What should an LOR for ISB highlight?

A strong LOR for ISB should spotlight what makes you irreplaceable at work and how you've grown as a leader, not just list your job responsibilities.

ISB's admissions committee reads thousands of letters each cycle, so yours must stand out with concrete stories and measurable impact, not generic praise.

What ISB Values in Recommenders

Choose someone who has directly supervised your work for at least 12 months and can speak to your leadership trajectory.

ISB prefers recommenders who hold senior positions (VP-level or above in corporates, partners in consulting, or founders in startups) and have worked closely enough with you to cite specific projects. A distant CXO who barely knows you will write a weaker letter than a direct manager who championed your promotion.

The best recommenders can answer: "How did this candidate change the team or business?" If your supervisor cannot point to a before-and-after moment where you drove measurable results, consider asking someone else.

Core Themes to Highlight

Your LOR should weave together impact, leadership potential, and readiness for ISB's one-year PGP. Each claim needs a story.

For instance, instead of "excellent team player," the letter should describe how you mediated a conflict between engineering and sales that saved a ₹2 Cr client contract. Instead of "strong analytical skills," it should detail how your pricing model increased margins by 18% in Q3.

ISB particularly values

• Cross-functional leadership: Leading without authority, influencing peers in other departments, or managing upward to secure resources.
• Quantified business impact: Revenue growth, cost savings, process efficiency gains, or market share wins tied directly to your initiatives.
• Intellectual curiosity: Instances where you taught yourself a new skill (Python, financial modeling, design thinking) to solve a problem outside your job description.
• Resilience and adaptability: How you handled a failed product launch, a lost pitch, or a team restructuring, and what you learned.

What Not to Include

Avoid vague adjectives like "hardworking" or "dedicated" without evidence.

ISB's adcom has seen every cliché. Similarly, don't let your recommender recycle your résumé by listing projects you led; the LOR should reveal *how* you led them and *why* it mattered.

Steer clear of comparing you to "the top 5% of employees I've managed" unless the recommender can back it up with promotion timelines or awards.

Practical Guidance for Candidates

Draft a one-page brief for your recommender with three to four stories that showcase different strengths, the business context, your specific role, and the outcome. Include metrics wherever possible.

This ensures the letter stays focused and gives your recommender the raw material to write compellingly. From Reddit, we learnt that candidates who schedule a 30-minute call to walk their recommender through ISB's essay themes (leadership, impact, post-MBA goals) often receive more tailored, persuasive letters.

If you're unsure which supervisors to approach, run an eligibility match to see how your profile stacks up, then compare colleges to understand how ISB's LOR expectations differ from two-year programs.