LQ-One Last Thought
As I finished up looking through this very familiar story from the life of Moses, I noticed one more thing that is so important to leadership. The Bible says that after Moses identified the right leaders to surround himself with, he "appointed" them to be in charge of different groups within the camp. Moses didn't just give his new leadership team to do lists; he gave them authority. It really would have done Moses no good at all if he didn't empower his team to actually do the work that was keeping him away from his primary role. These leaders didn't have to run to Moses about every case. They went to him when they recognized that the issue was bigger than they were equipped to handle. Otherwise, they took care of it & didn't worry Moses with it.
If you want your ministry or organization to grow, you have to let go of some of it. The only way you can have total control over your following is if you keep it very small. Most leaders want their movements to grow, but they sabotage it themselves by refusing to empower the leaders around them with the authority to lead certain parts of the movement. When you appoint someone else in your ministry, you're bestowing some of your authority to them in order to further the mission & vision of your organization. If you want your Leadership Quotient to grow, you have to be willing to appoint other leaders & to give them the authority to lead.
February 5, 2010
February 4, 2010
LQ-Character
The final quality that Jethro mentions to Moses as necessary for leadership is character, & it flows out the depth of one's integrity. Even Jethro links the two as he says, "men of truth who hate dishonest gain." Character matters.
In the case of Moses, he needed to surround himself with leaders that he could trust totally. He had to know that these leaders wouldn't allow anything to compromise their integrity & character. And there's more going on here than just "dishonest gain" in the financial sense.
How often do team members have a chance to undermine the team leader for the sake of their own leadership, reputation, or advancement? It happens more often than you might think. How often does the associate pastor of a church have to make the choice to either affirm or deflect complaints about the senior pastor with whom he serves? How often does the assistant manager have to listen to the complaints of co-workers about the boss? It happens all the time. How that team member deals with the situation reveals his or her character. If he chooses to listen to the criticism & even join in the criticism, he's not only undermining the leadership above him, he's unwittingly undermining his own as well.
Dishonest gain can be more than simply taking a bribe. In leadership, it can be putting self ahead of the vision, taking credit for work that someone else did, or undermining other leaders in order to make oneself look or feel more important. It all reveals what our character really is. Character is built slowly by daily living a life of integrity, & we all know it can be destroyed quickly by a single act of dishonesty or selfish pride. Guard your heart, grow your integrity, & you'll grow your LQ.
The final quality that Jethro mentions to Moses as necessary for leadership is character, & it flows out the depth of one's integrity. Even Jethro links the two as he says, "men of truth who hate dishonest gain." Character matters.
In the case of Moses, he needed to surround himself with leaders that he could trust totally. He had to know that these leaders wouldn't allow anything to compromise their integrity & character. And there's more going on here than just "dishonest gain" in the financial sense.
How often do team members have a chance to undermine the team leader for the sake of their own leadership, reputation, or advancement? It happens more often than you might think. How often does the associate pastor of a church have to make the choice to either affirm or deflect complaints about the senior pastor with whom he serves? How often does the assistant manager have to listen to the complaints of co-workers about the boss? It happens all the time. How that team member deals with the situation reveals his or her character. If he chooses to listen to the criticism & even join in the criticism, he's not only undermining the leadership above him, he's unwittingly undermining his own as well.
Dishonest gain can be more than simply taking a bribe. In leadership, it can be putting self ahead of the vision, taking credit for work that someone else did, or undermining other leaders in order to make oneself look or feel more important. It all reveals what our character really is. Character is built slowly by daily living a life of integrity, & we all know it can be destroyed quickly by a single act of dishonesty or selfish pride. Guard your heart, grow your integrity, & you'll grow your LQ.
February 3, 2010
LQ-Integrity
Jethro's advice to Moses concerning the recruiting of new leaders revolutionized Moses leadership & allowed him to focus on his calling, not on the things that seemed to be urgent at that precise moment. After talent & wisdom, Jethro advises Moses to look for men who are "trustworthy" or "men of truth". I'm calling this integrity.
In order to determine another's integrity, you can't focus purely on talent. Talent easily lends itself to building an image, but integrity is bigger than that. John Maxwell says, "Image is what people think we are. Integrity is what we really are." A committment to integrity is so crucial today in a world where lapses in your integrity seemed to be magnified in the spotlight created by the 21st century world. Leaders have to be fanatical about integrity. It's what give you & your organization credibility with those inside & outside your group. Moses was going to be empowering people to make major decisions that would affect the lives of lots of people in the camp. He had to know that they would make wise & just decisions. He had to know that they were more committed to the truth, especially the truth of God's word, than to the admiration of others.
