Leland+ Content Library

Ace the Case: Case Interview 101 [6/27/2026] (Recording)

Breaking into consulting is one of the most competitive career moves you can make and the case interview is the gatekeeper! In this live session, Jonathan Diaz, a BCG alum and Tuck MBA, will walk you through everything you need to know to walk into your next case interview with confidence: from understanding the two case delivery styles used by top firms like McKinsey, BCG, and Bain, to building airtight frameworks, cracking exhibits, performing live math, and delivering a sharp, CEO-ready recommendation. Whether you've never cased before or you're looking to sharpen your edge, you'll leave this session with a clear understanding of the end-to-end case flow, proven strategies for each stage, and the mindset shifts that separate good candidates from the ones who get offers.

MBA Essay Bootcamp: How to tell a story no other applicant can [6/18/2026] (Recording)

Unlock the secrets to crafting an unforgettable MBA essay with our MBA Essay Bootcamp! Join me, Hanie, as we dive into the art of storytelling that sets you apart from the competition. With my background as a Schwarzman Scholar at Tsinghua University and an MBA graduate from Columbia Business School, I bring a wealth of experience in admissions and essay crafting. In this session, we'll explore how to weave your unique experiences into a compelling narrative that resonates with admissions committees. Whether you're just starting your application journey or looking to refine your essays, this bootcamp is designed to elevate your application strategy. Spaces are limited, so RSVP now to secure your spot and take the first step towards your dream MBA program!

HELP -- I'm Non-Traditional! AMA with Jessica B [6/8/2026] (Recording)

You didn't take the standard path. That doesn't mean you can't get into a top program — it means you need a sharper strategy than most. This is an open AMA for applicants who don't fit the typical mold: career changers, military veterans, physicians, founders, late-career applicants, people with non-linear resumes, or anyone who's ever wondered whether admissions committees will know what to do with them. I've worked with all of you. Since 2006, my clients have come from backgrounds that don't map neatly onto the McKinsey-to-HBS pipeline — and they've gotten into M7 programs anyway, frequently with scholarship. Three times Poets & Quants has recognized me as one of the best admissions consultants in the field. Bring your specific situation. Ask me whether your background is a liability or an asset, how to frame a career that's hard to explain in 250 words, whether EMBA or full-time MBA makes more sense for where you are, or anything else that's been keeping you up at night. No slides. No agenda. Just answers.

The Overrepresented Applicant’s Blueprint to MBA Admissions [6/8/2026] (Recording)

Many MBA applicants from consulting, finance, and technology backgrounds underestimate one of the central challenges of the admissions process: differentiation. In this workshop, I'll breaks down how admissions committees evaluate “overrepresented” applicant demographics — and, more importantly, what separates memorable candidates from interchangeable ones. Drawing on experience coaching applicants across M7 and top global MBA programs, the session explores how candidates can move beyond prestige signaling and build a more distinctive, cohesive, and authentic application narrative. Participants will learn how to: * Understand how admissions committees evaluate candidates from highly competitive industries * Identify the most common positioning mistakes made by finance, consulting, and tech applicants * Build stronger differentiation across essays, resumes, interviews, and recommendation strategies * Develop clearer personal themes, leadership narratives, and career vision * Communicate impact and self-awareness beyond titles, brands, and technical accomplishments * Highlight distinctive experiences, perspectives, and motivations that create memorability * Avoid “over-coached” applications and develop more authentic storytelling * Position career transitions, long-term goals, and leadership potential more strategically Whether you come from investment banking, private equity, consulting, big tech, product management, engineering, or another highly represented background, this session is designed to help you better understand how to stand out in one of the most competitive areas of MBA admissions.

Home for Ambition #11 — Weekly Live Show [6/10/2026] (Recording)

Home for Ambition is a weekly live show, by Leland, for people trying to stay ahead as work, learning, and opportunity keep changing. Each episode tackles a handful of timely, high-signal topics across AI, careers, education, and the future of work. We expect thoughtful debate, unique perspectives, and practical takeaways you can actually use. It is not a typical interview show or a generic news recap. It is a live roundtable built to help ambitious people make sense of what is changing, understand what matters, and leave with a sharper point of view on how to navigate what comes next.

AI Can't Do Everything. Here's What It Can Do. [6/9/2026] (Recording)

With so much conversation around AI, it can be hard to separate real capabilities from inflated expectations. This session is designed for professionals, builders, and curious learners who want a practical understanding of where AI creates value—and where it still falls short. You’ll learn how to identify high-impact use cases, understand the types of tasks AI handles best, and recognize the limitations that still require human judgment, context, and decision-making. Attending live gives you the opportunity to ask questions about your own workflows and challenges and get real-time guidance on how AI can fit into them. The speaker works closely with individuals and teams adopting AI and will share the patterns they see across successful implementations, along with how they evaluate where AI meaningfully improves outcomes versus where it adds complexity. If you want a more grounded understanding of what AI can realistically do today, it’s worth joining live.

