Rachel Antalvari’s Leadership Portfolio

Personal Mission Statement: I will always strive for continuous learning. I will use my passion of helping others as much as possible, even in the smallest ways. I will always try to see the good in everyone and learn from others. I will seek balance in the emotional, social, spiritual, and physical aspects of my life. I will always try to understand what is, and is not, important to my past, my present, and my future.

My Leadership Style: I have a participative leadership style. I am normally one of the first in a group to stand up and express my ideas and find myself encouraging others to express their ideas as well. I believe the best way to lead a group is to encourage group conversation and debate, since the purpose of working in a group is to have more than one idea or more than one method of completing a task. As a leader, I realize that my ideas and methods are not always the best and I am always intrigued to listen to how someone else views a problem and how they see a solution to it. Areas of Strength: Much of my strength as a leader comes from my self-confidence and desire to achieve. Areas of Weakness: Often times my desire to achieve can be too overwhelming, and I push myself too hard. It also leads me to constantly accept on new challenges, even when I do not have to. My main weakness is being overworked or stressed from this drive to perfection.

5 Leaders Who I Identify With: Hillary Clinton I believe Clinton is a prime example of leading in the face of adversity. When she ran for the democratic ticket for the presidency for the 2008 election, Clinton was bombarded relentlessly for her ideas, but more often than not for trivial issues such as her choice of dress or makeup, her looks or simply the fact that she was a woman. No one seemed to be comfortable with Clinton running for president, but she plowed on with her campaign in spite of all of the adversity. I feel I identify with her strength. Martin Luther King Jr. To bring together an entire race and to move to hearts and minds of so many people, even decades after his death, is astounding. His non-violence approach to racial issues has changed our nation forever and everyone knows his name. He led the entire civil-rights movement almost single handedly, and united so many followers behind his front. Alice Paul She was one of the main women who pushed endlessly for women’s suffrage, and her drive and focus on her goal nearly caused her death in a women’s prison. She never let her followers give up. However, what I feel I identify with and I think is incredible about her, is she took all the backlash, never letting her followers be blamed. I identify with her drive to include and listen to others as well. Queen Elizabeth I of England Not only was she an outstanding ruler, but Queen Elizabeth was one of the first to prove to the masses that women do not need a man to be strong. I identify with her need to be seen for who she is and her own worth, and not her worth because of anyone else. Franklin Delano Roosevelt He established many programs to help Americans and some of these programs are so long lasting that they continue to help Americans today, clearly showing Roosevelt’s great ability for problem solving. He also worked in unison with the leaders of other countries the United States was allied with to bring a winning end WWII; he worked relentlessly, even though he was very ill. I identify with this drive to work relentlessly towards a goal.

Differential Advantages: First, I have a very strong level of self-confidence. I am never afraid to speak up and share my opinion on an individual or a group level. But, my self-confidence is always balanced with a dose of humility; I am not overly confident, as I realize there will always be something new to learn about leadership and the company I work for. Second, I am always able to keep a strong focus. If there is a job that I need to do, I will push myself to accomplish it in the most timely fashion. My focus also pushes me to help others complete their work and goals. If there is something that I can realistically help someone with, I will most certainly do so. Third, I am very organized. This allows me to keep on top of all the work that I have to do, and keeps me from running late with any assignment. I am also very good at managing my time and using my it wisely. Since I keep my time and my life so organized, I am able to keep myself disciplined when it comes to work. Fourth, I am thoughtful. I look at problems from many different angles, and am curious about all differing view points on an issue. I find that through this manner I am able to come up with new and creative solutions to problems and learn from others thoughts and solutions as well.

Leadership Experience: In Winter of 2011, I found myself in a position of leadership at my place of employment. My manager was not feeling well, so I stepped up to help prepare the store for a visit from a company manager. Since it is a retail store, we had to first and foremost make the store look neat and clean, and we also had to make sure we had all the necessary paperwork printed and ready. This was difficult for me as I did not know exactly what would be needed. First, I delegated tasks to other employees. I listened to how each one thought they could best help in preparing the store, and gave them tasks based on their preferences. I assigned one person to help me in calling other stores to ask what paperwork was needed for the meeting. At the end of the night I made sure everyone had done their job, and if something was not satisfactory I asked that it be done again. A lot of this was very challenging for me, as I was the youngest employee delegating tasks to older employees. A few were not willing to listen to me, but I believe I handled this well. My results were very impressionable. The next morning, my manager was very grateful and impressed. I also believe that other employees began to respect me more in seeing that I was not simply a young and immature college student, nor was I demanding or rude.

My 5 Year Plan: In the up-coming year, I plan to continue my college education with successful results, including keeping my GPA above a In the summer, I plan to study abroad in Italy and gain some leadership experience there while learning about another culture. Next year, I plan to apply for and obtain an internship with a business for a semester, or the summer. When I am not at an internship, I will work on obtaining more leadership opportunities in a student organization or at my job. I will also begin investigating full time employment opportunities. This year, I will follow through with searching for a full time job and find one that is the best fit for me, and graduate from Ohio University in June. I will then hopefully go straight to work at my new, full-time position. After a few months at my new job, I would like to begin establishing a strong mentee relationship with one of my superiors. My energies will be focused on succeeding at my new job and maintaining a work-life balance. I hope to have a position in my company that allows me to put into practice my leadership skills. I want to begin applying to graduate schools to obtain a masters degree, and possibly start that program in the fall.