Integrity is difficult to gauge because it's so easy to disguise. All of us a masters of image management. However, when we lose control of that image & the truth comes out, everyone can see it, & everyone is affected by it. As leaders we must set the example for those we lead by becoming people who live lives characterized by integrity, no facades, no masks, & we must call those we lead to pursue that kind of life as well. As we consistently live out what we say we believe, we move closer & closer to the greatness that God has called His people to.
Jethro's advice to Moses concerning the recruiting of new leaders revolutionized Moses leadership & allowed him to focus on his calling, not on the things that seemed to be urgent at that precise moment. After talent & wisdom, Jethro advises Moses to look for men who are "trustworthy" or "men of truth". I'm calling this integrity.
In order to determine another's integrity, you can't focus purely on talent. Talent easily lends itself to building an image, but integrity is bigger than that. John Maxwell says, "Image is what people think we are. Integrity is what we really are." A committment to integrity is so crucial today in a world where lapses in your integrity seemed to be magnified in the spotlight created by the 21st century world. Leaders have to be fanatical about integrity. It's what give you & your organization credibility with those inside & outside your group. Moses was going to be empowering people to make major decisions that would affect the lives of lots of people in the camp. He had to know that they would make wise & just decisions. He had to know that they were more committed to the truth, especially the truth of God's word, than to the admiration of others.
Integrity is difficult to gauge because it's so easy to disguise. All of us a masters of image management. However, when we lose control of that image & the truth comes out, everyone can see it, & everyone is affected by it. As leaders we must set the example for those we lead by becoming people who live lives characterized by integrity, no facades, no masks, & we must call those we lead to pursue that kind of life as well. As we consistently live out what we say we believe, we move closer & closer to the greatness that God has called His people to.
February 2, 2010
LQ-Wisdom
After Jethro said that Moses should be looking for "capable men," he encouraged Moses to seek out men who "fear God." What do we know about fearing God? First of all, let's just go ahead & get it out there that it's not about being scared of God. The Bible defines the fear of God as "the beginning of wisdom." Wisdom is the second key component to our Leadership Quotient.
Godly Leaders Cultivate Their Own Wisdom & Collect The Wisdom Of Others.
Whether you're looking for potential leaders for your team or if you're looking for an opportunity to be a part of another leader's team, wisdom is key. How do you cultivate your own wisdom? That's simple, go read Psalm 119. That entire psalm is a praise to God about the greatness of His word. In verses 97-105, we learn that amazing wisdom is within our grasp if we will meditate on & obey God's word. In fact, we can have wisdom that blows away our elders & teachers. I've written more about that HERE. So leaders need to be people who are cultivating their own wisdom by seeking out & obeying the wisdom of God. Leaders also collect the wisdom of others. The wisest man who ever lived, Solomon, had more to say about seeking godly, wise counsel than anyone. Maybe that's why he was the wisest man around. Leaders understand that they don't have all the answers. They recognize their limitations & seek out others who can speak wisdom into the situation. Wisdom is a priceless quality that we must look for in the leaders we surround ourselves with.
Talent is the starting point in leadership. You've got to be capable, but that's not enough. Andy Stanley writes, "Your talent & giftedness as a leader has the potential to take you farther than your character can sustain you." Cultivating & collecting wisdom is the beginning of growing your character so that it can sustain you as your talent propels you.
After Jethro said that Moses should be looking for "capable men," he encouraged Moses to seek out men who "fear God." What do we know about fearing God? First of all, let's just go ahead & get it out there that it's not about being scared of God. The Bible defines the fear of God as "the beginning of wisdom." Wisdom is the second key component to our Leadership Quotient.
Godly Leaders Cultivate Their Own Wisdom & Collect The Wisdom Of Others.
Whether you're looking for potential leaders for your team or if you're looking for an opportunity to be a part of another leader's team, wisdom is key. How do you cultivate your own wisdom? That's simple, go read Psalm 119. That entire psalm is a praise to God about the greatness of His word. In verses 97-105, we learn that amazing wisdom is within our grasp if we will meditate on & obey God's word. In fact, we can have wisdom that blows away our elders & teachers. I've written more about that HERE. So leaders need to be people who are cultivating their own wisdom by seeking out & obeying the wisdom of God. Leaders also collect the wisdom of others. The wisest man who ever lived, Solomon, had more to say about seeking godly, wise counsel than anyone. Maybe that's why he was the wisest man around. Leaders understand that they don't have all the answers. They recognize their limitations & seek out others who can speak wisdom into the situation. Wisdom is a priceless quality that we must look for in the leaders we surround ourselves with.
Talent is the starting point in leadership. You've got to be capable, but that's not enough. Andy Stanley writes, "Your talent & giftedness as a leader has the potential to take you farther than your character can sustain you." Cultivating & collecting wisdom is the beginning of growing your character so that it can sustain you as your talent propels you.
February 1, 2010
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?
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?
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