My first defining leadership moment was in high school. I had decided to run for student body president. Though part of the reason was to be popular (I was 16), I had also grown frustrated by my not having coffee available to us. Serious stuff. This was before Starbucks was around. So, I ran on a platform of helping my classmates and coffee.  And I won.

The defining moment, however, wasn't winning. It was experiencing for the first time the power of being called forward to serve a group of people, and to develop a platform that meant something to those people. We did end up having coffee served. And I learned for the first time the magnitude of listening to people's needs and working to help them realize them.