"Either Caesar or nothing"

What level of leadership do you aspire to?

To reach higher office and to fulfill its obligations, you must continuously make choices that will affect other people’s money and lives. And you will be doing this in a context where other people will want your position or will be competing with you for the next higher position.

It is easy to criticize the competence of those with greater responsibilities than ourselves, and even easier to fantasize about how we would do the job better. A useful exercise: Look at your immediate boss’s job and ask yourself if you could do it well, or better – honestly. Then, stretch even further and consider the most senior leader in you line of sight – perhaps the chief executive. Learn about what that person must deal with. Get a feel for the time, energy, and capabilities required doing those jobs. What would those jobs require you to do that you can’t do now, or that you don’t enjoy now, but would have to give up? People need to realistically assess the role they are pursuing in comparison to their true capabilities.