As we have been talking about, leadership can be inherent or it can be learned and developed; or it can actually be both in many cases. Why is it then that some people have inherent ability and do not pursue any leadership? Or, they develop leadership skills and never take them to the level that they are capable of? There are many factors involved, but one of the main attributes of leadership is desire.

Desire is that deep down gut feeling that no matter what, I will make this happen. How many times have you wanted something and did everything you could to accomplish that task? That feeling is desire and it shows up in any and many aspects of our lives. When I went to college, as I have said, I was not the most positive person in the world as far as my intelligence and my ability to even consider getting into veterinary school. At that time, around 1974, there were only around 13 veterinary schools in the country. Iowa State would have around 4000 applicants, take the best 1000, and then out of these only 98 students would be accepted. Not very good odds for someone that had been told they were not very smart years before. I had always participated in sports in High School with some desire but I lacked the true desire to be my best, leaving me very average. When I went to college, I did well my first quarter in school; when I made the decision to try and get into veterinary school, I became obsessed with this decision. I worked as hard as I could to make sure I had the grade point average to get into veterinary school. My first quarter average was 3.5, so I was fine.

Being 18 years old and having a tendency to be lazy, I lightened up my second quarter and all of the sudden my desire started to fade. I ended up with a 2.9 and quickly my dreams were starting to become illusory. At this point I made a decision that no matter what, I would improve, and I would never fall below a 3.5 again. I decided that if this is what I wanted to do, I needed to have the desire like I had never had before. Next time, I will get into my struggles and how my desire kept me going.