Gregory Reeder has created a leadership portfolio to display his background, education, experiences, and leadership skills. The portfolio includes sections on his academics, college leadership roles, job experience, references, autobiographical sketch, mission statement, samples of his writing, and feedback from peers. Reeder believes that important leadership skills include persuasion, self-presentation, empathy, and relationship building. Through his experiences in athletics and support from his family, he has become a determined, goal-oriented individual who aims to obtain a master's degree and work as an academic advisor.

1. Leadership Portfolio
GREGORY A. REEDER
935 Tanney Street
Bellefonte, PA 16823
(814) 404-6833
Email: greeder@lhup.edu

2. Portfolio Contents
 Abstract
 Academics
 College Leadership Achievements
 Job Experience
 References
 Autobiographical Sketch
 Personal Mission Statement
 Persuasion Essay
 Self-presentation Feedback
 Leadership Philosophy
 Empathic Communication
 Service Project
 Works Cited

3. Abstract
 In this portfolio, I display my background, education achievements, job
experience, and discuss the skills necessary to be a good leader. Skills
necessary to lead include persuasion, self-presentation, and empathy. In
my autobiographical sketch, I explain how athletics and the support from
my family has developed me into a goal oriented individual. My personal
mission statement explains that my lifelong goals include having a family
and obtaining a master degree in Educational Leadership. During my
persuasion essay, I talk about how building relationships is key to
persuading individuals. In my self-presentation essay, I discuss that my
peers view me as hard working, optimistic, tolerant, and confident. My
leadership philosophy essay confirms that leaders must be charismatic,
persuasive, and believe in many essential values. The empathic
communication essay in this portfolio describes how I am able to listen to
others and summarize their messages. Lastly, I explain that I was able to
develop a new website for the leadership studies minor at Lock Haven
University through my service project.
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4. Academics
 Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania
 B.S., Business Administration
 Concentration: Management
 Minor: Leadership Studies
 GPA in Major: 3.4
 Overall GPA: 3.3
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5. College Leadership Achievements
 Lock Haven University Men’s Rugby Club
 Team President
– Served as first contact to the university and rugby league
– Delegated responsibility to cabinet and team members
– Campaigned for a $3,000 yearly budget increase
 Team Treasurer
– Operated and controlled a $16,000 team budget
– Completed all voucher and purchase order forms
– Required to keep all receipts in an organized manner
 Team Secretary
– Organized hotel and transportation arrangements
– Completed and submitted forms to the Eastern Pennsylvania Rugby Union
– Formulated a team roster list
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6. Job Experience
 The Pennsylvania State University
– Gatorade Intern
 Assisted with scheduling, payroll, and day-to-day operations
 Accountable for inventory shipments and returns
 Endorsed Gatorade’s new marketing plan and rebranding
– Gatorade Team Member
 Organized and operated hydration services to the Penn State sports camps
 Worked alongside Penn State coaches, athletes, and campers
 Assigned responsibilities for the work shift
 Zimmerman Plastering
– Apprentice
 Learned skills needed to operate a entrepreneurial plastering business
 Developed sufficient skills required to plaster
 Participated in the remodeling and building of housing structures
 The Atherton Hotel
– Convention Services
 Arranged room set-ups for weddings and meetings
 Provided hospitality services to clients of the hotel
 Served food and beverages
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7. References
Kate Curran
Gatorade Manager
Office: (315) 229-5813
Cell: (610) 715-2266
Dr. Tamson L. Six
Criminal Justice Department Chair & Men’s Rugby Advisor
Lock Haven University
(570) 484-2954
Brad Dally
Director of the Recreation Center
Student Recreation Center
Lock Haven University
(570) 484-2889
Steven Romig
Director of Sales
The Atherton Hotel
125 South Atherton Street
State College, PA 16801
(814) 231-2100
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8. Autobiographical Sketch
A teammate and son: The Determined Go-Getter
This autobiographical sketch is an essay describing how athletics and my parents have
had a major influence on my life. The difficulties and obstacles that I faced through athletic
competition made me the determined and well-rounded individual that I am today.
I went through my early years playing any sport that my parents would sign a permission slip for. My
father said that he will never forget my first tee-ball game. On the way to the field, I turned to him and said, “I
have been waiting my whole life for this.” After every practice and game, my father would take me into our
garage and have me hit off of a tee. He would watch my swing, talk about the game, and make corrections. To
be good at anything, you need to work hard and have the support of others.
During the winter of my 6th grade year, one of my good friends convinced me to join the wrestling team.
Through wrestling I learned that an individual needs to make some sacrifices in order to compete at a high
level. During my freshman year, I could not participate in Christmas dinner in order to make weight at a
tournament the following week. Even though some of my weight cutting routines were not in the best interest of
my health, I learned that some sacrifices were necessary.
