Logo Description:

My logo was inspired by the five leadership strengths that were

identified for me through the Strengths Finder 2.0 assessment.
The design features abstract images of individual people, all of a
different color, who are standing close together and have their
hands together in the middle. To me, this highlights the values
of individuality, relating to one another, showing one another
care or empathy, standing together in an organized order
(which I believe represents discipline), and individually giving
input (which is represented by each putting a hand in the center
of the group). The image is also artistic, which I believe is another trait that defines me as a person.

My Mission Statement:
To provide unparalleled services as an
occupational therapist and empower individuals of all ages to have better quality of life, health, and wellbeing.

My Leadership Strengths:
My top five leadership strengths are as follows: Individualization, Input, Discipline, Relator, and Empathy. These strengths represent my viewpoint as a
leader who values the individual differences, input, and strengths of others. Most
of my strengths pertain directly to relating to others, working with them, and
valuing what makes other people unique and special, and I believe that these
strengths do represent who I would want to be as a leader. I also value a professional teams ability to be responsible, disciplined, and reliable, and because my
brand represents me from a professional standpoint, I also believe that the Discipline strength that I have is an important foundation of my brand and leadership
direction.

Leadership Theory:
The leadership theory that I believe represents my brand is the Behavior Leadership Approach.
As my logo illustrates, I believe that every person has individual qualities and skills, and that everyone should be appreciated for their differences and treated fairly in a team setting. I also believe
that people should actively exemplify their positive traits by behaving according to those qualities,
because actions speak much louder than words, and I believe that what we actually do as individuals says a great deal about who we are. This ties into the fact that I believe that a leader should act
and behave like a leader, because even if someone possesses innate, positive qualities that would
potentially make them a good leader, I do not believe that they qualify as a good leader until they
are able to exhibit behavior that exemplifies those traits.

Strengths and Weaknesses:

I believe that the emphasis on the importance of behavior is the Behavior Leadership Approachs
main strength, as I believe that actually exhibiting leadership behaviors is one of the most important things that a strong leader can do. However, I also acknowledge that it may have a potential weakness in that it may under-emphasize the importance of a persons character that may be
hidden under certain behaviors that may not entirely reflect a persons inner strengths. For example, someone may behave in a shy manner, but they also may possess an inner strength of being a
strong diplomat underneath those shy behaviors.

Leadership Artifact 1:

Leadership Artifact 2:

This artifact is a picture of the student ambassador

team that I was part of during my academic career
at Touro. I believe that this was one of the most
valuable leadership experiences that I had at Touro, as it gave me opportunities to represent and
advocate for the occupational therapy (OT) profession, as well as giving me opportunities to lead
groups and informative demonstrations that were
related to OT practices. I believe that this experience helped me to develop more confidence and
effectiveness as a representative of the OT profession. The portion of my work as a student ambassador that involved incoming student interviews
was also very valuable, as I believe that this was a
way for me to enhance my ability to identify and
value peoples individual qualities and skills.

This artifact is a picture of the team that I was

part of during our 4th Semester Camp Cartwheel
leadership activity. I believe that this was a very
valuable leadership experience for me, as it was
one of the first experiences I had with organizing,
implementing, and leading activities from an OT
standpoint with people in the community. I also
learned a lot about working in group, and how
each of our individual strengths and weaknesses
played into the process of executing our plans.
These experiences that I had and the things that I
learned have contributed to the process of me
finding out what kind of a team player and leader
that I am, and I believe that I began honing skills
that will help me to become a more effective leader and practitioner in the future.

My Leadership Plan
Year 5 Goal

Year 10 Goal

I will mentor a Level II OT student in order to further my experience as an educational leader

in the OT community, as well as
to help a student to develop as a
future practitioner and leader as
well.

I will return to school to obtain

my doctorate degree in occupational therapy so that I may expand my expertise and potential
for opportunities as a leader in
the OT community.

Year 1 Goal
I will mentor a Level I OT
student in order to begin establishing myself as an educational
leader in the OT community.

References:
Derue, S. D., Nahrgang, J. D., Wellman, N., Humphrey, S. E. (2011). Trait and behavioral
theories of leadership: An integration and meta-analytic test of their relative validity.
Personnel Psychology, 64, 7-52. doi: 10.1111/j.1744-6570.2010.01201.x
Gentry, K. (2012). Goal writing for a professional development plan. OT practice, 17(4), 8-10.
Rath, T. (2007). Strengths finder 2.0. New York, NY: Gallup Press.