Welcome to the new season of This Is Your Life. In this twelfth episode, Michele Cushatt, my co-host, and I talk about how to know if you are a leader—or not.

You’ve heard it before: everyone is a leader. If you have influence—and you do—you are a leader. But, honestly, it takes a little more than that to claim the mantle of leadership.

Listen to the Audio

Today, Michele and I provide twelve ways for you to know for sure whether or not you’re a leader:

You long to make a difference.

You’re dissatisfied with the status quo.

You’re not waiting on a bigger staff or more resources to accomplish your vision.

Your dreams are so big, they seem impossible.

You acknowledge what is but inevitably ask what could be.

You realize you don’t have to be in charge to have significant influence.

You refuse to blame others for your circumstances, and you take responsibility for finding solutions.

You foster unity by bringing people together and encouraging dialogue.

You’re quick to say, “I messed up. Here’s what I’m going to do to fix the problem I’ve created.”

You value relationships more than tasks.

You walk your talk, not perfectly but sincerely and intentionally.

You’re a learner.

If this sounds like you, congratulations. You are a leader—or well on your way to becoming one. Leadership is not about experience, education, or talent. It’s about choosing to lead. That’s where it begins.

Read the Transcript

You can download a complete, word-for-word transcript of this episode here, courtesy of Ginger Schell, a professional transcriptionist, who does all my transcriptions.

Join the Conversation

My favorite part of doing these podcasts is participating in the conversation they provoke. Each week, I ask one question. This week, it is this:

Binge on All 13 Episodes!

If you want to listen to more episodes, you will find all thirteen audio episodes of Season 1 here. I release the video episodes weekly, as they are not yet available for batch listening. If you are looking for previous episodes, you can find Season 0 here

Explore Additional Resources

In this episode we mentioned several resources, including:

Book: Good to Great by Jim Collins

Book: The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey

Book: Thrive by Arianna Huffington

Conference: The Alignment Intensive by Gap International

Movie: We Were Soldiers