University of California Personal Insight Question 1

Prompt

Describe how you have demonstrated leadership that positively impacted others, helped resolve disputes, or aided group efforts over time.

Note: The role of a leader does not only imply having a title. Being a mentor, instructor or head of an event or project apply as well.

•         Try to recall your accomplishments and what you learned from it. What were your responsibilities?
•         Were you a team leader? How did it affect your perspective on leadership? Did you resolve a conflict in school, community, organization, or church? Is your role in leadership confined to one area? Where else do you exercise leadership?

The Question’s Essence

This prompt wants you to describe the way you handled a certain kind of relationship with other people – how you applied initiative and authority. The answer to this requires two parts:

Explain the dilemma:

-       Provide a frame of reference and context for your actions before going on to describe your leadership experience.

-       Start by describing the group of people you got involved with, and their relationship with you.

-       Explain the problem that occurred as well as how you tackled it. Mention if there were any grave repercussion for the action you took.

Describe the solution:

-       Only talk about your actions here.

-       Mention your thought process before taking action.

-       Describe the risk(s) you took to handle the situation and the outcome.

-       Describe your solution to the issue, or how you contributed to pacify the situation.

-       Mention how the experience affected your current lifestyle.