Launching A Leadership Revolution #4

Thursday, March 27, 2008

This Past Monday the topic in our leadership book study was "The Trilateral Leadership Ledger". After reading and discussing the chapter with several leaders, I still feel the same as I did before. I applaud the authors attempt to not only identify, but also try to measure 3 key leadership characteristics. However, any self-assessment tool is always suspect in my book. I know, at the very least, if you combine it with other's assessment, you may be able identify some areas of strengths and weaknesses.

In the bigger picture of tings, the three areas identify are of major importance to any leader; ignore them and you are sure to pay a big price in your leadership experience. Let's take a look at them closer.


Character: "What you become is always more important than what you accomplish". While I believe this to be true, it is extremely difficult to accomplish in any arena, including the church. I do believe that biblical character puts first your relationship with God and is not always considering the net results most often expected from the organizations we represent. The fact is this, you can have a great character and get nothing accomplish.

Task: It is easy for a leader to loose sight of your character when accomplishing an important task. But, like we have experienced in recent years with several corporate less-than-honest CEO, character is often compromised by a desire to succeed at any cost. ultimately, the price has to be paid when the truth comes out... and it always comes out! Just be careful, you can get things done and still have a questionable character... at least for a short while. The book offers a list of 9 character traits to consider. You can add your own.

1. honesty
2. Integrity
3. Courage
4. Proper Values based on absolute truth
5. Faith
6. A humble spirit
7. Patience with others
8. Discipline
9. Self-Mastery
10.___________________ (add you own)

Relationships: Relationships are key for any leader. After all, how can you accomplish a task without people? How can you lead people without relationships? I believe relationships are only second to your character when it comes to leading. Show me a leader who does not work on developing relationships and I will show you a leader who is slowly loosing influence.

By the way, relationships are not just the people you know, but the people you can count on.

The whole idea in this chapter is to help us identify the areas of strength and weaknesses and them get busy working in that area. So let me ask you; which one is your strength? Which one is your weakness? Any thoughts?