Leland+ Content Library

How to Create a Harvard Kennedy School Application that Stands Out (all degrees) [7/23/2026] (Recording)

Do you know what the Harvard Kennedy School is looking for in its applicants? What about how to write specifically for the school's 5 essays? As a current student, I understand the school's priorities from the inside. I also went through their essay process and am well-equipped to help you craft an application that is integrated across essays and stands out. I have also coached clients to successful admissions to the MPP program. This session will walk through what the school is looking for from its applicants and how to tell your story in a way that resonates with the admissions committee.

AMA: Prepare NOW for Admissions This Fall - MFE & STEM Master's [6/5/2026] (Recording)

Thinking about an MFE, MSCS, Data Science, Analytics, or other STEM master’s program? Join this AMA for honest advice on admissions, competitiveness, recruiting, career outcomes, and whether a program is actually worth it. We’ll cover: - School selection - Resume & profile positioning - Career changer applications - Essays & materials - Networking as part of your strategy Bring your questions — especially if you’re targeting Financial Engineering, quant finance, AI/ML, or technical career pivots.

From Overlooked to Indispensable: The Visibility Strategy for High Performers [6/19/2026] (Recording)

You're doing the work. You're getting results. And somehow, the wrong people are getting the credit, the promotions, and the rooms you should be in. In this 45-minute session, we go beyond "speak up more" and into the real psychology of why high performers become invisible — and what actually moves the needle. Drawing on behavioral science, enterprise leadership experience, and hard-won patterns from the field, you'll walk away with a concrete visibility framework and the self-awareness to know exactly where your gap is. This isn't soft. This is strategy.

Create a free Marketing Agent with Claude and Apify to Win on Linkedin! [7/21/2026] (Recording)

Unlock the power of LinkedIn with AI! Join me, as we explore how Claude and Apify can revolutionize your LinkedIn strategy. With my experience in AI research and development, and a background in creating tailored automation solutions, I'll guide you through the fundamentals of AI agents and research, and how they can be leveraged for content and creative marketing. Whether you're looking to enhance your growth marketing strategies or streamline organizational processes, this session will provide you with the insights you need to succeed. Don't miss out on this opportunity to elevate your LinkedIn presence with AI. Secure your spot today!

Product Management AMA: Trends, Interview Prep, AI PM & More [6/25/2026] (Recording)

Join us for an insightful AMA session on Product Management, where we'll dive into the latest trends, interview preparation, AI in product management, and more. I'm Jay, your host for this event, and I bring a wealth of experience from leading roles at Meta and Microsoft, as well as founding a successful e-commerce brand. With a strong background in engineering and product leadership, I've mentored numerous PMs and led teams to success across various domains. Whether you're preparing for behavioral or product case interviews, looking to enhance your execution skills, or simply exploring the field, this session is designed to provide valuable insights and guidance. Don't miss this opportunity to learn from my experiences and ask your burning questions about the dynamic world of product management. RSVP and secure your spot today!

How to Make a Big International Career Move Without Wrecking Your Momentum [7/11/2026] (Recording)

Most international moves are planned as logistical exercises of visas, postcodes, and shipping boxes. But for high-performing professionals, the real risk isn't the paperwork; it’s the loss of career momentum. Whether you are choosing between staying where you are, applying for a degree abroad, or making a direct leap into a new market, the stakes are high. In this session, we move beyond the "backpacking expat" advice. We will look at how to evaluate international opportunities through a strategic lens, ensuring your next move compounds your future rather than interrupting it. We’ll discuss the exact frameworks used with mid-career professionals and high-achieving students to choose between cities like Copenhagen, Vienna, or Sydney, and how to know when a degree is a bridge, and when it’s just expensive avoidance. By the end of this livestream, you will be able to: 1. Apply the 4-Part Decision Lens: Evaluate any move based on career upside, visa/work-right reality, ROI/financial runway, and emotional sustainability. 2. Audit Your Path: Determine whether a direct job search, a Master’s/MBA bridge, or a hybrid strategy is the most viable route for your specific career stage. 3. Identify Momentum Killers: Recognize the common mistakes (like over-researching or under-translating experience) that cause high-performers to stall during relocation. 4. Draft a Post-Move Narrative: Begin framing your move so it fits into a coherent professional story that international recruiters actually trust. Outcomes 1. A Clearer Go/No-Go Framework: A structured way to stop second-guessing your choice between staying or going. 2. A Bridge Audit: Clarity on whether that degree you're considering is actually necessary for your target market's visa and hiring rules. 3. The Translation Checklist: A list of what in your current background needs to be pruned or massaged to make sense to an employer in a different system.

