December 30, 2004

Subject: Recommendation for Jose Mara Gaztelus application to Stanford MBA

program

Dear Sir or Madam:

I have known Jose Mara since he joined McKinsey & Company a couple of years back,
although for the nature of our work, with very tight deadlines and pretty long hours
working together, it seems I have known him for much longer. Further, for the past eight
months we have been working together in a strenuous yet challenging engagement for a
Global Telco Operator.
During our recent engagement, when he already had a full-year of experience in our
company, Jose Mara has help put together a international alliance quite complex on
multiple dimensions and he undertook tasks that required exceptional analytical skills,
interpersonal and intercultural relations, as well as applying a broad range of financial
knowledge and common sense.
He was particularly impressive displaying a well-developed ability to approach all
problem-solving related difficulties logically which is the formal way I can find to say
that he is very smart and articulate and a great problem solver.
Because of the nature of our work, we come up against inflexible deadlines and intense
pressure every day. This frequently makes for a tense workplace in which diplomatic skills
and a sense of humor and perspective are at premium. These Jose Mara possesses in
spades. Immediately upon entry into the team, he established himself as a colleague who
can be counted on unconditionally both on professional and personal dimensions. It has
been my pleasure to have him as colleague.
I feel incredibly fortunate to have been able to had him on one of my teams. In retrospect I
am amazed we found one person with his variety of skills and training and his willingness
to work through all manner of difficulties in bringing this complex project to fruition.
(And he tells me that he still has time to continue with his other passion, music, and even
finding time to play saxophone now an them... I truly feel quite envious!)
While I am Jose Maras senior, at least in title, in truth Jose Maras skills and
responsibilities without a doubt supersede mine at his age, and those of most of his peers.
He is one of a handful of the most thoroughly motivated, organized, and conscientiously
hard-working individuals Ive ever had as colleague.
I do also understand that a recommendation letter presenting a flawless individual at times
comes out as artificial and not completely sincere. Looking back, I see that there could
have been times when our contribution would have benefited from Jose Mara putting forth
his views on how to approach the work before us more assertively. To some extent this
may have been a combination of not wanting to be the pushy new kid on the block and
feeling some reticence as a function of working with more experienced consultants. That
said, he became more self-confident and assertive over the course of his tenure at
McKinsey. At the same time Jose Mara has strong, solid moral and ethical values, which
he has no problem expressing or defending. At times this might be misconstrued as lack of
flexibility, but I consider it otherwise. To stick to ones principles is another sign of both
maturity and leadership.
I would like to end up by saying that Jose Mara is one of those rare individuals who has an
impact on all the people and organizations he associates with. I am confident in his
qualifications to join your program. I have no doubt that he will master whatever field he
chooses to apply himself to, and that he will be up to the standards of a prestigious
institution such as your business school.
Should you require any additional information, it would be a pleasure to speak on his
behalf. Please do not hesitate to contact me at my office in Madrid at +34 91 346 58 00.

Yours truly,

Alfonso Villanueva
Associate Principal
McKinsey & Company