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Tour Clark
Personal Leadership Reflection
University of San Francisco
MPH













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In this reflection essay I will discuss my results from two tests, the Strengths finder 2.0
assessments and the Emotional Intelligence Appraisal 2.0. The strengths finder 2.0-
assessment test focuses on what are the qualities and strengths that a leader needs in order
to build leadership skills in those under them. There are 34 Clifton StrengthsFinder
themes naturally cluster into four domains of leadership strength. The four distinct
domains of leadership strength, which include: executing, influencing, relationship
building, and strategic thinking. The emotional intelligence Appraisal 2.0 measures a
persons emotional intelligence. There are 4 distinct areas that are also measured; they
include self-awareness, self-management, social-awareness, and relationship awareness.
Finally, I will reflect on my weaknesses and were I can improve based on the tests
results.
In 1998, Donald O. Clifton, Tom Rath and a team of scientist at Gallup, created
the online StrengthsFinder assessment. The Clifton StrengthsFinder assessment is based
on a 40-year study of human strengths, more than 7 million people have taken Gallups
StrengthFinder assessment. The book and test are a tool assessment that gives the reader
the ability to uncover possibly hidden talents, and increase the chances of opportunities to
do what you do best every day. The Gallup scientist studied more than one million work
teams, conducted more than 20,000 interviews with leaders, and even interviewed more
than 10,000 followers around the world to ask them why the follow the most important
leader in their life.
As Gallup studied and conducted thousands of interviews they began to see that
although each member had their own unique strengths, the most unified teams possessed
broader groupings of strengths. From this understanding came the four distinct domains
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of leadership strength emerged: Executing, Influencing, Relationship Building, and
Strategic Thinking. Leaders with dominant strength in the Executing domain are able to
catch an idea and turn it into a reality within the organization they lead. Those with
strong influencing skills are always and able to sell the team's ideas inside and outside the
organization. They are adept to take charge, speak up, and make sure their group is heard.
There are four domains that the Gallup StrengthFinder test that are critical to the
overall effective functioning of a leadership group. Of the four domains, Executing,
Influencing, Relationship, and Strategic thinking, my top themes are achiever
(Executive), individualization (Relationship Building), Input, Futuristic and learner
(Strategic Thinking).

Achiever
Under the Executive domain, my top them was achiever. According to the results
of the test, I think intensely to conceive vivid mental images of the future. People who
lacks this ability regularly rely on me to do this envision of what will be possible in the
coming months, years, or decades. I can attest to this statement, I usually plan out my
future my imaging what could be in the future. My good friend Kyomi was dealing with a
deep depression and was homeless in the state of Washington. I called her every chance I
got to talk her into her future. I planted seeds of faith that she could get into flight
academy, get the state to pay for her diabetes medication, and have her own place. We
talked for hours about how her uniform would be, the colors, fit and design. I described
the hours she would put in for school and how her living situation would be like. I told
her that being homeless is only preparing you to learn how to live from one city to the
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next with little. As of now, she is no longer homeless and has got into flight academy
school. I have always had people come and listen to me describe the wonderful
possibilities for their future.
Some other strengths that I posses according to the test are a sound work ethic,
knowing how to get projects moving forward, restless unto reaching goals of high, and
being able to concentrate for extended periods of time. When I received the results for
this part I was mystified by how accurate the test results were. I wrestle with my inner
struggle to achieve the goals that I set up for me everyday. Despite the challenges, I press
towards my goals with a determination that scares even me sometimes. I loved the
statement that those who scored high in achiever domain will master skills and grasp
concepts because of the ability to concentrate for extended periods of time. Even in my
short life of 26 years, I have achieved much when I look back over the things I faced in
my life.

Individualization
Within the Relationship Building domain, I scored high for individualization. This
field states that a person with this strength spends quality time examining exactly why
something went wrong. With any experience, a personal or professional goal, or making a
mistake I will tend to investigate. Questions that I usually ask myself always are the
questions that the test stated that I would ask. These questions include, What? How?
When? Where? Who? Why. The amazing part of the results in this area is that very
accurate in my personality and strengths, especially stating that I often choose to be a
spectator. Majority of my adolescents was spent observing my siblings, cousins and
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friends engage in various activities. I love to people watch and notice slight things about
each person. I truly do find humans amazing, and the results said I should. The results
affirmed my thoughts about how I think I have the gift to notice differences between
people, which make me love variety. Lastly, it states being armed with this talent will
guide me to form groups of various backgrounds and help them reach their common
goals more easily, efficiently, or quickly.

Strategic Thinking (Input, Futuristic and learner)
Within the domain of Strategic Thinking I actually scored high in three themes,
these include Input, Futuristic, and Learner. Of the first, Input is summed up in the belief
that I enjoy reinforcing my knowledge and building my confidence by using your
extensive vocabulary. The results stated that I aim to collect insights that can inspire a
person to take advantage of his or her one-of-a-kind talents, knowledge, and/or skills. The
statement that a person who scored high in with the theme Input enjoy to memorize
several of its definitions so you can use the same word in numerous ways. When reading
this answer made chills run down my spine. I get truly excited with I buy a new
dictionary of certain fields that spark my interest, such as medical terms.

