Sandeep Kondury
LEADERSHIP PORTFOLIO
Welcome!
As you look through my portfolio, I hope you'll look at your own leadership experiences and reflect on your own passions in life. The most valuable lesson I've gained from my time at the UW is that following your interests- whatever it is that excites you- will ultimately bring you the most happiness. I was consistently inspired by the passion and drive of my classmates and I hope that my leadership portfolio will inspire you to pursue your passions as well. Cheers!
Personal Introduction
1. Core values:
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Meaningful: Purpose is my biggest motivator, it is my firm conviction that having an idea of the purpose of an individual’s story and the impact gives anyone the greatest sense of directionality. I love stories; meaningful ones, meaningful stories are balanced using context and consequences. I believe connecting the dots is the most influencing motivating factor in any individual’s life. It is what shows the balance and gives vision. For instance, what is the meaning of a pen? It has no meaning by itself but giving it context through a story: The pen I am currently using is made in a third world country by a worker trying to fill this family’s needs. The same pen was exported all the way to the states where I bought it to use it for my education and achieve my mission. This pen has a lot more context and is a much more meaningful one.
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Authenticity: I often quote “I do not want to be innovative, preferably. I want to be revolutionary”. I define innovation as taking something that already exists and giving it little tweaks to improvise and solve a targeted need. Revolution on the other hand for me means, creating something absolutely new. Its divine and powerful. The impact created by a revolutionary idea can never be equaled by an innovative one. A person would be gifted to have revolutionary ideas come to his mind. My life was a revolution, I am the first in my family to have moved to the states for under graduation. I dream to continue this mission all through my life by pursuing ideas and dreams, no one around me has dreamt of.
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Respect: Nothing in the world is more rewarding to me the way respect is. Ever since childhood, I displayed “characteristics” more mature than expected of my age, to gain respect. I realized along-side it being my core value it is also my greatest weakness, because not receiving respect makes me restless. Having this understanding made me more aware and reflective of my surroundings. I believe dignity has played a major role in my life and am certain most of my future decisions; my jobs, personal goals etc. Having respect as my core-values makes me more diligent, adaptive, honest and co-operative.
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Compassion: I am naturally a caring person. I have often been called as a “devotional” person i.e., I get emotionally invested in people trying to reach me. I believe having this strong sense of connections makes me think of everyone’s situations as my own. Hence, it naturally becomes my duty to be available for anyone that needs my support. Am I an empathetic person? Maybe. Empathy, I define is ability of a person to understand other’s situation through personal experience. Through the education I am currently pursuing it is my goal to becoming an absolute empathetic. (Knowledge regarding every situation in the world), though I am proud to call myself a compassionate person.
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Confidence: It is the ability of a person to be calm and take care of the interests of himself and the people dependent of him. The best way to practice confidence is through failure. There are a few moments in anyone’s life that really matter, the rest of the life is spent reacting to these moments. I was fortunate enough to have had a quite a few failures to help me learn my strengths and weaknesses. The side-effect of being confident I believe is being resilient. My goal through confidence is to have as much control of my life as I could possibly have! Confidence also gives a person the courage to explore and try out adventures.
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Overview of unique leadership identities:
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ASUW Leaders Mentor: Leadership development has been my passion since my first year here at UW. UW Leaders gave me a chance to pursue my leadership development in a very tangible way, by having mentees I could directly work with. At the same time gave me a community to be a part of. I learn every day to be a better leader and an inspiring mentor, which is very challenging but also helps me grow.
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Study Abroad – London School of Economics: First time in Europe, I had the opportunity to meet and network with leaders from across the globe. Made incredible personal connections. Great view into the culture of United Kingdom, living in the center of London. Ever since I returned from the study abroad, my perspective on education has changed and am currently thinking about applying to Fulbright – scholarship post-graduation to pursue an MBA in London.
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Husky Experience Student Advisory council – Husky Seed Fund (Office of Provost): Being interested in student impact HESAC committee has been the perfect opportunity for me to help and nurture excellent impactful ideas on the UW campus, while having the chance to learn and program management and budgeting skills. I understand the structure of organizations and factors influencing decision making a lore more now.