The International Applicant’s MBA Blueprint [6/24/2026] (Recording)

Applying to a U.S. MBA program as an international candidate presents both unique opportunities and unique challenges. While international applicants bring valuable global perspectives, cross-cultural experiences, and diverse professional backgrounds, they also face a highly competitive admissions environment and must effectively translate their experiences to a U.S.-based audience. The most successful international applicants do more than present impressive credentials. They demonstrate leadership, articulate a compelling career vision, and clearly communicate how their experiences, goals, and perspectives will contribute to the MBA community. This workshop explores how international candidates can navigate the admissions process strategically, build a compelling application narrative, and identify programs that align with their professional ambitions. By the end of this session, you will be able to: * Understand how U.S. MBA admissions committees evaluate international candidates. * Identify the key factors that distinguish successful international applicants. * Translate your professional accomplishments into language and examples that resonate with U.S. admissions readers. * Craft a career vision that connects your pre-MBA experience, MBA goals, and long-term aspirations. * Understand how academic performance, test scores, and professional experience are evaluated in an international context. * Avoid common mistakes international applicants make in essays, resumes, interviews, and recommendations. * Leave with a practical roadmap for strengthening your candidacy and maximizing your chances of admission.

The MBB Reapplication Playbook [6/24/2026] (Recording)

Getting rejected from McKinsey, Bain, or BCG is discouraging, especially when consulting is a goal you've worked hard toward. If you're considering reapplying, know that what you're feeling is completely normal, and you're far from alone in this situation. The good news is that MBB firms regularly extend offers to candidates on their second attempt. Reapplication is not just accepted; it's common, and firms genuinely want to see candidates grow and try again. Many consultants currently at MBB firms have a rejection somewhere in their story. The difference between those who succeed the second time and those who don't usually comes down to a few deliberate steps taken between applications. In this webinar, we'll break down exactly what those steps are, from strengthening your profile to refining your case prep approach, so you can put your best foot forward and turn that rejection into an offer.

Banking to Buy-Side: IB & Venture Playbook [6/17/2026] (Recording)

Many finance professionals see investment banking as a stepping stone, but far fewer understand how to successfully make the jump to the buy side. This session is for candidates interested in venture capital, investing, and long-term finance careers who want a clearer roadmap for navigating that transition. You’ll learn how investment banking experience can be leveraged for buy-side opportunities, what firms look for in candidates making the move, and how to position yourself throughout the recruiting process. Join live to hear from two experts with extensive experience across both investment banking and venture capital and ask questions about your own career path. The speakers have firsthand experience navigating these industries and will share the patterns they see across successful transitions, common mistakes, and what differentiates candidates who break through. Expect practical insights and advice similar to what’s covered in 1:1 career coaching conversations.

What Made You a Strong Operator May Be Costing You as a Leader 6/16/26

Strong operators usually get promoted because they’re sharp, reliable, useful, and good at figuring things out. But people leadership asks for a different kind of strength. At some point, the same habits that made you valuable as an operator can start creating drag as a leader. You may find yourself overexplaining, second-guessing, carrying too much in your head, jumping in too quickly, delaying hard conversations, or trying to stay useful in ways that make it harder to actually lead. This session is a practical working session for technical managers and technical leads moving into people leadership. We’ll look at why strong operator habits can become leadership drag, how to spot what is costing you the most right now, and why clearer leadership usually starts with better operating design. You’ll leave with a simple Leadership Drag Audit you can use immediately to identify where your current way of operating is creating unnecessary cost for you, your team, and your leadership presence. This session is especially useful if you are a technical manager who was promoted because you were strong technically, but now you are responsible for delegation, performance conversations, trust, communication under pressure, and leading people without carrying everything yourself. This is the front door to the work I call the People Leadership OS: building a way of leading that fits who you actually are and what your role now requires. This session is for: Technical managers Engineering managers Data engineering managers Analytics engineering managers ML and data science managers Platform, infrastructure, DevOps, and security managers Technical leads moving into people leadership Former senior, staff, or principal ICs who now manage people or are about to

Secondary Applications: Writing Excellent Essays [6/9/2026] (Recording)

Secondary applications can quickly become overwhelming, and many strong applicants lose momentum when it comes time to write dozens of school-specific essays. This session is for medical school applicants who want a clearer strategy for writing compelling secondary responses efficiently and effectively. You’ll learn how to approach common prompts, maintain quality across multiple applications, and craft essays that feel personal without becoming repetitive. Join live to ask questions about your own secondary essays and hear guidance from a coach who completed over 40 secondaries and earned 13 medical school acceptances. The speaker has firsthand experience navigating the volume and pressure of the process and now helps applicants strengthen their writing and application strategy. Expect practical advice and insights similar to what’s covered in 1:1 coaching conversations.