Futuristic
This area seems to tie into the theme Achiever, for a person with the Futuristic
strength needs to know what the future holds before they can concentrate on todays
activities. I must be able to visual my future in order to appreciate the daily activities that
I must complete. The description for Futuristic stated that I probably share my images of
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the future with at least one individual a day. I might not get the opportunity each day to
do so, yet, if the chance does arise I would do so with eagerness. I come to realize that the
more I talk about my dreams the more excited I get about their realization.

Learner
Of all the other themes I scored high in, I believe this one truly speaks of me. The
Learner theme states that people who scored high here regard education as one of the
essential elements of a well-lived life. A Learner individual yearn to acquire more
knowledge or skills to help produced various outcomes. Having strength in this theme
leads individuals to experts who appreciate their thought-provoking questions. As I read
this last statement I thought about a good friend who would be considered my father by
age, Rich. He is a plight for United and in his late 50s. I go to his house once a week on
Fridays to practice songs for church and to sit and glean wisdom from him. I bounce off
my thoughts, plans and ideas for my life on him. I love how he helps me focus on the
things that are truly important to me. I appreciate the diverse background he has, from
growing up in New York, being of Italian descent, and coming from a working class
family. I am also excited to visit him on Fridays to either learn something I can apply to
my life, or a silly joke that he usually fires at random during the night.
Emotional Intelligence (EQ)
Over the last decade 500,000 and counting were tested to discover the role emotions take
part in our everyday life. Emotional Intelligence is the ability to recognize and understand
emotions in yourself and others, and your ability to use this awareness to manage
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relationships and your own behavior. To be clear, there is no connection between a
persons IQ and EQ, you cannot predict a persons EQ based on their IQ. Yet, the three,
personality, IQ, and EQ together, they determine how we think and act. There is four
emotional intelligence skills pair up under two primary competencies: personal
competence and social competence. The personal competence is composed of your self-
awareness and self-management skills. The personal competence is the ability to stay
aware of your own emotions and to manage your tendencies and behavior. Social
competence is made up of social awareness and relationship management. This is the
ability to understand other peoples mood, motives and behavior to improve the quality of
the relationship.
The scores of Emotional Intelligence Appraisal are based on a comparison to the
general population. The test is scored out of 100 points, I scored a 77/10, initially I felt
sadden, thinking that I was only a little above average. Yet, I scored an 82 for the social
competence section, a 72 for the personal competence section and a 75 in self-
management. I have a very strong ability to use awareness of my emotions and the
emotions of others to manage interactions successfully. Also, letting emotional awareness
guide clear communication and effective handling of conflict.
Room For Improvement
After taking both the Strengths Finder 2.0 assessment and the Emotional
Intelligence Appraisal 2.0, I now understand my strengths and weaknesses better.
Although there is room to improve my strengths, I definitely now see the need to improve
my weakness. I believe both test are a valuable resource to improve not only leadership
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skills in the corporate world, but to improve your everyday experiences with yourself
emotionally, and relationally with other humans around you. For the Strengths Finder 2.0
assessment, the areas I can improve on within the four domains of leadership would be to
build trust, show more compassion, provide stability, and create hope. With building
trust, the book offered suggestions for me to take action and improve. For building trust, I
need become a trusted leader by making sure that I provide information that is both
accurate and current.
With the area of compassion, I need to consider the relationship possibilities,
thinking beyond the learning opportunity at hand, rather allowing it to become a
friendship. I must be willing to invite people along when I discover opportunities to
pursue mutual interest, I know for me that I can get wrapped up in my own interest and
not notice others desire to be part of the journey. By providing stability for others, I must
research the topic at hand with thoroughness and depth so people can feel confident that
my decisions are well thought out. Lastly, to create hope, it is recommended that I
become more aware of individuals, and groups that can benefit from my knowledge, and
to be intentional about sharing. My purpose is not only to be a sponge, soaking up as
much information as possible, but also, to make sure that I share with other.
The following the results for the Emotional Intelligence Appraisal 2.0, I was more
eager to learn how to become stronger in my weak areas. Scoring a 69 in self-awareness
made me think that I am not allowing myself to notice my emotions as they come. Also,
how I am doing with keeping track on my emotions as they happen and how do I respond
to specific situations and certain people. I can be open and honest and say that I can very
introverted at home and had gained the reputation for being extremely to myself. I can
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become a social butterfly easily when I am not around my family, yet I have assumed the
role of just observing then speaking. I am thankful that is being brought to my attention
so that I can improve my emotional intelligence especially in the areas of self-awareness
and social awareness. I will unquestionably keep both books in my library and refer back
to them periodically to ensure my development in my weaknesses. I am truly excited
about this journey of self- discovery, thank you Dr. James for this assignment.














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