Being versus Doing

I know a lot of people that say they want to be something. In this specific case, it is a City Manager / County Administrator. “I want to be a City Manager!” they say. To which I reply, “are you prepared to do the work of the Manager?” There is a big difference between aspiring to be, and being, and then doing the work, on a day to day basis. The work is in the slop, the trenches, the bad days, the frustrations — one has to be ok with and reconcile those realities with the oft-pleasant aspirational aspects of simply holding the position itself.