My Career Ready Portfolio
Chapter 3: Leadership Philosophy
adithijayaraman
As a leader, I strive to be as a compassionate, patient, and proactive leader who relies on the knowledge and perspectives of others before making important decisions.
Why do I do this? My ultimate goal as a leader to is improve the lives of others in a productive and safe way. As an aspiring industry professional in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics), I want to use my knowledge and experiences to raise the standard of living for anyone and everyone, especially for marginalized communities. This is the main reason I chose to volunteer at Knights Pantry, it’s a great place to cultivate skills such as communication and collaboration while directly helping UCF’s student community. In addition to volunteering at Knights Pantry, I’ve had numerous leadership opportunities while at UCF.
One of my most provocative leaderships experiences was becoming a GEMS Mentor. The GEMS (Girls EXCELING in Math and Science) Program is an academic and professional support program run by the iSTEM department at UCF (Dagley, 2023). As a GEMS Mentor, my main job was to create a support system for incoming freshmen and transfer students who are in STEM majors. At the beginning of Fall 2023, I was assigned to a group of nine students; it was my job to create a safe space for them when they started college and show them that they were not alone in their major(s). Being a GEMS Mentor allowed me to cultivate various aspects of my leadership style in just a year. I’ve become more flexible and relaxed when organizing big events and tasks, I’ve become more accustomed to working a group, and I’ve become more confident in communicating my ideas. As I continue as a GEMS Mentor, I believe that I will continue to improve and innovate upon my leadership style, especially in areas regarding to collaboration, citizenship, and consciousness of self.
As I begin my career, I envision myself being the type of leader who is open-minded, compassionate, patient, and creative in my leadership style and problem-solving skills. I see myself working with others to innovate upon current technologies and ways of living to ultimately improve the health and wellness of everyone.
References
Dagley, M. (2023, August 20). Why GEMS (M. Dagley, Ed.) [Review of Why GEMS].
Komives, S. R., & Wagner, W. (2017). Leadership for a better world : understanding the social change model of leadership development. Jossey-Bass.
