Sample MBA Essay 08

Essay08

Tell us about the most challenging team experience you've had to date. What role did you play? What factors made it a challenge for you? How did you and the group address these issues? What did you learn? (Limit - 2 pages).

The most challenging team experience I have had is the exploration of Lop Pol, a no-life desert in Northwestern China bordering the former Soviet Union.

This life-forbidden zone once served as China's nuclear test site. It acquired an enhanced aura of mystery in recent years because two well-known people, one a famous geographer and the other a legendary traveler, disappeared there without a trace. It has thus become an attractive site for adventurers. In March 1998, I decided to participate in an expedition organized by the Beijing China Travel Agency.

My family was shocked and grieved when I announced to them my travel plan and told them I was determined. Their response made me feel like a tragic hero who was destined to embark on a dangerous trip. My colleagues and friends were also surprised and came to me to show their concern. I derived great satisfaction from this attention and the feeling of martyrdom.

The expedition team included twenty-one men and seven women. We left Beijing on March 23, 1998 for the City of Urumchi, capital of the northwestern Uygur Autonomous Region. Then we headed for Kurle, a city 480 kilometers away from Urumchi. Driving over snow-covered mountains, we arrived in Kurle late at night. The Loulan Hotel we checked in was where Mr. Yu Cunshun, the dead traveler, enjoyed his farewell dinner before he set off on his trip of no return. The idea of following Mr. Yu's path next day through the Gobi desert made us nervous yet excited.

For the sake of safety, the travel agency took some precautions. Their policy was that each team would be made up of five people, with an elected leader and an assigned professional guide. As I had more travel experience than the others in my team, I was elected as the team leader.

We were then on our way to the no-man zone. The closer we were to the Gobi, the lonelier we felt. As it was getting darker, a profound fear griped us. We stopped and set up a tent and watched the desert sunset in awe. The nature was not only sublime but also relentless and unforgiving. As temperature dropped to below minus 20 degrees centigrade, water froze and the steamed bread we had prepared for ourselves became as hard as rock. It was too cold to fall asleep before we were absolutely exhausted. Finally, we huddled together and dozed off.

The next day, we drove all day to the edge of Lop Pol. Our Jeep then got stuck in the sand. We had been told many times that the loss of a vehicle or a camel in the desert was often the prelude to death. We had no choice but to haul it out. We spent hours digging for the jeep and pulling it out of the sand. By the time we got back our jeep, the sand was blowing so hard that it was almost impossible to breathe.

With the vehicle, we pressed on deep into the desert until there was no hard ground but sand left. We started to walk the following day. With an area of 3,000 square kilometers, Lop Pol was once the fourth largest lake in China. It completely dried up in 1972 and became a desert. We made sure that, in this sea of sand, the team would band together, since the whirling wind could blow up the sand and bury a person up in seconds. To get lost means to die.

That day has come down as the longest day in my life. We mustered all our strength to combat the freezing cold, blowing sand and physical fatigue. As we were held in awe by the brutal force of Lop Pol, a team member was suddenly struck by severe stomachache in the afternoon. All others went to his aid immediately. One person took his luggage. The rest of us took turns to help him walking. We encouraged each other and kept telling jokes in order to endure the fatigue more easily. When we finally arrived at the other side of the desert, we embraced each other, against the traditional Chinese customs, in celebration.

The hardship on the trip did not defeat us. Instead, it helped unite the team, in which everyone felt the warmth and strength of the group. With the feeling of enduring hardship together for a common goal, the satisfaction derived from meeting severe challenges and the exultation from experiencing nature, we have come to see this trip as a milestone in our life.

During and after the journey, I could not help thinking about Yu Cunshun, the traveler who died in Lop Pol. No one knows the exact reasons for his death. Maybe he lost direction and was unable to walk out of the desert, or maybe he was buried by a sand storm. But I believe if he had traveled in a team, he would have got help from his comrades and survived.