Leadership begins when responsibility becomes more attractive than credit.

The shift into real leadership happens at a specific point, when being responsible for outcomes matters more to you than being seen as the cause of good ones. Before that, decisions get made with one eye on how they will look. After it, they get made on the merits, and people can feel the difference immediately.

Watch which you reach for when something goes well and when it goes badly. If credit is the pull, the work is not leadership yet, whatever your title says.