My Leadership Philosophy

     My  leadership philosophy encompasses a variety of qualities and skills that I enact within my daily life. My core qualities that I strive to instill in my leadership philosophy are resilience and teamwork, along with enhancing my problem-solving skills . These skills are extremely crucial to my future career as an accountant. I aspire to graduate with my bachelor’s degree in accounting, obtain my Masters, and then pursue my CPA license. Implementing these skills in a profession such as accounting will help me thrive in any work environment. Accountants are committed, meticulous, and collaborate on a day-to-day basis. One thing that amazes me is my True Color results indicate that I am an “Orange.” These individuals are always upbeat, optimistic, energetic, and perform tasks in a spontaneous manner. This is far from the stereotypical “accountant” who is boring and pessimistic. My leadership philosophy reflects my believes, values, and principles and guides how I lead others.

     One core quality that I really value and try to implement in my leadership style is resiliance.  I am an individual who strives to do whatever it takes to achieve my goals; I never give up in times of defeat. For example, as a sophomore, I have applied to many accounting internships, hoping to gain experience that will help fulfill my future career goals. However, since accounting internships are usually targeted towards juniors/ rising seniors, I have been denied from most of my applications. Not only did this experience teach me to always keep my head high and stay positive, but it also has taught me to “apply, apply, apply” and never give up. I am dedicated to obtaining an internship and will not give up until I land an offer.

     Another quality that I try and incorporate into my leadership style is a strong work ethic. Anything I do; I give it my best. Influential people  who embody this quality are my Grandma Duffy and my father . My grandmother had a rough childhood growing up, bouncing from house to house in the foster care system. She went through so many challenges; however, she did not let this defeat her. Even when her husband had dementia and was slowly fading, she visited him every day in the nursing home, taking care of him. She was there so frequently that every nurse knew her. She also worked religiously trying to provide for her family. My father was also one of the strongest workers, I’ve ever seen. Since the age of 13, he started working and never stopped since. I get my hard work ethic from my grandmother and my father and I strive to implement this in my leadership style every day.

     Another value that is embedded in my leadership philosophy is teamwork. Learning to work in a collaborative environment, is crucial when helping others reach their full potential. This is especially true in any work environment. You want to feel comfortable around your colleagues and know that you can depend on them. My high school cross -country team really instilled what being a part of a team is all about. They taught me how to collaborate, receive feedback, and that I could always depend on them in the face of adversity. “Collaboration” is one of the 7 Cs of the Social Change Model that I try and implement while leading others. According to The Social Change Model: Facilitating Leadership Development, the Social Change Model “approaches leadership as a purposeful, collaborative, values-based process that results in positive social change” (Skendall, 2017). Collaboration occurs when individuals work together to achieve a common goal through trust and empowering others. My cross-country team empowered me every day with the purpose of trying my best.

     One last quality that I use as a leader is my problem-solving abilities. I liken problem-solving to a puzzle.  While doing a puzzle, you must see all individual pieces and try to link them together as one to create a puzzle. On the other hand, while problem-solving, you must analyze every possible outcome to see which best fits in each situation. My problem-solving skills helps me analyze situations that others or I may face, and to pick the best alternative for the situation. This is an important skill to have as a future accountant. Accountants must analyze financial statements thoroughly and evaluate the best alternative for a given company.

     Based on my personal leadership experiences, I have learned that effective communication, team building, adaptability, and innovation are also very important skills to have while collaborating with others. During our work on the class project for LDR3950, I’ve witnessed all these qualities come to life in Tees for Toys, our dog toy-making event that we have been planning throughout the semester. The reason our project has become so seamless and cohesive is due to the great communication and collaboration we have among committees. While first trying to create ideas of what topic we wanted to pursue, we were very mindful of our low budget and limited supply. We had to collaborate on ideas that could be adaptable and flexible depending on our budget. We also had innovated our way of making the dog toys. Ultimately, we decided to have a shirt drive and used the donated shirts to make the toys. This project has been a valuable experience in allowing me to enhance my leadership skills and qualities.

     Through my resilience, commitment, problem-solving abilities, strong work ethic, and collaboration skills, I harness my leadership style to foster a philosophy that motivates and encourages others to reach their full potential. My philosophy incorporates my core beliefs, and values, and serves as a compass to navigate my decisions and influence my interactions with others. I strive every day to incorporate my leadership philosophy into my leadership style.

 Sources

Social Change Model of Leadership Development. Leadership. (n.d.). https://gels.ucsd.edu/hawaii/leadership.html