What do you do when you’re keen to take on a leadership position, but your bosses don’t think you’re ready yet? He might say that you haven't been with the organization long enough, or that you don’t yet have the skills to be a manager. In this case, there’s only one thing you can do – start leading anyway, even without authority.

That’s exactly what Zina, a talented young doctor, decided to do. Zina wanted to step into a leadership role so that she could transform her hospital’s approach to patient care. Frustratingly, she was told that she hadn’t worked at the hospital long enough to...