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Lavin Entrepreneurship Program – Foster School of Business: This was the first foster program I was a part of. Had the opportunity to learn and work alongside a lot of similar minded people. Lavin is a program filled with innovative and inspiring people. Currently am working towards getting my first internship through this program. Learnt to work with inspiring and passionate people from various fields, learnt the foundations of starting a new business, which is motivating me to do it sometime in the future.
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Intern ASUW Director of Campus Partnerships: Currently working on creating a project that would impact UW students directly. Alongside that, having the opportunity to work directly with the ASUW Director of campus partnerships. I keep working to make an impact on the UW community and this experience has encouraged me to be a in many more committees next year!
3. My “why”: I am fortunate to have had the opportunity to be learning in a country different from the one I grew up in. This experience has opened my eyes to numerous new ideas and perspectives. I keep working with the same passion and zeal to grow every single day. But I believe it is very important for an individual to know the purpose of his work and utilize that information to further their mission. Looking back at my life, I have realized that every major life decision I have made had stemmed from the same core-value; respect. Growing up I was subject to an incredibly respectable environment. Every interaction with my parents and peers was revolved around the idea of a two-way respectable communication. Once I reached my late teens years, I believe my experiences have molded me to situate myself in positions that require respect. I believe respecting and being respected by others is the most important thing for me to thrive at a place.
4. Future goals: Relationship-building and community uplifting has become the key component for success in my college career. I would now, imagine myself taking these skills I have acquired at the University of Washington into my future. Being passionate about business, I am currently planning on working as a product manager in the tech-industry post-graduation. At which point I want to decide if I want to get a MBA for myself. But I moment I feel confident with the skills and network I have built thought my career I would want to start my own business using these core-competences to impact the world. I have also seen myself as an influencer rather than a follow, which I believe should be my job in the real world.
Leadership Philosophy
1. Definition of Leadership:
- What does leadership mean to me: Leadership is the ability of a person to be aware of one’s strengths and use them to empower people around themselves. It is a life-style that embraces growth-mindset, discovery mindset and relationship building. Through my experiences in UW, I believe being able to help the people around you are one of the core-values every great leader possesses.
- The key principles of leadership to me:
o Mentorship: I believe through my college experience, I have seen a complete circle in the realm of mentorship, I have been a mentor, I have been mentored; by people I was allocated to, by people I passionately felt to learn from. Now, I understand the prominence of having a mentor/role-model to look upto and that is what I thrive to be with my mentees or even my sister.
o Empathy: It is very important to be flexible in terms of your action plan to be an efficient leader. I have learnt that the more opportunities I give myself, the more chances of finding new exciting outcomes for myself and the people in my community. I have lived by this philosophy during my entire college career. It is also essential to be open-minded about ideas, leaders have to be empathetic to be able to understand their followers and decide the most suitable solutions.
o Communication: Communication is the key to be an inspiring leader. There are multiple facets of communication that require mastery in. During conflict a unique approach to communication is required than when is required to drive the team. It was my dream to be a better public speaker when I first entered the University of Washington. I was certain I achieved this mission when I gave a speech during the kickoff for the Student Life Division – 2018-19’. Communication with your peers is just as important I believe to achieve success in personal life. I have also grown a lot as a writer, being able to better convey the messages. I realized this when I was requested to write a thank you letter to the sponsors of the ‘UW Parent Fund’.
o Vision: Great leaders plan long term growth. I believe I have learnt to see into my future; both short and long term to make decision presently to reap the most benefits later. Vision is not only about the future but rather also about the past. Being reflective is the most important component of being a good visionary. I have had the opportunity to always look into my past to learn from different situations to make the most of my future plans. I now believe vision is the most important identity a leader should have to be able to support all of his followers!
