I was a born leader. Ok I was born to tell people what to do, leadership was learned. I have been in “leadership” positions since high school. I was a Captain of my Track and Cross Country team. But that didn’t mean much to me. Then I was a fast food manager, yea at 18 I totally took that seriously. Then I joined the military. I was a boss, I refuse to call myself bossy. I made sure things got done. I told people what to do, and often how to do it. It took years for me to move from a boss/supervisor to being a leader. Even then sometimes it is a slippery slope and I fall back into old habits. It was years before I realized that leaders should care about the people that they are leading. Crazy I know, but I was job focused. I didn’t understand that when you care about the people and take care of them, they will take care of the job. I thought leaders fit a certain mold and I knew I would never fit into it (I have never been one to be who others wanted me to be). Then I had two LEADERS back to back that were truly amazing and such polar opposites. But they both cared so much about people. They spurred me drive on this journey. They made me want to be a real leader. Well them and two people I had lead without ever meaning to. I made a difference to them and felt how amazing that was, I was real with them and it was a game changer for me as a supervisor. Who knew, I just needed to embrace being myself to become a leader.
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