HDF 190:

FIRST YEAR LEADERS INSPIRED TO EXCELLENCE

LEADERSHIP PORTFOLIO

Sheaffeel Gedeon
SPRING 2018

sheaffeelgedeon@my.uri.edu
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

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

*If you do not have one outcome from each area of the Inventory completed,
you may opt to choose 2 from one of the sections.
 Signature Strengths
Harmony
Achiever
Discipline
Communication
Futuristic

Values in Action Strengths

Forgiveness
Humor
Honesty
Judgement
Kindness
 OPENING STATEMENT
Over the course of HDF 190, I feel as though I’ve generally learned about how I work as a leader and
how I can continue to develop my leadership skills through practice and references to the various
leadership models. My strengths and values, in my opinion, serves as a frame for what type of leader I
strive to be. With my strengths of Harmony, Communication, Discipline, Achiever, and Futuristic, as a
leader I push towards executing meaning that I constantly stay focused and determined but I never
forget the idea of building relationships. Along with my strengths, my values of Forgiveness, Humor,
Kindness, Judgement, and Honesty play more roles in how I lead as a person. In the long run, it can
relate to how I can use these leadership models to assist me in my academics, service, career field,
and overall personal life.
The new knowledge that I have of each model along with their components and characteristics, I
believe I relate the most to Servant Leadership. Although I might connect to Servant Leadership the
most, there are still many opportunities for me to express components of other presented models.
Leadership is not just a concrete idea, it can be interpreted in many different forms and can be
implanted in so many areas. Overall, I believe that I can apply the new concepts that I’ve learned from
the models, techniques, and general concepts to my social, personal, academic, and career choices.
Also, it can essentially be reinforced through incorporation of my strengths and values.
 SECTION 1: SELF LEADERSHIP
(Outcome 5): Student will demonstrate the ability to manage stress
Stress is something that creates doubt in my mind and makes me hesitant on many decisions. In my opinion, stress is
something that I am constantly in a battle with and is always on my shoulder. Overtime, I have learned how to manage my
stress and have come up with different methods in order to help me get there as well as gotten some pieces of advice. The
first step for me was to first be aware of where my stress was coming from then I came up with ways to lower it or get rid of it
completely. For academics, I gained a better knowledge of structure and time management. Time management is something
that has helped my greatly with stress because it has allowed me to me to take more advantage of time especially free time.
During the week, I do that "9-5 shift” where I don’t to my room during classes but instead go to places where I can do my
work. With the breaks I have between classes I get some assignments done so I don’t have to worry about them later. I
usually get the easier assignments done in that time period since they son’t take as much time as the harder assignments.
When I find myself with free time and nothing to do, I sometimes push myself to do homework so I have less on my plate. I
also like to plan out my day where I put aside time to relax and time to do work which has been very beneficial. Along with
time management, I’ve also became more organized. Setting check lists of the the assignments I have to do and their do
dates along with marking when exams and projects are coming up has helped me out a lot. With methods I’ve been ahead in
many of my classes and have realized I’ve been less stressed and more relaxed. This benefitted me the most in CHM 124,
MTH 142, and PHY 203 as these are the more difficult courses of my freshman year.
For my personal life, I’ve just been able to manage my stress by doing less but working harder. I was told at the beginning of
my freshman year of college that it’s better to be part of 2 clubs and work harder in them instead of trying to balance too many
clubs. I’ve stuck to two clubs and have limited the amount of things that I do and have been more committed to them. I now
know when something would be too much instead of trying to fit everything in which has helped to lower the stress that I used
to have trying to be involved in everything.
 SECTION 2: Leadership Theory and Models
(Outcome 37): Students will demonstrate knowledge of the “4 V’s” theory of leadership by
Grace (Center for Ethical Leadership)
In HDF 190, we were introduced to the "4 V’s” theory of leadership and discussed how it connected to our specific values in whatever
ways we thought. The basic purpose for the 4-V Model of Ethical Leadership is that is basically sets out a base or a guide for individuals
to use their values in order to push towards that sense of common good. It also reinforces the idea that values should be referenced to
along with behavior and actions which in a way encourages the concept of knowing, being, and doing that are presented in the
Relational Leadership Model. In other words, what this means is that the acts that we do and the way that we act when it comes to
leadership and being effective leaders should symbolize our values and how we believe the common good can be obtained.
The 4 V’s of this theory are values, vision, voice, and virtue. From my understanding of this theory, values connect to the top 5 values
that were given to us through the VIA Assessment. Having knowledge of what our specific values are is the starting point to this whole
process. We need to be aware of what we are passionate about as well as what we stand for as individuals, and that is represented
through our values. Virtue are the groups or categories that our values fall into. It also refers to the general idea of what the common
good or purpose is. It pushes us towards better practice and making it more clear on what the right choices are in different situations.
When it comes to vision and voice, I have possibly interpreted in a different way as other students, but it could come to the fact that we
possibly all define it the same. I define vision as what we want to see change, and what the ideal world we kind of want to live in or the
environment we want to place ourselves in. Vision somewhat gives us a visual of what type of change we potentially want to create as
well as what we want to live by. Through that it allows us to be more thoughtful of what actions we want to carry out and how our actions
can either benefit or harm the change we are striving for. As for voice, it portrays a quote or idea of what we want to remind ourselves
with in order to stay true to working towards making that change. Along with the 4-Vs comes three other core elements that are essential
to the ethical leadership model. These three elements are service, polis, and renewal. Service is the help that we provide for others and
how our values create a frame for that. It helps us to realize what we can do for others and what are the best choices for that. Polis, in
other words politics, refers to the idea of portraying what our vision is to the public. Lastly, there’s renewal. Renewal is the act of moving
away from acting and spending time on making sure that our values and vision are in like with the acts that are being carried out.
 SECTION 3: Inclusive Leadership / Diversity and its application to leadership
(Outcome 93): Student will show knowledge of the Multicultural Organizational
Development Model (Jackson)
The Multicultural Organizational Development (MCOD) Model is a model that assists and supports organization that are switching from an
monocultural organization to a multicultural organization. This model helps to get to that point in three crucial ways. These ways being first helping
that organization to recognize where their sense of multiculturalism is on a scale, then to aid in creating a vision to what idea of multiculturalism they
want to portray, and lastly having them establish goals and points that need to be reached in order to reach that vision.

