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other matters to deal with when I demanded to          it in terms of “rising to the challenge.” It was

       know why the crossing guards weren’t in trouble        more of that “seeing something that needed
       for being late. And thus began my journey in           to be done” thing that I mentioned earlier.
       leadership.                                            However, don’t let me mislead you—I don’t
           I must have learned some of my leadership          have some kind of hidden super power of self-

       skills from my mother. When I was eight years          motivation. Many of my leadership roles have
       old, I wanted to be a Cub Scout. We had a Boy          happened because I said “Yes” when someone
       Scout Troop at my school, but no Cub Scout             asked me. We just elected our new Trio and
       Pack. I told my mother I wanted to join Cub            Division Directors, who now have the huge task

       Scouts, so she made calls, wrote letters and did       of filling dozens of Area Director and other
       what it took to start a Pack at the school. Keep       leadership roles for the coming year. They
       in mind that this was long before the Internet,        might even ask you! I urge you to consider the
       so it was not a trivial task—kind of like starting     opportunities and say “Yes” when they ask you

       a Toastmasters Club. I didn’t realize how much         to rise to the challenge.
       effort it took until many years later. I went on
       to be a Boy Scout and Explorer Scout, which all
       turned out to be incredible learning experiences

       for both life and leadership skills.
           Throughout school, the military, my career,
       and more recently, Toastmasters, I often found
       myself in leadership roles. I never thought about




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