Leland+ Content Library

Your GMAT Edge: Proven Strategies to Build a Strong Application

Get insider guidance straight from GMAC, the makers of the GMAT exam! In this session, we’ll break down how the GMAT fits into the bigger picture of your business school application and how it can help strengthen your overall profile. We’ll walk through what schools are really looking for across your resume, essays, and interview, and how to position each piece to tell a clear, compelling story. You’ll also get practical tips and a realistic timeline to help you stay on track and build a strong, well-rounded application with confidence.

How to Lead the Room with Executive Presence

Executive presence is one of those phrases that gets thrown around a lot in leadership conversations. You've probably heard it. You may have even been told you need more of it. But here's the problem: most people can't tell you what it actually means. It's not charisma. It's not being the loudest person in the room. It's not even being the most polished. Executive presence is the ability to make people feel — in your presence — that things are under control, that someone capable is leading, and that their time and attention is being respected. It's a signal. And like any signal, it can be developed, sharpened, and directed. This guide is built around three pillars that I've seen transform how executives show up: Clarity, Credibility, and Confidence. They're related — and yes, they overlap. But they each do distinct work, and understanding the difference matters.

Ship It: AI-Powered Side Projects You Can Build Now

AI is reshaping product management in real time—and the fastest way to stand out is to actually ship something. This session is for PMs and aspiring PMs who want to leverage AI in practical, portfolio-ready ways that demonstrate initiative and technical fluency. You’ll walk away with concrete side project ideas you can build now, frameworks for identifying high-leverage automation opportunities, and a clearer sense of how to showcase AI-driven work in interviews and applications.

Quick Leadership Reset

This exercise helps you identify where your leadership approach may be unintentionally slowing your team’s performance, especially during times of uncertainty.

The AI Career Edge: Positioning Yourself for the Future of Work

AI is reshaping how companies hire, what skills matter, and how careers evolve. The candidates who stand out aren’t just using AI tools—they know how to position themselves strategically for a rapidly changing job market. In The AI Career Edge: Positioning Yourself for the Future of Work, you’ll hear from experienced coaches who regularly work 1:1 with candidates navigating career transitions in an AI-driven landscape. This panel offers rare access to the same frameworks used in coaching sessions to help professionals adapt, stay competitive, and communicate their value effectively.

Product Management Week Kickoff March 2026

Product management is one of the most competitive and opaque career paths in tech—and breaking in requires more than just saying you’re “passionate about product.” This kickoff session is for aspiring PMs who want clarity on how to position themselves for competitive roles and stand out in interviews. You’ll learn how to craft a compelling PM narrative, what hiring managers actually look for in resumes and case interviews, and the common patterns panelists see across candidates who successfully land sought-after PM roles.

How Top GMAT Scorers Decode Quant Word Problems

Quant word problems trip up even strong test-takers, not because the math is too hard, but because the translation from words to equations isn't always obvious. This session is for GMAT studiers who feel confident with formulas but keep losing points when problems are wrapped in real-world scenarios. You'll leave with a clearer process for identifying what a problem is actually asking, recognizing the structural patterns that appear most frequently across high-difficulty questions, and avoiding the misreads that consistently cost test-takers valuable points.

GMAT or GRE: Which Test to Choose and How to Decide

GMAT vs GRE - which test to choose and how to decide

From Zero to First Round: Understanding the IB Recruiting Journey

​Breaking into investment banking is one of the most competitive and misunderstood recruiting processes out there. In this session, expert Leland coach and former BMO banker Alex B. will give a clear, honest overview of what it really takes to land that first interview—from networking and resume prep to understanding timelines and firm expectations. ​You’ll learn how to approach IB recruiting strategically, avoid common mistakes that derail candidates early, and build a step-by-step plan to stand out in an intensely competitive process. Whether you’re just starting to explore finance or gearing up for recruiting season, this session will help you navigate the journey with clarity and confidence.

The 5 Questions to Ask Before Applying to Any Finance Master's [4/9/2026] (Recording)

Most applicants start with rankings, pick three or four recognisable names, and write the same application for all of them. Then they wonder why the essays feel forced. The problem usually isn't the application. It's that they chose the wrong programme to begin with. Finance vs Financial Economics. Academic vs applied. London vs Paris vs St Gallen. Full-time vs part-time. These choices shape your career in ways a league table won't tell you. I applied to Oxford's MFE and HEC's MSc International Finance, got into both, and chose Oxford, and that decision came down to questions most applicants never think to ask. In 30 minutes I'll walk through five questions you should answer before you apply anywhere: what career this actually leads to, what it really costs, whether your profile fits, and how to tell which programme type matches what you need. I coach applicants through successful admits at Oxford, HEC, and peer programmes across Europe, and this is always where we start. Plenty of time for Q&A. Attendees get priority access to 1:1 coaching at a discounted rate. Best suited for 2026–27 and 2027–28 applicants.