The MCOD model consists of three main categories, and these categories are monocultural, transitional, and multicultural. Monocultural is expressing
almost a favor or bias towards one group or culture. Transitional is moving towards that idea of including other groups and cultures, but trying to have
that express the culture of that one group that the organization is in favor off. Multicultural is valuing the different identities and cultures of other
groups and trying to incorporate those ideas in that organization. Each of these categories have different subcategories that basically highlights what
these organizations carry out in these “steps” or “titles”. Exclusionary and Passive Club are the two subcategories in the monocultural portion.
Exclusionary is excluding those who are not in favor or as passionate about their group or its values from their mission. Passive Club is passively and
actively excluding others and only including those who they think fit into their group. Compliance and Positive Action are the two subcategories in the
transitional portion. Compliance is the act of stating to include others , only a few, but not pushing towards making big changes. Positive Action is
taking the effort to bring others from different groups into that organization with also taking into mind the differences. Redefining and Multicultural are
the two subcategories in the multicultural portion. Redefining is basically involving everyone regardless of styles or culture and working towards
creating a new and more positive definition behind inclusion. Multicultural is creating that diversity by representing individuals along with their different
cultures and perspectives.
 SECTION 4: Critical Thinking
(Outcome 102): Student will show knowledge of at least five decision making
methods

Efficient problem solving is very beneficial when it comes to making the right decisions as well as the most ethical ones especially in regards to
leadership. Being able to have the ability to make the best choices in different situations can bring nothing but positive and impactful outcomes. Five
different decision making methods in order are first to identify the problem, analyze the problem, identify decision criteria, develop multiple solutions,
and lastly to choose the optimal solution.

By starting the process by identifying the problem is very important because one must make sure that they are trying to solve the right problem. This
can be carried out by asking questions and observing. Basically, active listening skills can be very helpful in this stage. Next, there’s analyzing the
problem. This relates mainly to deeply observing the problem, and focusing on how severe it is and what components or circumstances are consistent
in the problem. After, there’s identifying the decision criteria. This refers to the idea of what concepts and areas should the decision cover. In other
words, just being aware and having knowledge of what areas need to be addressed before making that decision to making sure that it solves the
problem. Developing multiple solutions comes next. This is just having multiple options and coming up with more than one solution rather than just
stopping at the first because it helps to see perspectives. It also aids in potentially coming across easier routes to making that decision. Lastly, there’s
choosing the optimal solution. It brings the whole process together ad a whole and using these steps can assure that us as leaders make the best
decisions, not just for us but for others as well.
 SECTION 5: (Interpersonal and Organizational Concepts and Skills )
(Outcome 141): Student will demonstrate proficiency in informative and persuasive
public speaking

In COM 100, public speaking was one of the chapters that we focused on where were learned certain elements that made a
great presentation and also some things that made a terrible presentation. It’s clear that public speaking is something that is
terrifying for so many people, but it can be overcome with confidence and practice. Also, some techniques that are useful to
have a successful speech are organizing main points, creating outlines, and most importantly practicing.
Public speaking is something that I had huge trouble in because I wasn’t a fan of being the center of attention and speaking
in front of people that I didn't know. I would get so nervous that it would cause me to be monotone, play with my hands, and
shake. After learning the different things that help to make a great presentation, I have been able to grow as a public
speaker. I feel as though most of my issues came from lack of confidence and practice which are crucial to providing a great
speech, so by taking those into account I’ve been able to move from a bad public speaker to one that is constantly growing
and learning new things. Also, the information that I have learned in my classes on public speaking, and the criticism or
advice I have received from my professors has helped me to make changes and practice to be better for next time.
As I am constantly giving presentations whether it was informative speeches in COM 100 or presentation in my biomedical
engineering seminar (BME 181), I constantly use that to my advantage as it provides a sense of practice to further
developing my public speaking skills. From that, I feel as though I have grown as a public speaker because of the fact that I
am more willing to go first or volunteer when giving speeches or presentations, I go up there with more confidence and less
fear, and I have a full understanding of the material that helps to inform or persuade my audience.