2. Evolution over time:
- My understanding of leadership over time: During high school the idea of being a cabinet member was leadership for me, I believed leadership was a title that could be achieved by learning a few characteristics. Although, all great leaders do have a few similar characteristics, these characteristics are not what makes I great leader. Growing up, I was very shy and reserved, the only way I understood leadership is through observing these ‘leaders’ who were picked by our school teachers. Although I believed I had incredible potential to be a great leader, I just felt unnoticed. Yet, my passion to grow as a leader brought me to where I am today!
During the first year of college to me, leadership was to be independent, as I was still learning to understand what leadership means, I went through a phase where I believe leaders don’t need anyone else to make them who they are. I was trying to be independent in my social, academic and professional lives. Although this approach has helped me grow, I later realized leadership is about team-effort and growing as a community. I went to long extents to be achieving my mission with as little support as I could possibly get. As I was trying to fit into the new culture, this has posed an additional challenge.
Which later grew into the leadership definition of having a profile that is un-arguable promising and competitive. I have noticed a lot of my peers achieving a lot of their goals, when I realized I need to have a general mission and direction in life. Leadership can be learnt from all the experiences ad interactions that come along during my journey. I have put myself out there a lot often undeterred by failure, I kept going to achieve things I was passionate about.
Now I believe leadership is the ability of a person to be aware of one’s strengths and use them to empower people around themselves. It is a life-style that embraces growth-mindset, discovery mindset and relationship building. Through my experiences in UW, I believe being able to help the people around you are one of the core-values every great leader possesses.
Identity one
Overview:
One key learning experience during my Husky Experience was being the mentor at the UW Leaders program under the Associated Students of the University of Washington (ASUW). Besides being my long-dream passion project, this position also helped me grow my leadership competencies through empathetic relation building and exceptional contribution responsibilities. As a mentor, I worked with forty-four mentees in the program, out of which two international freshman students were directly paired with me. I have the immense joy of supporting the mentees to navigate their college experience, through a series of workshops around professional/social/personal development and social and philanthropic events. As a result, most of my work in the program revolved around public speaking, inviting my networks to speak at the workshops etc. The experience was valuable because it taught me prominence of inclusion and diversity.
Personal importance of work:
When I first moved to Seattle at the age of eighteen; I had little to no connections. I soon realized the importance of having a support system to thrive in a large university as UW. I went out of my way to find mentors from various positions/organizations in UW to create that system in my life. Since then, my Husky Experience has had an incredibly large positive impact. Being a junior, I realized about students who would go through similar challenges as me and wanted to give back the support I have received. UW leaders I believed was the perfect place to do this, because of the diversity and inclusive attributes of the program.
Tasks accomplished:
· Scheduled multiple guest speakers to talk to mentees.
· Hosted several social events for the program.
· Helped coordinate social media marketing and helped recruit program members.
· Read applications to select candidates and then conducted interviews select the leaders (mentees)
· Scheduled several workshops for students, including resume and internship search.
Leadership Competencies gained:
1. learning and reasoning: Problem solving
As a mentor, it was my duty to support the mentees with the resources they needed to achieve success. Being the position made me a lot more intentional through my interactions, within and outside the program to deliver the best outcomes. There were numerous instances when I had to guide my mentees, by reflecting on my personal experiences to give them the most suitable guidance. Being a mentor means being accountable for your actions and also being a resourceful leader. I had to consistently work alongside my mentees to provide with the best experience they can have in the program besides giving them the resources and tools to achieve them.
2. self-awareness and Development: Personal values and contributions
Awareness is the most critical competence every leader requires. Mentorship is a high-stake leadership path, being aware of yourself and the environment you are a part of is essential. UW Leader’s goal is to help nurture a supportive community. To do so, it is really necessary to understand the resources available to the community and the areas to develop in. I personally had the chance to weight in my personal-values such as inclusion, diversity and empathy into the program’s core through constant reflection and presentation of ideas. Besides serving to nurture the values of the program, it is also immensely necessary to make tangible contributions, which I achieved by bringing in my networks as guest speakers and connecting the mentees to all the resources available to me.
