This next step is going to explain how you can develop your leadership toolkit by cultivating a range of core skills and intelligences, growing your leadership network and prioritising your own personal health and well-being. In short, this chapter is all about you, for ‘you are your own best thing’ in the words of Toni Morrison’s Beloved. We want to make sure that you’ve got the right kit and can build the momentum required to get your leadership career to take-off velocity.

Before we get down to the detail, there’s one thing you need to remember. Every leader you now admire was once someone with no experience, setting out on their own journey, taking risks and trying out things they didn’t really know how to do. You might not feel 100 per cent confident, and that’s absolutely fine. No one has all the answers, however confident they might look and however competent you might believe them to be. What you already know matters less than your willingness to get stuck in and learn.

A love of learning, and the compulsion to continuously explore new ideas and put them to the test, is one of the hallmarks of a great leader. You can learn from books, blogs, video tutorials and TED talks, you can learn from trying things out, and you’ll learn the most when the things you try go wrong. You’ll surround yourself with people who are smarter than you, and learn some more from them. And over time you’ll develop the confidence, the experience and the track record to do even better.

You will never stop learning how to lead: that is as true for experienced CEOs as it is for emerging leaders starting out. Becoming a leader isn’t some linear pathway, where accomplishments and milestones are neatly ticked off. It may look that way from afar, but when you get up close and personal to leaders you admire, you’ll often find that their leadership journey has been more of a messy, uneven and difficult scrabble up a cliff face, where they’ve had to zig and zag and veer and pause for breath and find footholds they can’t easily see. And it looks just as steep halfway up as it did at the base of the cliff when you first set off.

So before we get down to the practicalities of which leadership skills you’ll want in your toolkit, our simple message is this: be brave, step up and believe in yourself! Don’t be the one who rules out possibilities before you’ve given them a try; and whatever you decide to do, throw yourself into it with everything you’ve got. Because stepping up can be a leap of faith, there will be moments when you feel as though you’re about to lose your balance and take a nasty fall. Remember, we all feel that way sometimes, no matter how much we’ve achieved and how far we’ve scaled. And in those moments when you hit your stride, and you’re leading an awesome team, doing meaningful work and delivering great results, there’s really nothing so enriching and exhilarating. If you’re serious about stepping up, it will take you on the ride of your life and, once the endorphins are flowing and you’ve got a taste for the journey, you won’t want it any other way.

When I’m coaching team members to try something new and challenging, I often tell them that they get an 8 out of 10 for having the courage to show up and take part. So give yourself a pat on the back for getting this far. You’ve committed to being here, you’re open to new ideas, so now let’s get stuck in.