Travelling helped the author develop personally and professionally in several ways. A 4-day hike on the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu required pushing physical limits and fostered teamwork. Climbing mountains in hot and cold climates required suffering but achieving goals through determination. Experiences like navigating rivers in Bolivia and organizing family trips taught strategic thinking around decision making, responsibility, planning, and compromise. Overall, extensive global travel built character traits like self-motivation, problem solving, relationship building, and vision that contribute to leadership in the professional world.

1. Express Yourself - Question I.
Show us an activity you enjoy doing. Tell us how you think it contributes to your personal
and professional development
How travelling affected me

2. 2
Machu Picchu,
Peru:
15th century
Inca site located
2,430 meters
above sea level
Passion
Character-forming Events during my Travels
On a 4 day hiking trip on the ‚Inca-Trail‘, also known as ‘Camino Inca’ in
2011 I experienced to push the envelope
In a team of six young travellers, all never seen each other before, we
hiked and slept in the Andes mountains
We were all driven by the passion for adventure, looking for beautiful
mountain scenery, lush cloud-forest, subtropical jungle and a stunning
mix of Inca paving stones, ruins and tunnels
With the common objective of reaching Machu Picchu we quickly
developed a team spirit, helping weaker ones with baggage, bolstering
each other after a night in the cold and rain or sharing excitement while
waiting for hours for the fog to disappear at 4am
Application in my Professional Life
Self-motivation and self-control
Possess emotional maturity and the internal resources to cope with
frustration, disappointment, and stress
Maintain good relationships with others
Being visionary

3. 3
Ambition
Climbing up mountains in the heat of a desert with a sandboard
Climbing up mountains in the cold of the Rocky Mountains with skies
Both times suffering but having a well defined plan and target in mind
with the ambition to achieve
Application in my Professional Life
Possess well-defined goals
Problem-solving
Being able to make decisions, to act upon them, and to accept
responsibility for them
Character-forming Events during my Travels
Chile
Peru
Ecuador
Colombia
Venezuela
Brazil
Argentina
Bolivia
Paraguay
Uruguay
French
Guiana
Surinam
Guyana
Barrow
Anchorage Whitehorse
Vancouver
Seattle
Denver
DeathValley
(lowest point in
North America, -86m)
San Francisco
Los Angeles
Tijuana Dallas
Minneapolis
Chicago
Atlanta
Houston
Monterrey
Guadalajara
Mexico
Mexico
Guatemala
El Salvador
Costa Rica
Nicaragua
Honduras
Panama
Belize
Jamaica
Dominican Republic
Puebla
Belmopan
Tegucigalpa
Guatemala
San Salvador
Managua
San José
Isla del Coco
(Costa Rica)
Isla de
Malpelo
Panama
Medellin
Cali
Detroit
Toronto
Ottawa Montréal
Boston
NewYork
Philadelphia
Washington, D.C.
Miami
Nassau
Santo Domingo
Turks and
Caicos Islands (UK)
The Bahamas
Bermuda
(UK)
St. Piere
and Miquelon
(France)
Island of
Newfoundland
Hudson
Bay
Gulf of Alaska
Aleutian Islands
Puerto
Rico (US)
Montserrat (UK)
Haiti
Kingston
Navassa
Island (US)
Port-au-
Prince
Cayman Is.
(UK)
Havana
Edmonton
Canada
United States
Cuba
U.S.
Mt. McKinley
(highest point in North America, 6194m)
Mount Washington,
Bristish Columbia
2005 during an
exchange year
Atacama Desert,
Bolivia
2011 on travels in
South America

4. 4
Strategic Thinking
I was often confronted with choices to make during travelling, e.g. on how to cross a river,
climb a mountain or who to trust
Examples where I learning how to think strategically:
1. Making the wrong decision to take a short cut in the rain forests of Costa Rica which
resulted in a night in the wild
-> thought me to base decisions on multiple proofs instead of spontaneous plan changes
2. & 3. Guiding the way on the rivers of Bolivian jungle
-> thought me to also trust knowledge and experience of others
4. Organizing a family trip to Madeira trying to fulfil all wishes
-> thought me to make compromises
Application in my Professional Life
Be able to
– organize,
– plan,
– and communicate
for effective use of resources
Be able to allocate resources according to
priorities.
Be willing to compromise
Character-forming Events during my Travels
Decisions Responsibility Planning Compromises

5. Cornelia Buechler
Applicant for Master in Finance & Master in
Management
at ie Business School, Madrid
Cornelia Buechler
Rohmerstrasse 8
60486 Frankfurt
Germany
cobuechler@googlemail.com
0049 / (0)173 679 1017

6. Cornelia Buechler
Applicant for Master in Finance & Master in
Management
at ie Business School, Madrid
Cornelia Buechler
Rohmerstrasse 8
60486 Frankfurt
Germany
cobuechler@googlemail.com
0049 / (0)173 679 1017