AMA: M7 MBA Admissions and MBB Recruiting [6/16/2026] (Recording)

Want to break into an M7 MBA program and land an offer from MBB? Join Alec Emmert, a Wharton MBA, former McKinsey consultant, and former McKinsey interviewer, for an open, judgment-free coaching session on MBA admissions, consulting recruiting, and career reinvention. Alec was admitted to Wharton at 35 with a 2.85 undergraduate GPA and later joined McKinsey after being rejected in a previous application cycle. In this session, he’ll share the lessons, strategies, and hard-earned insights that helped him overcome nontraditional odds and answer your questions directly. Bring anything you want to ask about MBA applications, M7 positioning, consulting interviews, networking, overcoming weak spots, or building a compelling story.

GMAT Quant Isn't About Math: The 4 Skills That Decide Your Quant Score [6/16/2026] (Recording)

About this event You've done hundreds of problems. You know the formulas. Your score isn't moving. Here's why: the GMAT isn't actually testing your math. The math on Quant is high school level — it has to be, because there's no calculator. What separates a 600 from a 700+ isn't more content knowledge. It's the four test-taking skills that decide how every problem unfolds: how you choose your path, how you manage time, how you handle stress, and how you maintain focus across 45 minutes. In this 60-minute session, we'll deep-dive each of those four skills using the same framework I use with my 1:1 students on Leland. You'll see live problem walkthroughs showing the difference between a 4-minute "compute the obvious thing" path and a 20-second "make your life easy" path — and you'll learn the single mental move that makes the second one feel natural. By the end, you'll have a personalized diagnostic of your own weakest skill — and a concrete 4-week plan to actually move your score. --------------------------------------- What you'll learn Why "more practice" doesn't fix the plateau — and what does The 4 Test-Taking Abilities behind every top score (Strategy / Methodology, Time Management, Stress Management, Focus) and how each one maps onto specific in-the-moment moves The one mental question to ask before every Quant problem that re-routes you from the long path to the short one The skip decision framework — when to invest, when to bank time, and how to make the call at the 1-minute mark instead of the 2-minute mark An anti-paralysis protocol for the moment you go blank on test day Your personal TTA profile via 3 live polls — including a 4-question diagnostic that tells you exactly where your prep should focus next --------------------------------------- What you'll walk away with A clear picture of your weakest skill out of the four — and why it's almost certainly the lever that will move your score the most A calibrated 4-week prep plan A short list of pattern-recognition moves you can use on your very next practice session --------------------------------------- Who this event is for - Pre-test or mid-prep MBA applicants targeting 700+ - Students who have plateaued despite putting in significant prep hours - Anyone whose mock scores consistently trail their practice scores by 5+ points - Students who have done content review and want to know what to do next This is not a content-review session. We will not cover formulas, definitions, or "how to solve a quadratic." If you're at the foundational-content stage, this event will be most useful after you've done your first content pass. --------------------------------------- Format 60 minutes, live Fully worked problems demonstrating compute-first vs. think-first approaches Open Q&A at the end --------------------------------------- About the host Josh P. is a GMAT coach on Leland who works with students across all three sections — Quantitative Reasoning, Verbal Reasoning, and Data Insights. He has developed a structured methodology for diagnosing and addressing the test-taking skills that determine scores — refined across hundreds of 1:1 students over multiple years. The four-skill framework taught in this event applies across the whole test; tonight we focus it on Quant. His students span pre-MBA candidates targeting top-10 programs, professionals returning to the test after a long gap, and applicants who have hit a plateau and need a fresh diagnostic to break through. Book a free 1:1 intro on his Leland profile to discuss your own GMAT prep.

