Today someone asked me what I would talk about if I was given the opportunity to talk about leadership, what would I talk about?
I had to think about it for a moment and then I responded by saying - brokenness.
At first, it was not a popular response to the questioner.
In this world today any of us can go straight to Amazon, a bookstore, a friend's shelf, a business person, a pastor, or anything/anyone else and there will be a multitude of different books on leadership. I love Maxwell but I'm not always sure that we need 21 of these, 17 of those, 5 of these, 479 of this, and 15 of something else. What's the one?
Someone else will say this X is the thing that all leaders must have and need to work on while yet another person will advise that we need something else entirely different. When you put it all together it seems like each write or speaker will give 1/2 of a new thought and use 76 other thoughts. What's the one thing I need?
I answered brokenness a.k.a. humility. My questioner summed it up with a different word - character. I like that one better and I'm gonna stick with it.
Every leader cannot survive without character - strength of spirit, resolve, knowing who he/she really is, know what makes them unique, knowing strengths and weaknesses. Character is defined as "the mental and moral qualities distinctive to an individual."
The truth is this: we can work on 43 of these and 27 of that. We can pick up tips and tricks on "visioneering" and "habits" and "boundaries." We can listen to our favorite CEOs, leaders, organizations, trainings, books, authors, and whatever else but if we do not have character we will all eventually fail.
What's the most important thing about leadership? Working on one's self and developing true character.