High School started the next phase of my athletic career. During my four years at Bellefonte Area High
School, I lettered six times and became captain of the cross country and track and field teams. I did not become
a captain overnight. My father pushed me. The two of us work hard together. We would go to the track with a
stopwatch on weekends to measure my speed and endurance over and over. I would run until my legs burned
and sweat dripped down my face. Being the captain of a sports team creates a lot of responsibilities. Younger
athletes look to you for advice and you need to find ways to lead your team. During numerous practices, I
arrived early and stayed late to work with younger teammates. When called upon to be a leader, you must forth
the extra effort that most teammates are not required to put forth.
While at Lock Haven, I started playing rugby. Playing rugby at Lock Haven developed into one of the
best decisions of my college career. I never played rugby before and learning the game was a
challenge. Through hard work and determination, I cracked into the starting lineup during my first semester and
have been a starter ever since.
My parents continue to attend my rugby matches despite not knowing the rules or strategy of the
sport. Their support has carried me through my life. Additionally, athletics have shaped me into a stronger and
better-rounded individual. Without both my family and athletics, I would not be the person that I am today.
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9. Personal Mission Statement
Mission Possible
In this essay, I discuss my personal and professional goals. My personal goals involve
having a family and owning my own house. My professional goal involves becoming an academic
counselor at a university.
I was born in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania. My parents raised me from the time I has born in 1986. Both
parents and my little brother have had a huge impact on who I am. “Don’t do anything that you don’t want
published in tomorrow mornings paper” is a rule that I have always followed. My father, a businessman, led me
to major in business administration. However, my mother has always been involved in public school systems and
her occupation has fueled my desire to become an academic counselor.
My educational goals include completing a masters program in Educational Leadership. Graduate school
will also create a financial burden that I believe is worth the cost. A masters degree will allow me to complete my
professional career goal. That goal involves becoming an academic advisor or academic counselor at a
prestigious university. Eventually I want to pursue my doctorate degree. Knowledge is one of the biggest
values of mine. Nelson Mandela once said, “ education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to
change the world.” I hope to change the lives of others. To do that I need to continue learning and educated
myself.
My family has significantly influenced my family goals. My family goals include getting married and
building a small family. I hope to have two children and two dogs. Additionally, I want to own my own house. I
think owning a home is every Americans dream. I don’t care how many years or how much work it takes. I will
own my own house.
I hope that my values are what help me in completing my personal and family goals. Honesty, respect,
hard-work, intelligence, and optimism are some of my core values. Any company that I work for will get an
employee that is ready to do whatever it takes to improve that company in addition to myself. Hopefully in the
future, I will be married with my own house while working as an academic advisor.
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10. Persuasion Essay
“How I motivate people to improve Pennsylvania”
In this essay, I discuss how I attempted to persuade my classmates to join a rally.
Persuasion must be used by all leaders. Persuasion is a great tool that leaders use to reach goals
for the good of all. I prefer to use group bonding and my personal charisma to persuade people.
During this speech, I attempted to persuade people to join a rally. The rally would be used to persuade
state legislatures to speed up the legalization of table games in Pennsylvania. Table games are operated by live
dealers, as opposed to mechanical devices. Common table games include blackjack, craps, roulette, and
baccarat. The following ten points represent my reasoning for legalizing table games:
1) Increase tax revenue for the state
2) More jobs for the state
3) More vacation areas in PA
4) Take money away from New York, New Jersey, & West Virginia (all use table games)
5) More money for schools
6) More money for schools means better education
7) Better education means a more intelligent population
8) A more intelligent population equals increased innovation
9) More tax money coming in from casinos could mean lower individual taxes
10) Opens up an entire new industry for PA
My goals of the presentation was to use the “liking” principal introduced by Dr. Robert Cialdini . Dr.
Cialdini stated that “people prefer to say yes to those they like.” Group bonding is also important (Cialdini, 2001).
I tried to develop a relationship with my audience and explain how supporting table games can be good for all of
us. Overall, I received good scores from my raters on this speech. They said that I had good points, used
interesting visual aides, and was very clear about what I wanted them to do following my speech. The only
negative feedback that I received had to do with factual evidence behind my points. In others words, they
wanted statistics to back my statements. This speech helped me to learn more about how to persuade people
and what techniques work well for persuasion.
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11. Self-presentation Feedback
The Understanding of Self through Others
In this essay, I discuss the importance of self-presentation for any leader. To explore my
own self-presentation, I asked three of my peers to evaluate how I present myself. I was happy
to find that all three people had favorable views of how I present myself. I learned that in
addition to having many good qualities there are some presentation aspects that I need to
improve on.
I was actually surprised to find that the three peers that filled out my self-presentation survey had similar
answers as me. I guess it just surprised me that my view of myself is similar to that of others. One of the most
important things to remember about self-presentation is that “you are always communicating, even if you are not
saying anything.” You nonverbal actions are at least as important as you verbal actions (Nadler, 2009). Everyone
agreed that I was hard working, optimistic, tolerant, and confident. People also said that I was warm and
compassionate as well. Personally, I believe I have all of those previously noted attributes.