3. from interpersonal interactions: Empowering
University of Washington is a massive institution, being on the marginalized side of the student population can have tremendous challenges. My goal, through UW leaders was enrich the husky experience of deserving student leaders and create a system of accountability and support. I am extremely fortunate to have the opportunity to make this impact on student’s life. Through the program, I believed I have empowered a whole cohort of marginalized students and brought out the leaders in them. Being an intranational student is it extremely empowering to myself to learn about the different cultures being represented on the UW Leaders program and is also very honoring to facilitate the process of empowering other students.
4. One from Civic Responsibility: Inclusion
The world is becoming increasing divided, seeing first-hand the impact of being an inclusive community member is inspiring to keep pursing a more equitable society. I have the learnt the value of being inclusive and understand why is should be the core-value of every organization. Having representation and a platform to voice views is the most important attribute to have to achieve success. UW Leaders in my life, has been the first platform where I felt included and it was my firm conviction to continue this legacy onto the next generation of students.
5. One from group dynamics: Group Development
Since the first day of my participation in UW leaders, there wasn’t a single day where I did not grow my skills in organizational behavior. Every workshop, interaction and technique utilized in the sustenance of UWL focuses on group development. Having so many mentees and mentors all working towards the same goal, it is very natural to come across power dynamics. As a mentor, it was my duty to create a safe space for an effective conflict resolution and bring back the focus of the group on to unified group development. I believe understanding the importance of group development is the most powerful tool every leader need, and UWL focused by the nature of its structure, imbibes that value into every member in the community.
6. One from communication: Facilitation
Besides conducting workshops, I had to work with my mentees to help them create a ‘passion project’ and conduct two retreats alongside the other mentors for the whole program. As one can imagine, this requires a lot of preparation and facilitation. I have learnt time-management as a result of these responsibilities. Having to plan and meet with my mentees on a weekly basis and report to the director of the program is an integral part of my job. I have learnt to communicate better with my peers and supervisor to have the most effective approach to a situation.
7. One personal behavior: Resilience
It is note-worthy that participating in UW leaders has been my dream for two years now. My very first college dream was to join UW Leaders, because I was passionate about leadership and wanted to challenge myself. I was rejected twice. When I first got rejected, I created my ritual for failure; getting ice-cream from a store on the university Ave (Alchemy) and reflection. I would think about what I could do next and how I could improve. I learnt to use failure as a navigating tool, to help me find my focus. Confident in all the skills I’ve acquired through different programs while in UW I applied to UWL for the third time and made it into the mentor position.
Lessons learned and future oriented statement:
The motto of UW Leaders is, Leaders are made, not born. Reflecting on my experience in the program, I am in absolute agreement with this phrase. I have seen this in myself and the people I have worked with. As a passionate business student, I believe the skills I have learnt through this experience are immensely valuable. Understanding the importance of various constraints like inclusion, mentorship and professionalism through the lens of leadership is my greatest take-away. I have also learnt that great leaders give-back and the success of a individual’s work can be measured through the impact they make.
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A Picture with the Dubs at the Spring Celebration for Leadership and Service-2019, with the UW Leaders team
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Identity two
Overview:
Another important curricular experience that shaped my college experience was studying abroad at the London School of Economics during the summer of my sophomore year. While in London, I had the opportunity to study finance and accounting. This experience truly defined my college experience since I got the chance to explore one of the most classical city in the world and study its culture besides having the opportunity to work with industry leaders from across the world and making connections. This experience taught me more about my strengths and goals more than any other experience at my time in college.
Personal importance of task:
Understanding the value of diversity was a very critical part of my progress as a Husky. Having moved to Seattle from India at the age of eighteen, it was my firm conviction that to be able to grow further, it is very important to travel and learn from cultures and communities around the world. London, seemed like the most suitable place to pursue this journey. Besides cultural value, Britain is at the center of commerce in Europe, I believed learning business at a knowledge pot like this would be the most rewarding to me. Moreover, with Brexit being a few months apart from my travel, I assured myself, that this trip is going to be the most influencing and impactful educational tour in my life.
Tasks accomplished:
· Performed research, studying the result of Brexit
· Learned how to handle team financial data.
· Led product development discussions.
· Spent several hours conducting in-person interviews with industry leaders.
