1. Where are you now?

My leadership skills have blossomed tremendously over the past couple years. Thinking back to myself freshman year of high school, to now, it is almost unrecognizable. All of my role models that I look up to are the same, but my mindset has changed. I look up to my dad every day because he was the one who taught me day in and day out whether it was in the garage working on cars or on the ice talking about how to better myself in hockey. He was always there and never sugar coated anything. At the time I hated it, but now I am so grateful for the perseverance he taught me. The biggest leap I took was leaving my hometown in North Dakota to come to ASU without knowing anyone and I could not have done that without the courage that my dad instilled in me. I now work at a golf store where I have been working about 30 hours a week the past 5 months while doing my best to stay on top of my school work and I have already made myself a leader in the store. Starting out I was clueless and afraid, but sticking to the principles that my dad had taught me, I am now someone that is there for anyone who needs help and I am often looked at as a lead figure whenever someone needs help. Coming from someone who was not naturally born as a leader, it is odd, but I have embraced it and am excited to see where my skills can take me. I have focused on myself more than ever the last couple years as I set strict deadlines for myself and ensure I take care of myself over anything else.

2. Already Always Listening

My already always listening is paying close attention to mood changes. I have become very self-aware lately about how the people around me are feeling in certain situations. I used to stick to myself and stay away from large groups, but I have found myself paying closer attention to how others are feeling and almost putting their interests before even my own. It is an odd concept, but I have always noticed that I enjoy myself a lot more when the entire group I am with is enjoying themselves as well. It has improved my leadership skills as well because I am now quicker to come to decisions on what to do to make sure no one is left out and everyone is being included. Coming from someone who used to be the one who just went with the crowd to someone who makes decisions is a liberating feeling. I now feel more in control of my life, and with that responsibility I feel confident that I can help others as well. Always listening to others is the key to being content in groups whether it is a group project in school, a sports team, a friend group, or any situation that involves large amounts of people because whenever everyone is enjoying themselves, it makes it so much easier to have fun and be productive yourself. Focusing on your own interests is the easiest path to take because that is everyone’s initial instinct, but now that I have realized that being there for others is just as, if not more, important, it has drastically improved all of my groups/relationships.

3. DISC

According to my DISC results, I am an ID, which is an accurate representation because of my enthusiasm for breakthroughs and always dreaming beyond the horizon. I am extremely optimistic and will never be the first one to give up on a project. The most important thing for me is working well with a team. I have always been extremely for the idea that team work is the most efficient way to get things done. I may not always love to lead the team, but just being a part of a successful team that accomplishes the tasks set in front of them has always been so rewarding for me. My biggest weakness is staying silent in times where it may be beneficial for me to speak up and say my peace, but it has been one of the biggest things I’ve been working on lately. Fast paced environments are always crucial for me because even though working too fast may lead to some small mistakes here and there, I have noticed that people always seem to be the most productive when they are extremely in the moment focused on the task at hand while doing it in the most efficient way possible. Some rules that I have subconsciously set for myself is the way I portray myself to others. For some reason I always am putting myself on this pedestal where I feel the need to act without any flaws in front of others despite the fact that I know I am hiding behind so many. What I have come to realize is that everyone is dealing with their own problems and just owning up to what you have to offer is the best way to become an efficient team player.

4. Motivators

I am not sure where my drive to explore the unknown comes from because I was born into a conservative family that does not too often wonder into uncharted territories. However, with my DISC profile being ID, it is not a secret to me anymore that I am always chasing random ideas whether or not there is any solid reasoning behind it. My father as my biggest role model, I believe, gives me my down to earth foundation that is extremely sympathetic for others and always seeming to put others interests before my own. Then on the other side my original biggest role model being my younger brother who I have always looked up to for some reason even though he is 2 years younger than me. He has always been different than me in an odd way. He never did as well in school as I did, but he has this charismatic nature about him where he never truly cares what others think of him and is truly unapologetically himself. It is rare for someone to look up to their younger sibling as an influence, but in my case I feel like it is well justified because he has followed closely in my footsteps from playing the same sports as I in high school to going to the same college, but what I don’t think he realized is that entire journey I was watching him in awe at how effortlessly he could be himself and not care what others opinions were.

5. 4 Steps to Communication

            I utilized the four steps to communication to correspond with my boss at work for the past couple weeks and it has worked wonders. I have always grown up as a quiet kid and have only recently come around to becoming a better communicator. Starting with step one, building rapport, I have been more adamant on checking in with him more often and find myself just having friendly non work related conversations with him which has led us to have a more open dialogue throughout the day. This is extremely helpful because it is easier for me to ask him about certain projects and allows us to have a more relaxed approach when we do have discussions. Moving on to step two, I have also only just found out how much of a family man he is. Understanding their world is key because I now understand where he places priorities on things and for him its family first. Knowing this allows me to connect with him deeper and ask casual questions about how his kids are doing and just show him that I care and respect where he places his priorities. Now onto the third step, asking questions, has been one of the biggest game changers for me. From someone who has always had a figure it out without help attitude, I often find myself in tough situations that could have easily been avoided had I just clarified things earlier and asked questions. Steps one and two helped me greatly with asking questions because it is far easier to be open and to question things with a manager that you already have an open dialogue with. Finally with listening as the last step, I have been sure to make sure I not only listen, but fully comprehend everything he says. Full comprehension has been crucial because it has cleared up so much confusion and I now feel so much better about communicating with him. With my already always listening focusing on paying close attention to mood changes I can pretty easily tell where his is headspace is just by the way he walks and interacts with customers which gives me signs on when I should and should not strike up conversations. Utilizing these four steps has been a game changer for me in my work life and I am definitely going to implement them into my personal life as well.

