Being the most experienced person doesn’t make you the leader. Being the most useful to others does.

Experience is a stock of information, not a claim on anybody’s attention, and the two get confused constantly by people who have been somewhere a long time. What actually gives you standing is what you do with the stock, whether you make other people faster, clearer or less stuck. Years on their own can leave you respected and consulted by nobody.

Take something you know and give it away this week, in a form that makes somebody better at their job. Teach the thing you now do automatically. Usefulness compounds in a way seniority does not.