AI Automations and Agents [6/29/2026] (Recording)

AI can automate far more than simple tasks, but many professionals struggle to identify where it creates the most value and how to implement it effectively. This session is for anyone looking to understand how AI automations and agents can streamline work, eliminate repetitive processes, and unlock new levels of productivity. You’ll learn how modern AI agents work, where they can be applied across real business workflows, and how to identify opportunities for automation in your own work. Join live to ask questions about your specific challenges and hear directly from an AI expert known for connecting cutting-edge AI capabilities with practical business needs. The speaker stays at the forefront of emerging AI trends and regularly helps organizations design solutions that deliver meaningful results. Expect real-world examples, actionable frameworks, and insights into where AI automation is headed next.

How to Structure an MBA Application Essay: The Classical Arrangement [7/25/2026] (Recording)

As a former AP English teacher and college essay tutor now pursuing an MBA, I want to share how I used certain classical writing and rhetorical strategies to write cogent and compelling MBA application essays.

Summer Sprint: Jumpstart Your PE Recruiting Prep [6/11/2026] (Recording)

In this session, you will leave knowing how to structure your PE recruiting timeline before fall cycles accelerate, what sourcing and deal experience interviewers actually weight when screening candidates, and how to position your background for firms at different stages and strategies. These are the patterns that consistently separate candidates who get to final rounds from those who stall early. Attending live means you can ask directly about your specific profile and hear how those details change the advice, context a recording cannot give you. The coach works with PE candidates daily and will share the same frameworks they use when evaluating where a candidate actually stands and what needs to move first.

Summer Leadership Series: Clarity For Your Next Chapter [7/22/2026] (Recording)

How Great Leaders Make Decisions Without Perfect Information Have you ever felt stuck between multiple good options? Whether you're considering a promotion, changing careers, transitioning from the military, starting a business, or simply trying to figure out what's next, uncertainty can make even capable leaders feel overwhelmed. The challenge usually isn't a lack of information—it's the pressure to make the "right" decision. In this interactive 45-minute workshop, we'll explore why high performers often struggle with major life and career decisions and introduce practical tools to help you move forward with greater clarity and confidence. This isn't a presentation about finding the perfect answer. It's a conversation about learning to trust yourself, align your decisions with your values, and take the next step with intention. What You'll Learn During this session, you'll: • Understand why capable leaders often feel stuck during periods of transition. • Learn a simple framework for making decisions when certainty isn't possible. • Explore the role values, identity, and energy play in creating clarity. • Work through a guided reflection exercise to identify your own "next waypoint." • Leave with practical questions and tools you can immediately apply to your career and life. Who Should Attend? This session is designed for: Mid-career and senior professionals. Anyone navigating transition. Executives and emerging leaders. Entrepreneurs and business owners. Anyone facing an important decision or a new chapter in life. No matter where you are in your journey, you'll leave with a greater perspective and a practical framework for navigating uncertainty with confidence. What You'll Walk Away With By the end of our time together, you'll have: ✅ A clearer understanding of what's driving your current decisions. ✅ A framework for moving from uncertainty to intentional action. ✅ Reflection tools you can continue using long after the session. ✅ Greater confidence in identifying and taking your next step. My hope isn't that you leave with your next ten years figured out. My hope is that you leave knowing your next waypoint. Because you don't have to see the entire horizon. You only have to trust yourself enough to steer toward the next waypoint.