The survey brought out my negative characteristics, too. My brother and roommates stated that I can be
vain and at times act superior to others. I agree with these findings. I know that I can be vain at times and I
know that I can act superior to others. Those two points have always been part of me and are two things I
should work on. I am very confident and sometimes that is mistaken for cockiness. I really have to work on
making sure that people do not take my confidence the wrong way.
Most of the time I do not really think about how people view me, but I am happy that I had similar
answers to my peers. That shows that people view me the way that I expect them to view me. The majority of
the feedback I received was positive and I am thankful for that. However, I know that I have some areas to
work on and that it will take some time to do so. If I focus on improving my weaknesses, I will improve my
image in front of people which will lead to more opportunities for personal growth.
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12. Leadership Philosophy
What does it take to be a leader?
In this essay, I discuss my personal philosophy on leadership and the
characteristics that all leaders need. All leaders need charisma, values, and
relationship development. I have all of these characteristics and will continue to
expand on them throughout my life.
Everyone has their own leadership philosophy and I have mine. A dictionary cannot define leadership,
although books often try to explain things that have no clear definition. For me, a leader is someone or
something that influences others for better or worse to put down their selfish pursuits to pursue a common goal
(Hogan, 2005). Leaders must be able to work and lead others in order to complete a goal.
Leaders are not born; leaders must have innate charisma and persuasive abilities. Many people are
charismatic and persuasive, but they may not be a leader. Leaders must also be able to direct their followers
toward a goal. To influence individuals, it takes more than charisma and persuasion; it takes trust and
respect.
The values of an individual are subjective and vary among different people. Leaders must believe in
some necessary values. They must believe in respect, discipline, trust, hard work, cooperation, and
teamwork. In order to lead a group of people, a leader should follow those six values. These values are
important because a leader can shape the values of the group (Kaiser, Hogan, & Craig, 2008). The leader
develops relationships with the group in order to accomplish the overall goal.
Relationships can aide a leader. According to an article written by Martin Chemers, groups led by
relationship-oriented leaders performed best in the situations of moderate control or predictability (Chemers,
2000). Many businesses use teamwork to complete tasks. Teamwork requires individuals to work together. A
leader can emerge by simply taking on the biggest workload (Mullen, 1989). Eventually, a leader will emerge
from the group.
I like to make organizations that I am involved with better. That reason is why I want to be a leader in
whatever I do. Respect, hard work, and cooperation with others are all keys to my current success. I also
believe I have the charisma and persuasive abilities needed to be a leader.
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13. Empathic Communication
Do You Know What I Am Saying?
In this essay, I discuss how empathy is a key skill for leaders. I practiced my
empathy with other leadership students and my professor. My observers told me
that I had excellent body language and paraphrasing. However, I do need to work
on deciphering complex messages.
Empathy should not be confused with sympathy. Sympathy involves understanding the
feelings of someone else. However, empathy relates to the ability to share in emotions and
feelings of someone else. According to Goleman, “empathy means thoughtfully considering
employees' feelings along with other factors in the process of making intelligent decisions.”
Empathy is important in today’s business world due to the increasing use of teams, globalization,
and the need to retain talent (Goleman, 1998).
Since empathy does take practice, my fellow students and leadership professor helped me
to develop these skills. We sat in groups and discussed a troublesome situation that we have had
in the past. During the explanation of the story, the empathizer would stop the storyteller and
summarize what they have heard. We need to be responsive to the emotions of the other people
(Mehrabian, 1972). Paraphrasing is an essential skill for conducting empathy. It allows the
empathizer to make sure that they understand what the storyteller is saying and how they feel.
While practicing my empathy skills, I learned that it is a skill that needs to be practiced.
People are rarely natural empathizers. Empathy takes years of practice to develop the talent
needed to be a first-rate empathizer.
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14. Service Project
WWW.LHUP.EDU/LEADERSHIP
Completing my service project for my leadership and
interpersonal skills class was one of the most rewarding
experiences of my college career. I worked for weeks
on developing and completing a new website for the
leadership studies minor at Lock Haven University. Upon
starting the project, I did not have much experience with
website design. My mentor on the project, Dr. Bean,
took the time to sit down with me and develop a website
that met the needs of the leadership studies minor and
could be a feature website for Lock Haven University for
years to come.
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15. Works Cited
Chemers, M. (2000). Leadership research and theory: a functional integration. Group Dynamics, 4.
Hogan, R. (2005). What we know about leadership. Review of General Psychology, 9.
Cialdini, R. (2001). The science of persuasion. Scientific American, 284, 76-81.
Goleman, D. (1998). What makes a leader? Harvard Business Review, 76 (6), 93-102.
Kaiser, R.B., Hogan, R., & Craig, S.B. (2008). Leadership and the fate of organizations. American
Psychologist, 63(2), 96-110.
Mehrabian, A. & Epstein, N. (1972). A measure of emotional empathy. Journal of Personality, 40,
525-543.
Mullen, B., Salas, E., & Driskell, J. E. (1989). Salience, motivation, and artifact as contributions to the
relation between participation rate and leadership. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 25,
545–559.
Nadler, R. (2009, April 20). Leader snapshots. Leadership Excellence.
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