working towards leadership

My whole life my parents have thought I was a natural leader. Not too many other people seemed to agree, including me. I mean I'm pretty quiet and shy. I have had a few leadership roles in my lifetime but most of them Ive gotten by default. Like being captian of the cross country team my senior year at Ripon. Clearly I was only a captian because I was the only senior girl left. I've gotten myself into leadership positions at camp but pretty sure that's just because I stuck around camp so long. But as I was talking to my boss about my career goals it became clear I want to take on more of that responsibility. I actually told my boss that down the line I'd like to get into management. My boss is a great guy and he's seriously helpping me make the steps to getting more confidence and be more of a leader. He was always going to meetings with me, talking to whatever customer I had done a project for with me. After we had our talk he still went with me but made a point to force me to talk. This week he's been skipping out on meetings and sending me as his representative. At first I thought it was because he really was busy but pretty sure the last time I went to a meeting without him he was goofing off in his cube. When I realized the real reason he was sending me alone, it was like wow I really need to step up. Wish me luck