Why MBA, Why Now, Why [X] Program: Answers that Define Your App [6/11/2026] (Recording)

Few questions matter more in MBA admissions than why you want an MBA, why this is the right moment, and why a particular program is the right fit. Yet many applicants answer them superficially. This session will explore how to develop thoughtful, credible, and differentiated responses to these foundational questions, and why the quality of those answers often determines the strength of the entire application. Attendees will leave with a framework for articulating a sharper and more persuasive admissions narrative.

Developing Your MBA Story [6/24/2026] (Recording)

**GIVEAWAY FOR LIVE ATTENDEES: ONE FREE YEAR OF LELAND+ ($120 value)** A strong MBA application starts with a clear story, yet many applicants struggle to connect their experiences into a narrative that feels focused and compelling. This session is for candidates who want to strengthen how they present their goals, leadership, and personal journey throughout the admissions process. You’ll learn how to identify the themes that make your background distinctive, connect your experiences into a cohesive narrative, and communicate your “why MBA” with greater clarity. Join live to hear from a panel of MBA admissions experts and ask questions about your own application story. The panelists regularly work with applicants on positioning and essay strategy and will share the patterns they see across successful candidates. Expect practical guidance and insights similar to what’s covered in 1:1 admissions coaching conversations.

How to Write Standout MBA Essays [7/6/2026] (Recording)

The strongest MBA essays don’t just answer the prompt—they make admissions readers remember the person behind the application. This session is for applicants who want to write essays that stand out in a competitive admissions landscape. You’ll learn how to develop compelling stories, communicate your goals with clarity, and avoid the common pitfalls that cause otherwise strong candidates to blend into the crowd. Join live to hear from a panel of expert MBA coaches and ask questions about your own essays and application strategy. The panelists have helped applicants gain admission to top programs and will share the patterns they see across standout essays, common mistakes, and what admissions committees are truly looking for. Expect practical guidance and insights similar to what’s covered in 1:1 admissions coaching conversations.

Home for Ambition #12 — Weekly Live Show [6/17/2026] (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.

Drop in Q&A Rnd 1 MBA- Know your story and uniqueness. Not cookie cutter advice [7/21/2026] (Recording)

Round 1 deadlines are coming. Your essay is probably a mess. Your story probably doesn't make sense yet. That's fine — that's exactly what we're going to fix. I'm Bryan, Wharton undergrad, MIT Sloan MBA, and I've spent 12 years helping people turn complicated, non-linear careers into applications that actually get read. I've seen the cookie-cutter essays. I've seen the AI-written ones. Adcoms have too. We're not doing that. In this session we'll talk about what Round 1 actually means for your chances, how to find the thread that connects your story, what schools are really asking when they say "why MBA, why now," and how to stop writing essays that sound like everyone else's. No fluff. No templates. Just the stuff that actually moves the needle. Bring your messy draft. Bring your confused career pivot. Bring your "I don't know how to explain what I do" problem. We'll figure it out together.

How to Interview for International Roles Without Sounding Generic [6/30/2026] (Recording)

If you're applying for international roles, getting the interview is only part of the challenge. The next step is knowing how to talk about your experience in a way that feels clear, credible, and relevant, especially in competitive processes where many candidates sound polished, qualified, and ultimately interchangeable. In this webinar, we’ll look at why strong candidates often come across as too broad, too rehearsed, or not specific enough in interviews, and what to do instead. We’ll cover how to give sharper answers, present your experience more strategically, and communicate in a way that feels confident without sounding forced. In this webinar, you'll learn: - why candidates often sound generic in international interviews - how to answer common questions with more clarity, specificity, and credibility - how to talk about your experience in a way that highlights relevance, not just responsibility - how to build stronger examples that show judgment, ownership, and impact - how to adapt your story for different roles, markets, and interview styles - how to sound more natural and convincing without over-rehearsing By the end of the session, you’ll leave with: - a clearer understanding of what makes interview answers memorable and persuasive - a stronger framework for structuring your responses - more clarity on how to present your background for international opportunities - practical ways to improve the way you speak about your experience in interviews This webinar is for professionals who: - are applying for international roles in English-speaking or global environments - feel their interview answers are too vague, too long, or not landing well - want to present themselves more clearly in recruiter screens and formal interviews - have relevant experience but struggle to communicate it with impact - want to sound more thoughtful, credible, and competitive in high-stakes interviews Whether you already have interviews coming up or want to improve before you start applying, this session will help you speak about your experience in a way that is more focused, more convincing, and more effective.

