Leadership - to step up or not?

In the past few days I have been busy organising the Youth Leadership Competition for my Rotary club and last night attended the regional final awards, where the judges select 3 students in the region to go on a leadership trip.
Our club candidate from last year spoke at the award dinner and what it had meant to him. For our own club he had written an e-mail account of his time on the leadership trip and what he felt Euroscola did for him as an experience. But it all started with having the confidence to fill in an application form and put yourself forward as a leader. He was chosen by our club because we believed in him and then he proved to himself in various leadership tasks relating to the trip that in fact he actually had the inner ability. Now he stands up and takes leadership in his stride and wherever he goes they notice him as a potential leader.
In most of my leadership training & coaching in organisations it is exactly the same it starts with applying for that leadership position and then following it up with actions. Most of us however don't have a supportive rotary club or colleagues or family that is with us 24/7 to tell us they believe in us. so how do we generate that inner confidence to keep stepping it up?
In my travels around various corporate organisations, being in management is not always the same as being a leader, just like the business owners are not always the leaders in their business either. A leader in my view has built an inner confidence and an inner belief in themselves, to step up whenever they see fit. They are not necessarily glory hunters, but they do take pride in what they stand for. Typically they will take ownership and responsibility for what needs to be done and they expect an outcome that is better than where things started.
The hardest part in nurturing leaders which I see time and time again in my coaching as well as working with young people, is to build that inner confidence and inner belief.
Here is my thought for today, what have you done in your life to date that classes as leadership, if you were to fill in your own private apllication form to be a leader what evidence of your potential would you put on it and do you believe it, I mean truly undoubtedly believe it.

Paying it forward

In a world where more and more people are feeling the pinch of a tightening economy or even just a decrease in generosity all around us, I am wondering what happened to paying it forward. For those of you that have seen the movie 'Paying it forward', you know what I am talking about and if you haven't seen the movie in my view it's a must see. The whole idea is to help a minimum three people and in return for your assistance ask them to pay it forward to another three people.
This year for me I have been on the receiving end of a few people paying it forward to me, with plenty of business and personal challenges presenting themselves earlier in the year and I am grateful for all those that did extend their hand. Ever since watching the movie I have consiciously made an effort (in a way I probably always did, thanks to the example of my grandmother, who gave soo much to other people, without ever expecting a return from them) to help others.
What fascinates me though that there are people that join organisations such as Rotary or similar charity minded or community assistance oriented groups and then as soon as you ask for their assistance work, family or whatever else is too important and whilst they support your noble effort to launch a project they don't have even time to dedicate, basically saying I only pay lipservice to the aims of the organisation. Maybe I just have different values, because for me the paying it forward is valued in the doing and not necessarily talking about it.
So here is my challenge to you, which 3 people are you going to help before the end of 2008 and freely give of your time or other valuable input, which would mean the world to them. In return for their thank you, just ask them to do the same for 3 other people when they are ready.
In the words of the young actor in the movie 'just make it something huge...!'