Cultivating the leadership gene is no piece of cake. Leaders earn their stripes on the way up. One good incubator is to volunteer to take on the task no one wants.
This will be a test of your mettle, attitude, and commitment. Tackling a hard problem is a risk—but one with significant upside. Difficult tasks are often so because they are labor- and time-intensive. This may mean long hours, working weekends, and absorbing ridicule from coworkers. The latter occurs because those who realize that they don’t have what it takes to persevere often resent those who do. It’s not pretty, but it is reality.
Completing a difficult task successfully is a feather in your cap and will get the attention of your superiors. That is good. You may also become the go-to person for hard jobs. That is also good, even if it seems counterintuitive. You can hone your skills in planning and execution, and particularly in critical thinking, by taking on challenging projects. Eventually the hard tasks become easier as you develop strategies for attacking them.
If this approach doesn't sound like your cup of tea, you might want to to recalculate your career path.
