivation, maturity, and fit for the profession. In this session, you’ll learn how to structure a compelling narrative, highlight meaningful clinical and service experiences, and avoid the common pitfalls that weaken otherwise strong applications. Whether you’re drafting your first version or refining a final draft, you’ll leave with a clear framework to communicate your story with clarity, authenticity, and purpose.

Managing Up: A Field Guide

Managing up isn’t about flattering your boss — it’s about owning the relationship with the person who has the most influence over your career. This guide covers how to diagnose your manager’s style, what to ask them early in any new relationship, the most common managing up mistakes and how to fix them, and how to navigate specific situations when the relationship is strained.

The Structured 1:1 Template for Managers

The 1:1 is the most underused tool in a manager’s kit. This template gives you a repeatable 30-minute structure that keeps 1:1s developmental rather than operational — including a five-section weekly framework, a monthly deep-dive question bank, and the five most common 1:1 mistakes and how to fix them. Designed to be shared with your direct report before each meeting.

Gain Competitive Advantage as a Non-Traditional Applicant

Standing out as a non-traditional dental school applicant requires more than explaining your path—it requires positioning it as an advantage. In this session, you’ll learn how to frame career changes, academic gaps, or time in the workforce as strengths, address common admissions concerns, and build a cohesive narrative across your application and interviews. Whether you’re pivoting careers or applying later than your peers, you’ll leave with a clear strategy to turn your unique background into a competitive edge.

Deferred MBA Planning — Preparing for a Successful Application [3/5/2026] (Recording)

Are you gearing up for the deferred MBA application process sometime in the next couple of years? Join me for a session dedicated to making sure you are well prepared when application season rolls around. I'm John, CEO of Leland, and I'll be your host for this session. Prior to Leland, I was admitted to HBS 2+2 and Stanford GSB deferred, and then founded Deferred MBA Consulting. In the past 8 years I have helped thousands of people with their deferred applications. Space is limited, so make sure to RSVP and secure your spot today!

Interview process for Tech BizOps

Breaking into Tech BizOps is not about memorizing frameworks. It is about proving you can think like an operator. Can you dissect messy problems? Make smart tradeoffs with limited data? Align teams and actually drive results? That is what these interviews are built to uncover. In this session, we will decode the entire process from live cases and execution scenarios to strategic tradeoffs and behavioral deep dives, so you know exactly how to stand out at every stage. You will learn how to navigate ambiguity with confidence, communicate like a cross functional leader, and show you are ready to operate at the center of product, strategy, and operations. If you want to walk into your BizOps interviews feeling sharp, decisive, and impossible to ignore, this is your edge.

MIT Sloan Interview Series

MIT Sloan interviews are a key step in the admissions process—and strong preparation can make all the difference. This interview series is designed to help you approach your interviews with confidence and clarity. You’ll learn how to structure strong answers, communicate your goals effectively, and handle common behavioral and fit questions. Whether you’re preparing for your first interview or refining your approach, you’ll leave with practical strategies and greater confidence.

How to Give Feedback That Actually Changes Behavior

Most managers give feedback. Few give feedback that sticks. This guide breaks down the four reasons feedback fails, then gives you a repeatable four-part framework — Situation, Behavior, Impact, Next Step — with side-by-side examples showing ineffective vs. effective delivery. Includes a section on handling the most common reactions: defensiveness, denial, and empty agreement.

How to Build a High-Performing Team From Scratch

High-performing teams are built deliberately, not accidentally. This guide covers the five foundations every high-performing team requires — Clarity, Standards, Trust, Accountability, and Growth — plus how to set the right conditions in your first 60 days, how to manage different performers differently, and the warning signs that a strong team is starting to slip.

Essays (4): UVA Darden MBA Admitted R1 Class of 28

These are the 4 application essays of an applicant who secured R1 admission to UVA Darden full-time MBA.

Building your operating system

Neurodivergent Series - Executive Functioning

European MBA Value Proposition

A European MBA can strategically reposition Korean professionals for accelerated global careers and long-term leadership potential.

Essays (3): UCLA Anderson MBA Admitted R1

These are the 3 application essays of an applicant who secured R1 admission to UCLA Anderson full-time MBA.

Resume Revolution: The ATS-Proof Blueprint

Is your resume disappearing into the application black hole? Up to 75% of resumes are rejected by software before a human ever sees them. Join this free resource to gain the insider strategies you need to beat the system. Leveraging my background as a recruiter and sourcer, I'll show you how to stop listing duties and start showcasing metrics-based achievements that grab a hiring manager's attention. This resource is for you if you want to: - Master keywords to score highly with the ATS. - Pass the recruiter's 6-second review test. - Transform your experience into quantifiable impact. Stop submitting resumes and start submitting applications that convert to interviews!