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The
Missing Ingredient Of Leadership
by Captain Pete
Brookshaw
Leadership is not an easy task; balancing finances,
communicating vision, developing relationships, pleasing
stakeholders, responding to urgent emails, leading team
meetings and so it goes on and on.
But, there is something missing.
The business world don't seem to talk about this missing
ingredient much and the Christian leadership environment
forget to emphasise its importance.
It causes some leaders to fall because of a lack of it, and
others to blossom because they embody it.
If I mention Martin Luther King Jr. or Mother Theresa you
might begin to nail down what I'm about to say.
I'm speaking about 'Character'.
It caused Henry Cloud to take a step back in 2006 and write a
book, entitled: Integrity: The Courage to Meet the Demands
of Reality.
Cloud asks, 'How many of you have had a situation in your work
experience where someone was very bright, talented, competent,
and good at working deals, but there was something about who
he or she was as a person that somehow got in the way
of all of that ability?'
We understand that in leadership, character matters. In fact,
it is the missing ingredient to successful leadership.
Cloud writes that leaders need more than mere competence. Some
leaders have great skill sets and abilities yet without
character they are missing a key ingredient. Interestingly
though, Cloud defines character and integrity as encapsulating
more than simply morality.
When we consider character we generally begin thinking about
someone who is trustworthy and someone who won't steal our
money out of our wallets when we're not looking.
Henry Cloud defines character more
broadly than most of us would define the topic. He says that
character is the ability to meet the demands of reality. It is
not just about trustworthiness, but about how we conduct
ourselves in front of others, how we emotionally react to a
situation and how we connect with employees. Character and
integrity is the state of being whole and undivided.
Another definition for character relates to having internal
consistency.
We must not miss this ingredient from effective leadership.
Character cannot be and should not be swept under the carpet
and only be embraced by those who are weak and deluded. Good
character is surely a God-given imperative for effective
leadership.
Competence in and of itself, is not enough. You must have good
character. Don't compromise character for anything.
In The Salvation Army we call it holiness. And without
holiness it’s impossible to please God, let alone be a great
leader.
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