Discover if being a manager is the right path for you. It might be still tough for some of us to choose the right career direction. We all have different personalities and skills. I compiled a list of questions that will help you to decide if you would like to work towards a leadership position or focus on improving your craft.

1. Do you enjoy building relationships even with people that are different than you?
2. Are you empathetic and able to understand someone else’s needs and desires, even if it is not in your interest?
3. Do you enjoy innovation and searching for new ways to make money?
4. Can you adapt to do things you have never dealt with before?
5. Do you have strategic and business knowledge/language?
6. Can you take critique and challenges well?
7. Are you a visionary, able to look at the long-term goals?
8. Do you know how to have difficult and vulnerable conversations with people?
9. Can you tell the difference between taking calculated risks in business and gambling?
10. Do you like building team structures, finding communication, and project management tools?
11. Are you good at presentations, negotiation, and selling?
12. Do you know how to find the best talent for the job?
13. Do you know how to motivate people and inspire them to be productive?
14. Are you ready to step up when things are hard?
15. Do you know what is the ROI for an employee?
16. Are you good at solving problems?
17. Can you make enough money for your team or business?
18. Are you willing to be transparent and approachable to people?
19. Can you be a fair but confident negotiator?
20. Do you know how to track the results of people you work with?
21. When you take action, does the action support the growth, safety, and success of the vast majority of people you work with/for?
22. Can you delegate tasks without micromanaging?
23. Are you ready to hide your ego and take one for the team?
24. Do you know what type of leader you are?
25. Do you know the methodology for this type of leadership?
26. Can you keep making things (writing/designing) while managing all the above?

Depending on how many times you answered YES, you should be able to see already in the direction of a manager or a leader is for you. It doesn’t mean that you have to know all those things but you will definitely need to learn most of them. Leaders are not born, they are made but you need to know if that is something that you are willing to learn. Many people are not and this is why not everyone makes it as a manager. Or they don’t learn it and they become a crappy and abusive boss instead of a leader. Personally, I picked a middle ground of a leader but working only with 2-3 people in my team to keep the time for my craft as well.