Character Pre-Work

Tomorrow, David and Colleen will be presenting to our class about Character. I am really excited to see what they have for us because I think as we have discussed in class knowing yourself and who you are is essential professionally and otherwise. For this pre-work, we took a survey from the VIA Institute of Character.  These are my top five character strengths:

I really was not surprised by any of these. Other more professional character strengths like leadership and social intelligence were high on my list but the reason why these were my top 5 is because of my values. I really value honesty and being genuine. One of the things that brings me the most joy in life is just being a really good friend to the people close to me. I value the connections I make with others and being true to the promises that I make. I enjoy being the person that my friends turn to when they need help or advice. I also think that this has pushed me in my professional career to always support my co-workers. In our pre-practicum class, Professor Lewis talked a lot about volunteering to do things out of your description as an intern being extremely important. I have always tried to do this especially in my job at UNH. To give you an example, I am working 3 different shifts tonight at my job (only one of them actually being mine) to help out my co-workers who had conflicts. I have continually been recognized as the person willing to cover my colleagues when they get stuck simply because I want to help them out. I also do a lot of things that are outside of my actual job description. This fall, my boss and I attempted to repair the boards we use for broomball. These boards split up the Olympic sized ice surface at the Whittemore Center into 3 separate ice surfaces. I had zero background or skill in how these boards could be fixed and do not consider myself to be particularly skilled in fixing things, but my boss needed help and I decided to give it a shot. This is something that can help and hurt me. My boss appreciates what I do but down the road I need to make sure not to take on too much of other colleagues tasks so I do not get overwhelmed.
The other part of the assignment is to think of someone that we admire. This was likely the easiest question to answer for any pre-work assignment I have gotten thus far. I won't spoil all of the traits this person has, but I think some insight into my background and where I come from is important for this blog. So to stay true to humility being the character trait I need to work on, I'm going to get personal and do a little bragging here. Not about myself, but about my Dad.

This is my Dad, Brian Murphy. He is the person that has influenced me the most in my life and the best role model I could have. In 1988, he worked his first NHL game. Since then he has worked 1,698 career games. He has seen two World Cups, more Stanley Cups than I can remember, and even the 2010 Winter Olympics. He served as the President for the NHL Officials Association in the 2000's and it was during that time that he showed me what a true leader is like. He is one of the most humble people I have ever met. Whenever I go to his games I constantly have his colleagues and friends come up to me and say "You know your dad is the best right?" He has supported me and been my biggest fan through every step of my life. He has been a mentor for many people including one of my closest friends. He spends his off time in the summer volunteering at various summer camps to help others grow as hockey officials. He constantly emails me healthcare news and leadership articles and pushes me to be the best that I can be. While having a full time job that also entails living out of a suitcase and in an airport terminal a lot of the time, he is currently pursing his MBA. It has been a cool experience being in school at the same time as him. We often have overlapping topics and he has given me some inspiration in Organizational Behavior. I hope to have even half of the success that he has had as a leader and a professional.