All Selling Aside With Alex Mandossian

In the summer of 1992, I learned an important fact that has stuck with me ever since: leadership is a choice. On the day I learned this, I was climbing a wall in an obstacle course as part of a team-building exercise. I was dripping with sweat, my shoulders were aching, and my legs were throbbing. I felt battered, but ready to take on the challenge. (This feeling probably sounds familiar to you, even if the battering is a mental or emotional rather than physical one!) The pain didn’t matter to me. If I could prove my mettle and see the competition through, I knew I would impress both my fellow competitors and myself. There I stood, with over 20 other people all equally bent on climbing that wall. There was no way to get over but through physical strength, stamina, determination, and help from the others. My instincts told me that if I scaled the wall first, I would inspire the others to do the same. That was leadership, I believed. Within seconds of being told, “Go,” I made it over the wall. There I was, all