When Did You Know You Were a Leader?

Were you a born a leader? Nurtured? Developed? Thrown into a swivel chair with a litle encouragement that said You’ll be fine?

I’ve come to the end (for now) in my formal leadership roles. There’s no title beneath my name in an email signature that lets others know that I’m in charge of other human beings, and yet, I have never felt so confident about my ability to lead with others towards something bigger than what we see before us. But before this juncture of moment and opportunity, there were experiences that prepared me.

Leadership is not about a list of personality traits or your zodiac sign, it’s about the culmination of decisions we make to act in the best interest of ourselves, others, and our values. My earliest memories of leadership have come rumbling back and I can’t stop wondering about why and how I chose to do those things.

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The day in 5th grade when the gym teacher told me that I was never going to win tug of war if I kept on picking the smallest kids in my class. We won anyway.

That day in 8th grade when my classmates thought it would be cool to have a food fight on spaghetti and meatball day right before we graduated and I screamed at each of them about how disappointed I was while slipping n tomato sauce in the cafeteria.

The day almost one year later, in high school, when I ran to the principal’s office because a classmate had a knife and a hit list.

When I told my higher up’s about the inappropriate comments made by supervisor and spent a summer being avoided by some colleagues and my boss.

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What are your earliest memories of leadership? Do you consider yourself a leader?