Believing that you can lead is essential to developing your leadership skills and abilities. If you don't believe this, it's unlikely that you will make any effort at all, let alone a sustained effort to become a better leader over time. No one can put leadership into you. You have to bring it out of yourself.
The best leaders are the best learners. They have a growth mindset. They believe that they are capable of learning and developing throughout their lives. Continuous learning is a way of life for exemplary leaders, so you are never done learning and never done getting better. You can reflect, read, watch others, get a coach, attend some training, or just try out a new skill or technique. Whatever your learning style is, engage in it every day.
Authentic leadership flows from the inside out. You have to liberate that capacity you already have, and that begins by taking an inner journey to discover who you are. You already have it in you to lead. Don't let anyone tell you that you don't make a difference.
In the next three chapters we take a look at these key themes on becoming an exemplary leader: