Gabriel Tamayo Limas enjoys teamwork and collaboration, which have allowed him to learn from others' perspectives and build enduring friendships. As an undergraduate, living with 15 people in a fraternity house taught him responsibility and trust, as he managed the household finances. He has discovered the value of teaching others, through programs he led in rural communities and as a physics lab teacher. Teaching strengthened his problem-solving, communication, and mentoring skills. Even when not playing, he finds ways to help his team, like substituting himself out of a soccer game when injured to allow more playing time for his team to score a last-minute winning goal.

1. Gabriel Tamayo Limas
Optional essay for MIT Sloan

2. Working in team is an amazing
way to grow
My current team
at Bain
Teamwork energizes me because it is an opportunity to learn and see the world
through the eyes of my colleagues. Collaboration has enabled me to learn,
mature, lead and build enduring friendships.

3. In undergrad, living with 15 people
taught me responsibility and trust
• I belonged to a fraternity for students that
lacked financial means to pay for their
college. We were between 13-17 people in
a 6 bedroom house
• I loved the place because there was always
someone to talk to, party, and to help out with
homework. Also, I never dined alone.
• I was house treasury in charge of
managing the money donated to pay
for our needs. Financial responsibility
takes a new meaning when you pay the
bills for so many people

4. I also realized that the best way to
learn something is by teaching others
During my first year at college, I lead a program
to teach elementary grade children in rural
communities during the weekend.
This experience made me realize how fortunate
I am and strengthened my commitment to
sharing lessons and knowledge
I worked as a teacher in the physics lab
at my university for 2 years. Every
semester I had almost 100 students!
Their questions and curiosity made me
aware of the importance of analyzing
problems from multiple angles
Teaching helped me become more effective at problem-solving, communicating and
mentoring younger consultants at Bain

5. I’ve also discovered that you can
help your team in unexpected ways
• I love football soccer. Every week I meet
up with colleagues from work to play.
• An annual highlight at work is the Bain
World Cup, a yearly tournament between
offices from around the world. In 2012,
our team represented Mexico at the
event for the first time. I took vacation
days and travelled to Chicago to play.
• In one of the matches we were trying really
hard to score, but we were not lucky. A lot
of time was lost getting the ball back to
play. That day my knee was sore and I was
slow. I realized that the best way to help
my team was to leave the field. During half
time, I asked for a substitution so I
could get the ball back to play as soon as
possible.
• We won with a goal in the last minute.
Even though it was hard to sit the game
out; by giving up my place, I helped the
team gain extra play time.