· Studied financial and managerial accounting.
· Finance 470!
Leadership competencies gained
1. learning and reasoning: Research
While at LSE, I not only had the opportunity to study my classes, I took it only to myself to research the various outcomes and consequences of what Brexit means to Britain, the EU and the world! Having the opportunity to interact with the lecturers outside the classroom made this endeavor possible. LSE being one of the most premiere institutions in London, I had access to incredible amounts of databases and resources that helped me navigate my research. At the end of the quarter, my team and I have made it a point to showcase our findings in the class and receive feedback from our peers. This opportunity to study a culture inside out from the center of the culture made me inspired to build numerous other connections in this amazing city.
2. self-awareness and Development: Self-understanding and development
Living in a new country as learner comes with a lot of challenges and to improve. During my time in London, I was able to learn better about myself; things such as how I can be more productive, my plans for the future, my life-preference etc. this was the opportunity to test out waters and learn more about myself and become aware. By the time I finished my three months stay in London, I knew I wanted to live in a big-city with a bustling business industry post-graduation. I was fortunate to get this understanding about myself, since it will it help me develop my skills and strengths. My experience at LSE motivated me to pursue an MBA post-graduation.
3. from interpersonal interactions: Productive relationships
From the moment, I stepped into London till the day I left the beautiful city I had made life-long connections and built my network so strong, it makes me confident every time I think about it. The London School of Economics was a great place to meet leaders, students and businessmen all passionate about making an impact in the world. I made these connections through the constant “social” events LSE had hosted to nurture connections. I was fortunate to be amongst a diverse group of passionate individuals. Since, my first day in London networking was at the core of my discipline.
4. One from Civic responsibility: Diversity
LSE is one of the most diverse school’s in Britain. During the summer I spent there, I had met people from nearly 90 different countries. Interactions from a diverse set of leaders informed and inspired me about the various issues in the world. Interactions with students from across the planet taught me the importance of diversity.
5. One from communication: verbal communication
While working with such immense number of people it becomes very important to be communicative. It is just as important to be critical thinker to communicate in the most effective way. This was a lesson I learnt during my stay there. In the classroom, during research, or exploring the culture of London, communication is the key to achieve any mission.
6. One personal behavior: Responding to change or adaptability
I moved to Seattle two years ago as a freshman from India. I lived my whole life in the same city of Hyderabad, until then. Moving to Seattle was the most significant change I had ever been challenged with. But it was my dream to explore the world and learn from new cultures. College seemed like the most appropriate way to achieve this goal I had. The following years, were the most challenging yet rewarding time of my life, I ate meat for the first time, made friends from countries I didn’t know existed, grew as a leader and eventually fell in love with the experience of travelling. To challenge myself yet again, I studied abroad last summer in London. I attended the London School of Economics. I had the chance to explore a culture I have always been passionate about alongside meeting professionals and experts from around the world. All these experiences have taught me to be curious and open-minded. Being passionate about culture, I believe I respect every place I travel to and learn from the people in the area. In these past three years, I have learnt to be adaptability to any social, professional and cultural change.
Lessons Learned and future oriented statement:
The skills I have gained though this study abroad program from the London School of Economics will be carried out throughout my future career. Being inspired by what I learnt I have decided to do another study abroad in Korea this year, during the early fall start. I am incredibly excited for the lessons this experience has for me. I look forward to pursuing a career that would allow me to follow my passion of traveling in the future.
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LSE Old Library Entrance
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IDENTITY THREE
Overview:
Another important extra-curricular experience that shaped my experience at the University of Washington was the Lavin Entrepreneurship Program in the Foster School of Business. As a Lavin member, my curriculum focused on the logistics of starting a company, with a project that revolves around starting and running your businesses. During my first year in the program I traveled to California to meet with venture capitalist and learn from them, by briefings. Although I'm currently still in the process of creating my company, I have already learned some important lessons of running a business being a part of this incredible community.