Breaking Into Investment Banking from Non-Traditional Backgrounds [6/16/2026] (Recording)

If your resume doesn't follow the traditional finance recruiting path, this session will show you how to position your background so it reads as an asset, not a gap. We'll cover how to reframe non-traditional experience for banking roles, which transferable skills actually resonate with hiring managers, and how to approach networking when you don't have built-in alumni pipelines. Attending live means you can describe your specific background and get a direct read on how a recruiter or banker would interpret it, which a recording simply cannot replicate. The coach works with non-traditional candidates regularly and will share the patterns that tend to separate the ones who break in from the ones who stall out.

The Reapplicant's Advantage: Turning Setback into Strategy. [6/15/2026] (Recording)

For many successful MBA graduates, rejection was not the end of the journey—it was the turning point. When approached with strategy, reflection, and renewed purpose, reapplying can transform a setback into a compelling statement of resilience, growth, and focus. Admissions committees respect candidates who demonstrate perseverance, self-awareness, and the ability to learn from experience—but only when that growth is clear, specific, and credible. This workshop will help you turn a “ding” into a competitive edge. You’ll learn how to conduct a clear-eyed assessment of your previous application, identify what may have held you back, highlight meaningful progress since your last submission, and approach the reapplicant essay with authenticity and impact. More than damage control, the reapplication process is an opportunity to show the admissions committee that you are stronger, more prepared, and more intentional than before. Done well, your reapplication can tell a sharper, more mature, and more persuasive story. By the end of this session, you will be able to: * Conduct a candid self-assessment to identify weaknesses in your previous application and opportunities for improvement. * Demonstrate tangible growth through professional achievements, academic progress, leadership development, and deeper extracurricular or community impact. * Refine your school strategy by aligning more precisely with programs where your fit, goals, and competitiveness are strongest. * Craft a powerful reapplicant essay that emphasizes resilience, growth, and renewed commitment—without sounding defensive or making excuses. * Strengthen recommendations and school engagement by securing enthusiastic advocates and building more authentic connections with your target programs.

From Generic to Hired | How to Polish Your CV for AI & Tech Jobs [6/15/2026] (Recording)

Join this practical mentoring session designed to help students, graduates, and early-career professionals improve their CVs for tech and AI roles. Led by an Ex-Microsoft professional and current Agentic AI Engineer at Accenture/Avanade, this session will show you how to move beyond a generic CV and tailor your experience for every job you apply to. We’ll cover how to read job descriptions properly, identify the skills recruiters actually look for, highlight projects and technical experience, use AI/ML keywords naturally, and structure your CV so it feels relevant, clear, and competitive. Whether you’re applying for internships, graduate schemes, AI roles, software engineering positions, data jobs, or consulting roles, this session will give you practical tips you can apply straight away. You’ll learn how to: -> Tailor your CV for each tech or AI job -> Make projects and experiences sound more impactful -> Use keywords without making your CV sound robotic -> Avoid common mistakes that get CVs ignored -> Present yourself clearly, even if you have limited experience A great session for anyone looking to stand out in a competitive tech job market.

The Dos and Don't for Using AI in Case Prep [6/25/2026] (Recording)

After this session, you'll know exactly where AI accelerates your case prep and where it quietly works against you. We'll cover how to use AI tools to build structured practice frameworks, why AI-generated feedback often reinforces bad habits in structuring profitability cases, and how to spot the difference between useful output and confident-sounding noise. Attending live means you can describe your actual prep situation and get a direct answer calibrated to where you are right now, not a general response a recording can offer. The coach works with consulting candidates daily and will share the patterns that separate candidates who use AI as a crutch from those who use it to sharpen real case judgment.

The Diversity Statement Demystified: Workshopping the Second Essay [6/16/2026] (Recording)

After this session, you will know how to frame your diversity statement as a scholarly asset rather than a personal biography, and how to avoid the structural mistakes that weaken otherwise strong PhD applications. The workshop will focus on what admissions committees actually look for in this essay: a clear through-line between your background and your intellectual trajectory, and a tone that is reflective without being confessional. Attending live means you can bring your specific framing questions and hear how the coach works through cases in real time, which a recording cannot replicate. The coach reviews diversity statements regularly as part of active PhD admissions coaching, and this session reflects the patterns that consistently separate compelling essays from forgettable ones.

