8-year Old Leader

The ranks of the half-yearly exams were declared. My brother who is two years younger to me topped his class. I was not in the top 5. 10-year-old me was terrified. Understandably so, given that whenever I fared better than him, I used to ridicule him, he'd cry, and my parents had to intervene.

I assumed he'd make me feel miserable at home and was up for it.

To my surprise, he behaved normally and got on with things like he usually does. He didn't even tell my parents about the results as he wanted me to take my time and say it to them.

"One day, I will score more, and on another day, you will score more. It doesn't matter who scores more as long as we put efforts. What matters is how we handle the success."- He said something similar when I questioned.

In my Leadership Development class, my professor stated that leadership traits are developed at an early age. I fully agree. If my brother had exhibited different behavior on that day, I might have become a different person than I am today. His response molded me.

If I amount to something, the leadership trait- humility that I learned from him when I was young will play an important role.

Sometimes, we fail to see leaders who are close to us. My 8-year-old brother was a leader, and it took some time for me to see it.

Orginally published on LinkedIn