HDF 190: FIRST YEAR LEADERS INSPIRED TO EXCELLENCE

LEADERSHIP PORTFOLIO

Tony CatallozziSPRING 2012

catallozzia@my.uri.edu

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Strengths SLIDE 3Opening Statement SLIDE 4Section 1: Self Leadership SLIDE 5Section 2: Leadership Theories SLIDE 6Section 3: Inclusive Leadership SLIDE 7Section 4: Critical Thinking SLIDE 8Section 5: Interpersonal/Organizational Leadership SLIDE 9

Signature Strengths Developer

ConnectednessEmpathyPositivityAnalytical

Values in Action StrengthsFairness, Equity, Justice

Citizenship, Teamwork, LoyaltyHumor and Playfulness

Honesty, Authenticity, GenuinenessCapacity to love and be loved

M

OPENING STATEMENTTaking FLITE this year was definitely a great experience for me. I learned so much about myself, my leadership

style, and the transition from high school to college leadership. The following is a presentation of five

outcomes that I have completed over the semester. These are the outcomes that mean the most to me and really

define who I am.

SECTION 1SELF LEADERSHIP

Outcome 10Student will demonstrate the ability to lead a project from start to finish

In my student council, I was a chairman for a district wide conference that we hosted at our school. I and two other chairmen had the job of formulating an activity for half of the students while the other half went to dinner. The activity had to last for about a half an hour and it was

preferred that the activity was fun and kept the students occupied. The three of us had a committee with about 35 students. We met every week to discuss ideas, logistics, materials,

etc. Our activity was a game that we could play with a lot of people and we incorporated different things to make it more enjoyable. We were originally going to have the activity in the

gym and when we thought that we had everything planned out; our advisor switched the location to the auditorium. That set up a new challenge for us because we had to throw away

great ideas for completely new ideas that would work in the auditorium. We were finally able to get a final activity and on the day of the conference everything worked out exactly as it was

planned to. We got so much positive feedback on how much fun the activity was and all of the logistics played out precisely as they meant to. The evidence provided on page 8 is a schedule

of the conference with the event highlighted.

SECTION 2Leadership Theory and Models

Student will show knowledge of the “Servant Leadership” theory of leadership by Greenleaf

Servant leadership has to so with serving and putting the people first, almost like relational leadership. In order to be a servant leader, one has to serve first. They have to go out into a community and help the people there and become familiar and gain an understanding of the

surroundings. Once you have successfully done that, then you can go out and lead other groups and help them serve that same way you did. Since you have an understanding of the

surroundings then you can educate the people you lead and help them be successful servers. The servant leadership model has 10 characteristics. They are empathy, listening, healing,

awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment to growth of people, and community building. An ideal servant leader possesses and uses each of these

characteristics. Although it is hard to have all of the characteristics; most servant leaders have about 7 or 8 characteristics. The characteristic that I think I use the most is empathy. Empathy is also one of my top strengths and I feel that I can really connect with people and feel what they

feel. I use empathy and combine it with healing to help the person feel better with hopes that their situation only gets better. See evidence page 11.

SECTION 3Inclusive Leadership / Diversity and its application to leadership

Student will create a personal code of inclusive leadership Whenever I am in a leadership position I always strive to be an inclusive leader. Making people

feel like they are part of the group and inputting their view is important to them and it is important to me to make sure their voice gets heard. Whenever I am working in a small group on a project for a class I make sure everyone has an equal part in the project. I don’t want to make someone feel like they have too much work and I also don’t want the group to think that someone is doing less work than everyone else. In a large group like a club or an organization

there are different ways to be an inclusive leader. Communication is the key to inclusive leadership in a large organization. The way people feel included is if they are notified about all of the events that the organization hosts. It is their decision to decide if they want to attend the event but as long as everyone knows that something is going on then they will feel included. If

part of the organization is unaware of something then they will feel as if they were purposely uninvited or they think they are not important enough to the group to be invited. Inclusiveness

is the key to a successful group or organization. See evidence page 18.

SECTION 4Critical Thinking

Student will show knowledge of principles of critical thinking

My major is civil engineering and as an engineer I use problem solving all the time in my classes. If I am given a problem then you have to incorporate critical thinking into solving the problem. First, you have to look at what is causing the problem. Once you know the cause then you can figure out a solution to the problem. Then

you have to incorporate all of the different variables and solutions into the situation. Every solution that you come up with, you have to look at all of the potential

problems with that solution. In some cases you may have to run tests or scale models to see if there are any problems with the solution. Whichever solution works

the best can then be decided as the answer. In this class we used critical thinking with the spaghetti tower. We had a problem and I used my knowledge to decide the best way to build the tower. I thought I knew the best way to build the tower but a

problem occurred that I didn’t have time to fix. See evidence page 4.

SECTION 5(Interpersonal and Organizational Concepts and Skills )

Student will describe personal examples of preparing for and being interviewedThis year I applied to be an RA. There were two separate interviews that I had to prepare. The first was a

group interview that I would be taking with about 5 or 6 other candidates. My current RA prepared me a little bit by telling me that they want to see how well you work as a team. I started to think about my past

experiences of working as a team and how I was able to input my thoughts and opinions. I went into the interview with confidence. The interviewers gave us 2 situations that we would both have to resolve as a

team. I left the interview thinking I did a pretty good job. I was able to spit out my opinions and work with the difficulties that our group had. The next interview was an individual interview. Just me and two interviewers. I used my knowledge of preparing for interviews to prepare myself for this one. This was definitely a leadership

interview so I started compiling a list of my leadership experience so it was in the front of my mind for me to grasp and use if needed during the interview. I also knew that I had to be outgoing and sell myself if I wanted to get the job. All of the questions that they asked me involved leadership and problem solving. Some of the questions they asked me were “describe a time where a big problem arised that had to be resolved, and how

did you resolve it”. Another question was “describe a time where you lead a project from start to finish”. I was able to answer most of the questions with ease and detail. My leadership experience really gave me an

advantage and made the interview seem very simple. As a result, I got the RA job! I will be starting next year and I will be in Browning Hall. See evidence page 21.