Leadership is influence. Everything rises and fall on leadership, everything.
“A lack of competence can slow you down, but a lack of character can (will) take you out.”
Competence may get you in the door, but character keeps you in the room.
Character is core to who you are as a leader. Being really good at what you do is critical, but character is the bottom line for a spiritual leader.
If you have character and no competence, people will love you but won’t hire you. If you have competence and no character, people will hire you but they won’ keep you.
When selecting a leader, there is temptation to quickly pass over character and focus on competence and chemistry.
Even if you have character and competence but don’t have chemistry you won’t last because the chemistry is much like culture.
A person who does not have the right chemistry, even though they have character and competence, cause great confusion and conflict.
Character matters; however, good character is often simply assumed.
When it comes to leaders, it’s difficult to “fix” a lack of character.
Character assessed by behavior.
- Do they keep their promises?
- Do they do what they say they will do?
- Do they do what is in the best interest of others?
- Do they do the difficult thing rather than the easy thing?
As leaders, we are responsible for the development of our character and the character that we develop.