Leadership doesn’t start when you become the CEO of an organization. It starts today, right where you are. If you are a student, it starts when you decide to study instead of goofing off. If you are an employee, it starts when you make the first tough decision to do what’s right instead of what is easy. We all know the story of David and Goliath, but what about David and the bear or David and the lion? He didn’t learn how to beat giants on the battlefield, he learned that fighting wild animals. I was given the responsibility of managing the finances of a multimillion dollar company when I was only 23 years old. That isn’t just because I did well in college. It’s because I was a tutor in the 6th grade. It’s because I helped raise funds and order uniforms for my middle school tennis team and then led food and clothing drives in high school.  Each project that I led from the time I was in elementary school until I was an executive was teaching me the skills I needed to be a leader. In the English language, we say that people “become” successful, making it seem as if it just happens to them. In other languages,  people “have” success, which seems like a more accurate word usage because it is something that you take hold of.  Success can be defined in many ways, but one thing is for sure – it starts with the decisions that you are making right now!