Personal importance of task:
Besides being amongst the brightest and the most qualified group of individuals in Lavin, this experience was the most rewarding experience in UW. I was able to create a community of mentors ranging from professors, venture capitalists, attorneys and so on. The members in my cohort consistently push me to new limits and made me accomplish much more than I thought I am capable of. Entrepreneurship in my view is the way to make the biggest impact in the world through a person’s vision. Subsequently, entrepreneurship is a great deal of analytical and strategic skills that I built through my experience in Lavin.
Tasks accomplished:
· Pitched business proposal to a board of Venture capitalists
· Performed market research for over 100 potential customers.
· Designed our Lavin’s website.
· Wrote multiple business models and plans.
· Learned how to handle team financial data.
· Led product development discussions.
· Spent several hours conducting in-person interviews about business idea potential.
· Collected data into creating market research report.
· Promoted company via social media.
Leadership competencies gained:
1. learning and reasoning: Analysis and Evaluation
Alongside Lavin, I joined ASCEND UW, another registered student organization at the Foster School of Business. Through which I was connected to a venture capitalist in the Madrona Venture capital firm. Being passionate about business and entrepreneurship, I used this opportunity to learn about company evaluations and analyzing different start-up values. This skill I believe is something that helps me even outside my business classes. I learnt to be more critical and analytical through this.
2. self-awareness and Development: Receiving feedback
A huge part of being a business student and an aspiring entrepreneur is to be able to take a health criticism. I have learnt this through every interaction I’ve had within Lavin. It is very important to understand that companies can not be created in one-go. They evolve with time, and the only way that happens is through feedback. This is clearly evident in design methods, in my informatics design class there is a term for this, known as the ‘feedback loop’. Which is a designer having to constantly keep taking feedback from the target audience to make the product as reliable and accessible as they possibly can. Similarly, business ideas have to be open to feedback and constant evolution, with core mission and principles in the center.
3. from interpersonal interactions: Collaboration
Throughout my time in Lavin, we focused on collaboration! Every project, business briefing, VC meeting becomes a success only if there is collaboration within the team. Working in teams, every team member has something unique to offer to the development of them team.
4. from interpersonal interactions: Motivation
Before joining Lavin, I faced difficulty in chasing after I want, since I'm naturally shy. However, creating a company requires individual initiative. You have to be willing to network with people and ask for help. By the end of my first year in Lavin, I had no problem looking for mentors or asking for advice from other business leaders. The entrepreneurship minor definitely taught me to move outside of my comfort zone and overcome my inhibitions.
5. One from communication: listening
It is really vital to be an exceptional listener to reach a person’s potential as an entrepreneur. Listening is not just important to understand what your customers, investors want, it is also the key to help generate better ideas. At Lavin we practiced listening by having EATs (Entrepreneur At the Table), these were weekly meeting, Lavin students had exclusive access to, where we had the chance to listen to various successful entrepreneurs about their journey, ask questions and learn from them.
6. One personal behavior: Functioning independently
Alongside collaboration, I also was able to learn to work independently through Lavin. Because every student in Lavin was responsible for their own progress, it gives a lot more freedom and also puts a great deal of push to thrive for success. Being part of such a tight-knit community filled with passionate, brilliant entrepreneurs means surviving competition. Lavin really embodies the nature of the ‘real world’ in the sense having such high competition is always a motivator to think independently and hope to flourish as the best!
7. One from strategic planning: Mission
Another skill I learnt during my time in Lavin was to be a visionary. In the workforce, it is necessary that every member has a sense of direction for their product. I learnt the importance of working with a mission through the various projects we have participated in being in Lavin. Every entrepreneur needs to know the reason/purpose of their work, so they can inform the people dependent on them (teammates, customers etc.). Understanding why, a company exists is the essential for a company to thrive.
Lessons learned and future oriented statement
The skills I have gained through the Lavin Entrepreneurship program at the Foster School of Business will be carried out through my entire future career. Developing initiative and improving my communication skills will be useful as I set out to be a future program manager or entrepreneur. Although I am still continuing my journey of creating a company, I look forward to future lessons I may learn and being able to see my company overcome challenges in order to succeed.
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Think Tank Lavin Retreat - 2017
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