6. Followership Survey

            In my followership survey, I scored the highest in the level of engagement. This is extremely accurate because recently within the last couple years, I have focused so heavily of being in the present and stopped spending so much time worrying about the future or reflecting on the past. Being engaged in my present state of mind has helped me push through a lot of challenges in school and in my personal life as well. On the other hand it came to no surprise that my thinking style had the lowest score, because even though I have been working on coming across with more conviction, I have still been struggling with coming up with and sticking to my own original ideas. I am an particularly effective follower because along with my high level of engagement, I am also very loyal to leadership figures. That combination has led me to focus deeply on whatever task is placed in front of me. In the near future my main focus is to become more individualized and not necessarily always doing everything to the book and using my high engagement levels to become a more independent thinker which will help develop my critical thinking skills. The further development of those skills will hopefully help me become more of an effective team player that makes more contributions. Moving on to the “not play/play full out” model, I fall under playing not to lose. Being brutally honest, I am not thrilled about it, but it is accurate because I tend to aim to safely impress rather than taking any sort of risk. I hope with the additional improvement of my critical thinking skills, I can begin playing to win.

7. Cycle of Performance

            I have hit deception in the pass when I was working on a group project during the first week of freshman year of college. I was in a completely new environment across the country from home and with no friends yet. I was shy, nervous, and overall just scared to have any sort of bad experience in school so early on. I was in a group with some people who were already previously friends so I had felt extremely out of place. This led me to feel incompetent while they were working and I did not speak out to share my ideas at all which ended up leaving me not putting in a ton of effort. I did not do this on purpose, as I had always been adamant on making sure I carry my weight in anything I do, but I just couldn’t bring myself to contribute much in such a new and seemingly frightening environment. This correlates well with the time I found the identity stage in myself playing golf. After hating golf my entire life up until about 7th grade when my friends convinced me to try out for the middle school team for fun. I absolutely hated it and was so frustrated at how impossible it appeared. Finally after about 5 years of constantly grinding on it and working with countless coaches and friends, I became the captain of my high school golf team my senior year. Everything seemed to finally come so effortless and I truly felt like I had become unconsciously competent. This was a big deal to me because I was so proud of the progress I had made in the matter of only a few years and I ended up leading our team to a top 5 spot in the state tournament after we had just had a three year drought of not even qualifying for state before.

8. Integrity

Of all the options, the one that is most difficult to me is ethics. With so much ambiguity surrounding what is and what is not ethical, I always seem to find it tough drawing a conclusive line. Everyone seems to have their own version of what is ethically correct and that’s when the others such as legality, morality, and integrity are brought into the question. Hundreds of years of philosophers coming up with countless theories and propositions and yet no concrete answer on how we can all act with proper ethics and morals. However, I do find it fascinating and extremely interesting to take in all the different viewpoints that have been brought up, because there is always something new to consider. Furthermore, honoring your word is a large part of building trusting and lasting relationships. Growing up I have always been taught how important it is to not lie and keep all reasonable promises that you make. One of the keys I have personally found to be the best way to keep your word is to be careful on what you agree to and ensure you never make an empty promise that you know will be tough to keep. Being upfront and honest has also helped me immensely to keep my word and keep open communication. The paper on integrity mentioned that doing a cost/benefit analysis threatens one’s trustworthiness and integrity so I would not rely on that. All in all me sticking to finding my own ethical path and keeping my word is something I value very highly.

9. Feedback Orientation Survey

Taking the feedback orientation survey was eye-opening because some of those questions I have never really considered and answering them truthfully to myself gave me a better idea on how I accept feedback. I scored highest on the learning orientation section. I would definitely agree with that. I tend to avoid receiving negative feedback, but more recently as I’ve gotten older I have realized that criticism is necessary for growth, even if it is something negative that I don’t want to hear. Tough love is where some of the best personal growth comes from, or at least in my experience. Putting myself in more uncomfortable situations and keeping an open mind has helped me a ton. I have gotten better at receiving feedback and using it to inspire me to become better in all areas of my life from school, family relationships, and even athletics. Even though I have improved my feedback reception tremendously over the last couple years, it is a never ending growth process that you can always continue to get better at. In the future I want to keep my open mind and allow others to offer constructive criticism without shutting it down right away. I know people who have the mindset that they’re perfect and are constantly closing out anyone who is giving any sort of advice. Growth in denial is so tough to the point where no real progress can be made because the best growth comes from growing in unison to what you surround yourself with. Which is why it is so important to surround yourself with positivity.

10. Leadership and Team Simulation

I really enjoyed partaking in the Mount Everest simulation because it offered me a chance to work with some of my classmates that I hadn’t talked to at all previously. Despite not knowing each other beforehand, we were all able to collaborate really well. We accomplished our task of making it to the summit without any tragic accidents or deaths. I credit a good portion of our success to us all coming to class prepared and ready because we had all watched the tutorial and read through our own responsibilities. We kept open communication throughout the whole simulation and let everyone speak their mind when there were decisions to be made. Even though it was graded on participation, we remained motivated to make it to the top with as few mistakes as possible. I didn’t necessarily learn anything new about myself during the task, but my love for working in effective teams was reinforced as I realized how well we all worked together and how quickly we were able to make decisions. Finally, after a few months of self-reflection, in comparison to number one of this portfolio I stand by everything I say. I continue to value my relationship with family and friends over almost anything and am still excited to see where my future leads me. I am proud of the progress I have made, but the one thing I keep telling myself is to be happy with the results but avoid becoming stagnant by never being fully content.