1. You manage things; you lead people. —Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper

2. Leadership is lifting a person’s vision to high sights, the raising of a person’s performance to a higher standard, the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations. —Peter Drucker

3. Leadership is not about titles, positions or flowcharts. It is about one life influencing another. John C. Maxwell

In my own life, I have worked to be the kind of manager that I would want to be working with. I have been very fortunate to work with some incredibly generous and gifted leaders who have instilled in me the idea that leadership is about lifting people up. One of the things that I wrote about in my admissions essay in my application to Pepperdine was about the beginning of my career change from the hospitality industry to accounting and finance. When I went back to school for my bachelor’s in business administration in accounting and finance after taking a break from my hospitality management degree, I moved from fine dining back of the house leadership to being a general manager of a corporate chain restaurant going from working with trained and highly motivated professionals to working with people who were just starting out in the work force. For some, it was their first job. It allowed me to pull out my toolbox of leadership skills from every from chef, manager, or professor I ever had.

I started becoming the manager and leader that I had always wanted to be. The store that they gave me was the lowest volume store with the most staff turnover in the state of Florida. Within a year, the store was the #3 top selling store in the state, and I had helped several of my staff members get their GEDs and drivers license which lead to them becoming assistant managers. I created a fun and enriching work place while exceeding corporate goals.

The skills that I used to help grow and stabilize my own staff were making sure that we had a fun environment, supportive collaboration and competitiveness, to empower decision making, and to make sure that the staff regardless of their position felt like they were an integral part of the restaurant’s success. I incentivized corporate goals and targets. When I got a bonus I made sure my staff were, also, rewarded using 1/3 of my bonus and passing it on to staff members who were hitting all the goals that I had given out within the bonus period. I have tried to continue to pass on the culture and skills that I have learned and to be generous with my own time and knowledge with those that I manage. I have a deep gratitude for the leaders that I have worked for and with and continue to cultivate skills to be that I meet my own ideals of what a good leader is.