How to write your leadership philosophy

Building on the reflection you did to complete your Leadership Vision Board, now is the time to develop your personal leadership philosophy, as it stands today. Keep in mind that this will be a living document that you can return to throughout your life and career and tweak as you enter different seasons of life. Do not use ChatGPT or other AI platforms to write your philosophy statement. 

My name is Erika Brandt, I am a sophomore at UCF studying Health Science with a Biology minor following the premed-track to potentially become a cardiologist in the future. I have lived in three different countries, Venezuela, Colombia, and the US, and moved around five times. My hobbies are taking care of plants, doing Pilates, running, and cooking healthy foods. I consider myself to be a very open-minded person due to living in different places, and caring which is reflected in my hobbies: I care about myself, my interests, goals, and the people I work with.

My leadership style is being a Servant Leader; what motivates me is leading a group to work towards a greater good to create a better community around us. I like my work environment to be friendly, where everyone feels in a safe place to express their ideas, opinions, and concerns. I value clear communication where all the members of the group or organization deliver a message which gets responded as soon as possible; I also do not like when staff have incomplete information about what is done: everyone should know the good and the bad things that have happened during the job to learn from our mistakes and get the job done better in the future.

As previously mentioned, my purpose as a leader has always been to give to the community. My core values include caring, being compassionate, listening, and working hard. In my opinion, this aligns perfectly with my professional priority to become a Cardiologist; this is because I will be leading a group of healthcare workers to serve the community and improve our patients’ quality of lives. My expectations for myself and my group is for all of us to be passionate about our work and help each other with any issues during the work. I want us to do our job with care and love for others and do it the best way possible; if this is done, then I would consider the result a success.

From my leadership experiences around campus, I have learned to work on a team and step up when needed. In my time as the Treasurer for the Venezuelan Student Association, I had to step up several times as the leader of the events in case the President and the Vice-President were taking care of other tasks. In Be The Match, I had to also start doing the Social Media Director role at top of my Volunteer Officer position since our last Social Media dropped out of the club. On the other hand, from LEAD, I have learned that collaboration, common purpose, and commitment are the three C’s from the seven C’s that are most important for me in a working environment, and values that I have applied ever since I learned them.

All in all, my leadership philosophy consists of being committed to a cause that benefits the community. This must be done by performing the best possible job we can with love, compassion, and care. With this, among the team, there must be good communication and respect.