8 Steps to an MBA app: 1) Life Story, Timeline, & MBA Resume

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 workshop is the starting point 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 build your foundational Life Timeline of all your key stories and begin transforming your resume into MBA format. 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. Event 1 identifies your significant experiences and reshapes your resume into MBA format: • Understand the full trajectory of the 8-phase MBA Identity Mapping process and how each piece connects. • Build a comprehensive Life Timeline that captures the raw material of your life. • Begin transforming your professional resume into MBA format. 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 stop juggling tasks and start building an organized, cohesive MBA application, this is where you begin. (Please message me if you would like a copy of the super helpful free resource mentioned in the video: MBA Resume Transformation Guide.)

Case Walkthrough with a Former Bain Interviewer: Mergers and Acquisitions

M&A cases are a core part of consulting interviews, but many candidates struggle to structure them clearly and communicate their thinking under pressure. This session is for candidates preparing for consulting interviews who want a better approach to tackling mergers and acquisitions cases. You’ll learn how to break down an M&A prompt, structure your analysis across synergies and risks, and walk through a case the way interviewers expect to see it.

The Real Day-to-Day in Venture Capital—and How to Interview for It

Venture capital is often talked about in broad terms, but the actual day-to-day work and hiring expectations are less visible to candidates. This session is for those exploring VC who want a clearer understanding of what the role involves and how to position themselves for it. You’ll learn what investors actually do across sourcing, diligence, and portfolio support, how candidates are evaluated in interviews, and how to communicate your thinking in a way that reflects investor judgment.

Writing a Holistic Set of Booth Essays (with Top Leland Coaches)

Many applicants find a way to write at least one strong essay. But those that really maximize the essay-writing process find a way to make clear how their experiences inform their goals, and develop clear narrative through-lines that make their contributions to the school and program tangible. They have a “brand”. You know what they’re all about. This event will draw from example essays written by successful U Chicago Booth admits. These essays were particularly strong in how they spoke to one another—how they created a three-dimensional applicant who top Booth AdComs could envision contributing to their community. Their professional and judiciously placed personal experience offer evidence for why they’re the kind of person who will make their specific kind of difference in the world. During this session, we'll analyze these essays alongside you so you have a clear view into how you can apply what you've learned to your own writing, and put your best application forward for Booth's top-flight MBA program.

UVA (Darden) Interview Question Bank

Interview questions tailored to applicants interviewing for UVA Darden

Final Tips Before You Submit Your Deferred MBA Application

In this session, you will leave knowing how to tighten your essays in the final hours, what admissions committees at top deferred programs actually look for in the "future vision" prompts, and how to self-evaluate your recommender package before you hit submit. These are the specific pressure points that separate competitive deferred applications from strong ones.

Distance, Speed, and Time on the GMAT

Distance, speed, and time questions are a common source of frustration on the GMAT, especially when time pressure makes them harder to untangle. This session is for test takers who want a clearer, more reliable way to approach these problems on exam day. You’ll learn how to recognize the most common DST setups, apply efficient frameworks to solve them quickly, and avoid the calculation traps that often slow candidates down.

Land your Job or Study in ... Germany [4/9/2026] (Recording)

Germany is not just beer, efficiency, and engineering heritage. It is one of the most accessible countries in the world right now for ambitious non-EU graduates and young professionals who want to build something serious. Over 600,000 skilled positions go unfilled every year. The government rewrote its immigration law in 2023 specifically to bring international talent in. Public universities charge close to nothing. Tech companies, global pharma, and the entire renewable energy sector are actively hiring people with your profile. This session cuts through the noise. We cover the study path and the direct job path, side by side: visa options, living costs, language reality, workplace culture, and what a competitive application actually looks like. Two real cases show how people with no German, applying from abroad, made it work. Germany rewards preparation and specificity. This Thursday, we provide both. New episodes in this series cover a different European country every Thursday.

AMA: What Every Buyer Should Know About Financial Due Diligence & QofE

Ever wondered what really happens behind the scenes of financial due diligence? In this AMA-style session, you’ll hear questions answered by an experienced deal professional and Leland coach Patrick M. anything about the process—from understanding Quality of Earnings reports to spotting red flags before you buy. ​This open conversation is designed for aspiring acquirers, search fund entrepreneurs, and anyone interested in the M&A process.

How to Make Your PM Resume Impossible to Ignore

After this session, you'll know how to position your PM resume so it reflects the way hiring managers actually evaluate candidates. We'll cover how to frame impact metrics that go beyond output, how to signal product thinking through your bullet structure, and how to cut the experience that's quietly working against you.