After working on the leadership presentation, I learned about the Autocratic leadership style and the effectiveness of this leadership style when action is needed. Additionally, I learned about their emotional intelligence and how it influenced their actions, decisions and relationships throughout the movie. The movie we analyzed was “Patriots Day” a film that depicted the Boston Marathon bombing and the collaborative work of the Boston police force, governor and the city of Boston to capture the suspects. Tommy Saunders portrayed by Mark Wahlberg was the leader I analyzed for the project, his character was fictional and depicted the work of three police officers. In the movie he was patrolling the finish line at the marathon on his last day of probation. Born and bred in Boston, his love and respect for the people of Boston is strongly felt throughout the movie. His character was first on the scene and seconds after the bombs went off his leadership style and emotional intelligence prevails as he takes control and mediates the crisis. An autocratic leadership style, also known as authoritarian leadership, is characterized by the individual’s control over all decisions with little input from team members. The Autocratic leader is most valuable during periods of crisis. They exhibit absolute control, are able to set priorities and manage stress effectively and make quick and difficult decisions and work to minimize damage. Tommy Saunders demonstrated emotional intelligence by his personal awareness of his own emotional state at the time of the bombing. His wife was at the finish line  and there is a scene where he helps her up off the ground, checks to make sure she was okay and then places her in the care of another police officer. In this moment we saw his consciousness of his own emotional state where he was concerned for not only his own safety but also his wife’s and the other civilians around him. He was able to self-manage these emotions by maintaining his composure and redirecting his behavior to help those injured by the bombing, mediating emergency medical services and coordinating police officers to manage the situation in the most effective manner. 

I can confidentially say that I am an emotionally intelligent person because I have been provided numerous opportunities in my life thus far that have allowed me to enhance my emotional intelligence. Throughout my childhood my family moved every two years, this allowed me to begin developing my personal and social awareness in my early school-age years. The constant change in my external environment allowed me to become personally competent in that I was able to become self-aware of my emotions and learned to manage my emotions and conduct my behavior in a positive manner. During my undergraduate career at URI I further enhanced my social competence skills. I became president of my sorority, leading a chapter of 40 women. Additionally, I collaborated weekly with national council members and attended national conferences with chapters across the United States. From this leadership role I learned how to assess nonverbal cues and emotions of my sorority sisters and national advisors in order to understand the depth of each situation to gauge the best course of action. Furthermore, as chapter president I learned to utilize my awareness of other’s emotions to manage my relationships in the most effective manner. After graduating from my first undergraduate degree, I became lead server of a farm-to-table restaurant for nine years where I worked several 12-hour shifts and served over 200 people. Within this role I further strengthened my emotional intelligence exponentially by learning how to manage my own emotions, how they impacted my behavior while multitasking to effectively utilize my social awareness to create positive relationships with co-workers and guests. As I near my final semester of nursing school I am grateful for the opportunities I have had thus far that have allowed me to develop a strong foundation of emotional intelligence as I am confident that it will exponentially enhance my ability to become a great nurse.