Bilateral/Mutual Character Reference Exercise

I advise a group of MBA students at NYU Stern. One of the exercises is to show what impression you leave behind to others across areas of passion, integrity, realism, responsibility, special skill sets, leadership etc. We're teaching about transparency and providing mutual disclosure to the people we lead about ourselves.

This is a great exercise as it is called bilateral or mutual references. It helps create a stronger bond while fostering trust and respect. The mentors asking students to provide character references should also disclose their references as a one page by asking others they've worked with.

Here is one of those examples from Hong Kong (4 years of a relationship:2004-2008) that just came in. I continue to stay in touch with Alan/Joyce and they have become close friends. When I got appointed as VRF to the Wadsworth Center, NYS DOH on Feb 1 2010, they were one of the first people to know.

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