8 Steps to a Complete MBA App: 8) Essay Drafting & Finalize Application [7/2/2026] (Recording)

Applying to business school can feel overwhelming! You have dozens of moving pieces: essays, short answers, video content, resume, recommendations, outreach, research, and more. This is the final event of a structured 8-part MBA Identity Mapping series designed to take you from fragmented tasks to a clear plan of action. In this session, you will move from preparation to writing and turning your outlines into strong, authentic essays. These sessions walk you step by step through building one fully aligned MBA application. In every workshop, you will be assigned tasks to complete over the next two weeks, keeping you organized and accountable. By the end, you will have strong, authentic essays and a cohesive narrative that runs consistently through your resume, goals, recommendations, school strategy, and interviews. You are absolutely welcome to attend individual sessions if you only need focused help on a specific component(s) of your MBA application. This session moves your MBA application forward by turning your preparation and outlines into written application materials: • Learn an efficient strategy for drafting your essays. • Understand how to move from outline to draft without losing focus or structure. • Ensure consistency while avoiding repetition across essays, resume, and recommendations. • Prepare other written and recorded components of the application. This is the phase where all of your preparation comes together. Instead of starting from a blank page, you will be writing from a clear plan that reflects the work you have already done throughout the Identity Mapping process. The MBA Identity Mapping process has guided 100+ applicants into every M7 program, all other top 20 U.S. programs, and leading international programs including INSEAD, London Business School, IESE, Esade, Oxford, Cambridge, NUS, and more. Clients consistently describe it as transformative because it replaces scattered effort with forward momentum and strategic clarity. If you are ready to turn your preparation into polished application materials and move confidently toward submission, this is your final step in the series.

Why Strong People Start Looking Weak in New Rooms — And How to Fix It [7/22/2026] (Recording)

It is a painful irony: you are technically excellent, you have a proven track record, and you’ve earned your seat, but the moment you enter an unfamiliar professional culture or a more senior global room, you start sounding less clear than you actually are. This is the phenomenon of being "Badly Translated." When high-performers move into global teams (like my clients at Netflix APAC) or competitive international interviews, they often default to tactical, deferential, or over-explanatory habits that make them appear more junior than they are. This livestream is about reclaiming your signal. We will break down why your experience isn't landing and how to shift from sharing information to demonstrating judgment. By the end of this livestream, you will be able to: 1. Spot the Deferential Trap: Identify the specific linguistic and behavioral habits that make you sound like an executor rather than a peer in senior meetings. 2. Master Recommendation Language: Move beyond just asking questions or providing updates to using the phrasing that senior leaders use to direct attention. 3. Shift from Biography to Positioning: Reframe your self-introduction so that it highlights your judgment and impact rather than just a list of tasks you’ve performed. 4. Audit Your Visibility: Understand the Invisible High-Performer pattern and how to enter a conversation early enough to help define the question, not just answer it. Outcomes 1. The Senior Signal Toolkit: A set of 5 specific entry-lines and phrases you can use in your next global meeting to sound more strategic. 2. Interview Re-Framing: A new way to answer "Tell me about yourself" that stops being a history lesson and starts being a value proposition. 3. Confidence Audit: A personal diagnostic to see where your meeting confidence is dropping and whether the gap is lack of knowledge or a habit of seeking permission.