How Did I Realize That I Should Be a Leader?

“Leader is not a person who self proclaims themselves, rather people around acknowledge this ability in them.”

I have been always looking for an answer to the question “ what am I good at?” until now.

What I discovered just blew my mind. When I looked back at my past, I discovered a few things. First, a strong ability to create a very detailed vision. Second is an ability to inspire and motivate. Lastly, I stand up for people and believe in them even when they do not.

Let me tell you where it all begun:

About 15 years ago. I went on a trip with my family to another city. The first time we visit the city we went hiking in the mountains. Our goal was to find a way to the summit of that mountain near the place we stopped in for our 1-week vacation. We did it after many trials and errors on our last day of a trip. About a year later, we came back to the same city and decided to climb the same mountain. This is when I discovered that I am not only visually remember the path, but I can recall every tree and every single stone on the way up. Everyone was in shock that I was able to recall the path so easily. This is how I first find out the power of my visual skills, over the years it was repeating more and more. I was able to improve on my vision skills and apply them not only to navigate a road but the ability to envision innovative ideas for different businesses and my day-to-day life. But I took this skill as my strength, not as a leadership skill at that time.

10 years ago. Back in the time when I was attending law college. In my free time, I usually hang out with one or a few of my best friends. What I tend to find, is that all of them always wanted to hear my opinion and encouragement whether it is about some life choice or about some difficulty in life they were currently facing. I was sort of the first person on the dial for them to get motivated to change their life for the better. Strangely enough, I enjoyed giving advice to them. However, I took this experience as being just a supportive friend who stands up for his friends.

4 years ago. Was the first time I hear someone think of me as a person who can inspire and motivate. It was at a time when I just start attending university. I was obsessed with becoming an entrepreneur and launching a tech start-up. I made hundreds of connections, but one guy stands out a lot from the crowd and we meet with him over coffee. We both had a lot to chat about. I share with him my crazy and at that time vague vision. He is the person who helped me realize that I am lacking business skills a lot. However, he says that the spark in my eyes, the fire in my heart is what he called: “ the sign of true desire to change the world”. It was flattering, but I ignored him at that time.

About 1 year ago. One of my friend entrepreneurs who I know because of our common interest in the business. He always called me for advice and messaged me every time when things did not go well. I always had his back and supported him for no reason, I just wanted to see his success. About 3 months ago he called me and say: “can you take a look at my pitch deck for investors”. I finished the call and looked at the presentation. The message at the bottom of the presentation said next:” Thank you Konstantyn, you are my hero”. When did I ask why? He told me I had always been there for him, lift his spirit up, and empowered him at hard moments. I got tears from that message. Honestly, I was proud and happy at the same time. But the funny thing is I could not see the fact that I lead my friend to success.

Last 2 weeks. I had been looking back at my life and thinking about my future, with one major question: “Who I want to be?”. It is a hard question to answer for most of us. I spent time watching some of my favorite movies which helped me reflect on myself. I spent some time writing my vision and goals. But nothing seems to tick just yet. All of the ideas of future me felt wrong.

Last Night. After a hard long day of self-work, I dropped in bed and was about to fall asleep. When I got hit by thoughts after watching my favorite anime Fairy Tails. The main characters in anime resonated with my inner world, my personal values, and my vision of how the world should be. This is when I understood that skills like vision and the ability to inspire are something natural in me. Every time I gave advice to people, my wish was to help them to live a life in their own conditions, dare to not only dream but to make the dreams a reality. I was creating one leader at a time while being a leader for them and building my circle of leaders and fighters.

Here is my vision as a Leader

I want to create a world of true leaders who inspire actions that make our world 1% better every day!