E-Portfolio Mentor Review

Interview:

     On September 27, 2017, I conducted an interview with one of my co-workers from the past five summers.  I felt that someone I have worked with closely for the past five years would really be able to assess how my leadership skills have developed.  Steven Sorensen is a co-worker that I have always looked up to in terms of leadership.  He has always been someone in the office that is able to take on any project and lead a team to complete it.    

     My questions really focused on my development of leadership over the past five years as well as what I can do to continue to become a better leader.  Some of the answers that Steven gave me were not what I was expecting but were positive things to hear.  For example, when I asked him, “How would you describe me as a follower?”  he didn’t give me the response I was expecting, he gave me a well thought out response, “I think that as you grow in your education life, you are moving away from the natural place most kids are at when they’re 17-20, which is a follower.  You are learning who you are and where/who you want to be, and that is helping you shed the role as a follower and letting you grow into an individual free thinking leader,” this response was very positive for me.  The more I thought about what he said the more I found it to be true.  When you are in college you tend to fall into a pattern of following others and not taking on as much leadership positions.  Over the past year, I have really branched out from that and done things on my own and that my peers may not necessarily be doing.  For example, I went out on my own and decided that I wanted to get my yoga certification license.  This was a big step for me in terms of wanting to be a leader and taking on leadership roles.  A common theme that I saw appeared in our interview was my hard work habits working for me as a leader, and that the experience I have been through helped shape me as a leader.

     When Steven looked at my e-portfolio he suggested that I need to spend more time on it.  Which I agree with, that was not a shocking comment from him.  He knows what I can do for projects so he is a good person to push my limits on making the best final product I can.  Other suggestions that he had for me were to revise my front-page summary about myself and to try to make my profile look less generic.