Ever since I was in grade school I was told (or my parents were told in a parent/teacher conference) that I am a natural leader, that people looked to me for direction or felt compelled to follow me. As cult leaderish as that sounds it was something early on that I really didn't think about and at times attempted to avoid when I recognized it. In high school, when I officially started in the work force, I began to accept leadership and felt a sense of pride by being good at something that I wasn't trying to be good at. Soon after graduation I spent a number of years in the construction world, doing a little of everything from pool building to drywall finishing and once again, in most cases, finding myself a crew leader. Once the construction world came to a halt in California, I unknowingly gravitated to a 9-5 office customer service position. Long story but I started as an entry level accounting assistant, didn't care for that and transferred to a Customer Service Rep. Within 8 months, I was the Customer Service Manager. I was not only leading six CSRs but I was the youngest in both seniority with the company and in age. This is where I cut my teeth on handling difficult situations in a professional setting compared to a construction site.From then on I really found a passion and true realization that your only as good as your team and the investment that you put into your people will come back to you tenfold (most of the time!) I never saw myself as a "boss" but more as a coach. One of the hardest tasks as a leader is letting a team member go but I have seen first hand the destruction a poor team member can do to a team and good team members. This same leadership comes with instilling true customer service into every one of your team members. I was fortunate enough to work for a truly great man that said and lived by the quote, "If your not the one taking care of the customer, you better be the one taking care of them" I try to remember that each and every day.