Generate More Leads with AI [6/25/2026] (Recording)

Generating more leads isn’t about using more tools—it’s about building a system that consistently creates opportunities. This session is for sales and marketing professionals who want to use AI to improve lead generation without adding unnecessary complexity to their workflow. You’ll learn how to integrate AI into a practical sales process, identify the highest-impact use cases, and create repeatable systems that help you find and engage more qualified prospects. Join live to ask questions about your current process and see how an expert approaches AI-driven lead generation in the real world. The speaker specializes in helping teams build practical, scalable sales workflows and focuses on using AI to enhance execution rather than simply adding new tools. Expect actionable strategies and real-world insights similar to what’s covered in 1:1 consulting engagements.

Intel Collection for the MBA: Schools, Careers, and the Application [6/11/2026] (Recording)

This is the second session in the MDMP for MBA series series structured around the seven phases of the Military Decision-Making Process. Each session stands on its own, but together they form a complete framework for military and veteran applicants to systematically and strategically approach the MBA admissions process. In this session, we'll focus on mission analysis and cover how to collect HUMINT and AI-enabled SIGINT to improve your understanding of the critical elements of MBA application: target schools (including class profiles, employment outcomes, and culture), post-MBA career paths (industries, functions, recruiting pipelines, compensation), and the components of the application itself (essays, recommendations, and academic preparation. We'll also cover resources available to military and veteran applicants, from the GI Bill and Yellow Ribbon to Service to School and school veterans clubs. By the end, you'll know how to build your candidate school list, how to research post-MBA careers, and how to gather the intelligence that makes every later decision in the process a sound one. Hosted by Ian Kennedy, former Army Special Forces (18E, 1st SFG) and Stanford MBA/MS, who has coached military and veteran applicants into admissions at Harvard, Stanford, Columbia, LBS, Duke, and more.

MBA Strategy Session: Pick the Right Schools, Tell the Right Story, Apply at the [6/18/2026] (Recording)

In this free 45-minute strategy session, I’ll help you understand how to approach the MBA decision before jumping into applications. We’ll cover how to choose the right MBA format, build a smart school list, assess timing, and start shaping a compelling admissions narrative. What we’ll cover: How to decide whether now is the right time for your MBA Full-time vs Executive vs one-year MBA options How to choose schools beyond rankings What admissions committees look for in strong candidates How to connect your career goals, story, and school selection Common mistakes candidates make when starting too late or applying too broadly This session is especially useful for applicants targeting European and global MBA programs such as IESE, INSEAD, LBS, HEC, Oxford, Cambridge, IE, ESADE, and top US schools. I’ll also share practical insights from my experience as an IESE MBA alumnus, admissions collaborator, professor, and MBA coach.

Part 2: Identify Your Target Organizations

Are you tired of applying to 100 jobs and not hearing back? Maybe you’re nervous about reaching out to other people and talking about yourself. Perhaps you’ve heard about networking from a lot of people, but you’re skeptical about the way it can actually work for you. This workshop series is for you! As a career coach, I have distilled the targeted networking approach of finding jobs into a five-step process, each of which I will guide you through. Every three weeks, we will address another piece of the puzzle through an interactive workshop. In Part 1, we reflected on what exactly you want out of your next job and why, and learned how to tell your story in an elevator pitch and rehearse it so you are comfortable sharing your story with others in as little as one minute. In Part 2, we will: - Identify 5-10 orgs/companies that you want to be in using LinkedIn, Internet search, and in-person events, now that you know what you want to do next. - Track what you learn about these companies to start building a picture of what opportunities exist in this space/ market - Change your mindset from a job seeker to a professional’s. Stay confident, not needy. Part 3: Build Your Network to Learn (June 19) Part 4: Maintain Your Network (July 10) Part 5: Use Your Network to Apply (July 31) By the end of the process, you will be fully prepared to use the targeted networking approach to find a job, and more importantly, you will be closer to a chosen job and career that helps you live a purposeful, fulfilling life. Each workshop will include exercises that we will work through together, and I will answer questions. While you can attend any workshop as a one-off, it can be very powerful to attend the entire five-workshop sequence. If you want more personalized support as you go through the job search process, sign up for 1-on-1 coaching sessions with me! This workshop is appropriate for: - Students and early-career professionals who are not sure how to get started with the internship or full-time job search - Mid-career professionals who are looking to pivot into another industry or find a job after a career gap - Anyone who wants to become more adept at networking and use it strategically