Revolution

LQ-Ability

Last Friday I asked the question, "How important is talent?" As I looked at a familiar story from the life of Moses I realized that the things that Moses is supposed to look for in potential leaders aren't talent based. Talent plays a part, but perhaps a smaller part than we would assume. Here are the the four things Moses should look for. These are the things that make up our LQ, our Leadership Quotient.

1) Ability
2) Wisdom
3) Integrity
4) Character

Ability is the first thing that is listed when Jethro is advising Moses, but why? I think some of us think ability or talent is listed first because it is the most important thing. But what if talent listed first because it is the easiest thing to spot? I think that's what Jethro is telling Moses. It's as if he's saying, "Moses I've been hanging around your camp, & I've even noticed their are guys who are capable of doing these other jobs that are distracting you from your mission; open you eyes!"

When we're looking for potential leaders to serve with, why do we spend the majority of our time evaluating talent? Talent is important to leadership & ministry, but is there anything that might be more important? Talent is easy to spot, so don't waste your time & your organization's time by "evaluating" talent. As we'll see from the rest of Jethro's list, there are other things to consider when building a team, & they're actually bigger than talent. After all, talented people can usually be trained or taught to extend their talent into other aspects of their work, so we have to look at more than just talent.

Do you spend the lion's share of your time simply evaluating talent or do you dig deeper? Why do you think we're so preoccupied with talent? Is it because it's flashy, or is it because we're afraid to scratch underneath the surface to discover what's hiding underneath the talent?