First of all, use this checklist from the Center for Creative Leadership, Greensboro, NC (901-288-7210) to determine your leadership potential. Check which qualities you think you have and use well. Then ask a co-worker or close friend to evaluate you as well.
If you checked eight or more of these qualities, you have leadership potential. Start working now on the ones that you didn’t check. Read, get a coach, go to seminars, do whatever it takes to learn the skills you need to make your vision of being a leader into a reality.
Another important aspect of leadership that we often forget...In one of my seminars, I put a sign on one participant (hanging on a string around the person’s neck) that says “leader.” The instructions to that person are that they are to keep the sign. The instructions to the rest of the group is that they are each to be the leader.
It is amazing to see the many different reactions - in one class, one person tore the sign off, ripped it into little pieces and distributed a piece to each participant, keeping a piece for himself. “Now, we are all the leader!” he announced. In another class, participants argued over how
to get the sign away from the “leader” and accomplished nothing. The ideal scenario is that each person in the group takes a turn leading the group, in discussion or in action, thus “being the leader” and they all ignore the sign.
Leadership comes from inside and manifests in our actions. We can be the leader without a title. Small, seemingly inconsequential actions can begin a process of change that can revolutionize an industry, transform an organization, or shift the morale of a department.
Leaders are needed in this time of almost instant change and information overload. Organizations will be required to respond rapidly and effectively or lose their market share. Look for an organization that allows one to utilize the characteristics of a leader (in the checklist above). Ask questions in the employment interview, or of the management team in your current job, to determine where the company stands on being open to leadership in its employees. If it is a company that will succeed in the next decades, it will foster leadership on every level.
I suggest you review your work history for the times that you have been a leader, possibly without even intending to be so, and what results came about from your actions or attitude. Hopefully, it will be a boost to your self-confidence, an asset to your resume and encouragement to continue learning, growing and leading.