I was recently spending time with a friend of mine who I’ve been doing some training with and working with and he started referencing his own style of leading. He made a remark to the effect of, “I’ve never been a Green Beret, so I couldn’t or haven’t lead at that level.”
Let me stop you right there. Don’t diminish yourself as a leader. Ever.
Just because you haven’t served in the military or executed operations in combat doesn’t make you any less of a leader than I am. Most of the people I’ve seen take the lead in combat were some of the most unlikely people who made a conscious decision to do so—albeit sometimes reluctantly—and then worked hard so that when their shoulder was finally tapped, they were ready.