HDF 190 Final Statement

One part of HDF190 that had a profound impact on me was when we performed our

speeches on servant leadership. When preparing this speech, I did a great deal of self-reflection. I

realized that it was okay that I was more of a quieter and more reserved person. I learned that

even though I have these introverted characteristics, I can still be a leader in my own way. It

really helped me understand that there are many people around me who are like me that are able

to lead the people around them to be successful. One of those people was my dad. I realized that

he is so much like me and that he does a great job of leading my family and the people he works

with. Doing the servant leadership speech helped me become more confident and realize the

potential I have to be a great leader despite not having the most notable leadership

characteristics. I now know that I can use my skill of listening in order to understand those

around me and help lead people.

The theory that was a strong fit for me was the servant leadership model. Growing up in

my family, I was always taught to serve others in need and to have the basic understanding that

there will always be someone who has it worse than me. The servant leadership model was the

model I related to the most, simply because it connected most to the values that were instilled in

me by my family. Over the years, I have always learned that it is important to listen to others

when trying to come up with solutions to a problem. I think this skill will travel with me into my

future career. I believe this because engineering is all about problem-solving and working with

others. Therefore, I need to know how to listen to others and understand what everyone is trying

to say. As this will help us in finding the best solutions to the most challenging problems we are

faced with.
 Some marketable skills that I currently possess are the ability to communicate with others

and to be flexible with my time. One skill that I have developed since enrolling in URI is the

ability to listen. Throughout my time as a freshman, I have met so many people and have built

relationships with many of them. The number one thing I did in order to form these relationships

was listen to others. Most of the time when I would get to know someone new, I would never

really talk about myself. I would just end up listening to whatever they had to say. This really

helped me understand the type of person they were and it helped me decide whether or not I

wanted to continue to get to know them. In addition, it let them know that they could trust me as

a person because I would always be there to listen to them and help them.