Character is unquestionably critical for effective leadership. Unfortunately, leadership is also a high-pressure sport, and too often character is the casualty. Leaders are especially susceptible to four lapses of character: pride, dishonesty, sex, and greed.
How many times have you seen a leader with an inflated ego that bought the lie of invisibility? How often have you watched leaders make dishonest decisions, subtle compromises, and lapses in judgement? How many leaders have you seen fall from their pinnacle of success because of sexual acts or addictions? And how often have you seen a leader undermined by greed and an uncontrollable appetite that drove them to illegal or unethically acts? Sadly, these four sins topple leaders time and time again, and each one of us are susceptible to their lure.
Leadership attracts these four temptations, which is why the four pillars of character are so critical. Each pillar is the antidote to a common leadership temptation, and each one requires our ongoing attention.
1. The Pillar of Humility
Humility shapes two important aspects of leadership: attitude and motive. When your attitude reflects humility, you maintain the proper perspective on your abilities. Humility also enables you to give credit where credit is due, operate out of a selfless spirit, and remain teachable and correctable.
Similarly, when your motives reflect humility, you use influence for the glory of God and the good of others. The driving purpose of your influence isn’t to elevate your name or build your own empire, but rather to honor the name of Jesus and bring about good in the world.
Humility was woefully absent in the life and leadership of King Nebuchadnezzar. He arrogantly announced, “Look at this great city of Babylon! By my own mighty power, I have built this beautiful city as my royal residence to display my majestic splendor” (Daniel 4:30).
In a moment, King Nebuchadnezzar was driven from power, and from society, to graze in the fields like a wild animal for seven years. When he finally came to his senses and humbled himself before God, he was restored to his kingdom. With newfound humility, he declared, “Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and glorify and honor the King of heaven. All his acts are just and true, and he is able to humble the proud” (Daniel 4:37).
The lesson is clear: Pride builds monuments, but humility builds ministry. James Kouzes and Barry Posner observe:
“The words human and humble share a common origin. They both come from the Latin humus, meaning earth. To be human and humble is to be down-to-earth, both feet planted firmly on the ground. Interesting, isn’t it, how as people climb the ranks in organizations they also climb to a higher floor in the building, getting farther and farther away from the ground? It gets harder and harder to remain humble the higher up you go.”
James Kouzes & Barry Posner
Pride is man’s path to pursue favor; humility is God’s path to give it to you. When our leadership rests on the pillar of humility, our attitudes and motives become bless-able.
2. The Pillar of Integrity
Rather than living a double-standard life, a leader with integrity is the same in public and in private. What impact does integrity have in leadership? Proverbs 10:9 says, “People with integrity walk safely, but those who follow crooked paths will be exposed.” Time and again we’ve seen leaders exposed for a lack of integrity. Their security was stripped from them because they’re integrity was stunted in them.
Author and pastor Andy Stanley defines character as, “the will to do what is right, as defined by God, regardless of personal cost.” The question is, who is defining what’s right in your life? Character doesn’t begin with how you act; it begins with who you’re loyal to.
If you’re loyal to God, your character will be shaped by His Word and His will. But if your loyalty is to popular opinion, your leadership will shift in the direction of compromise. The word integrity means whole, complete, and undivided. Divided loyalty always results in divided integrity.
Titus 2:7 gives us further insight into the critical nature of integrity: “And you yourself must be an example to them by doing good works of every kind. Let everything you do reflect the integrity and seriousness of your teaching.” Then, in his first letter to Timothy, Paul described the example of integrity with these words: “Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity” (1 Timothy 4:12). Simply put, integrity should shape five areas: speech, life, love, faith, and purity.
The pillars of humility and integrity are essential to effective leadership. They provide a firm foundation that helps leaders lead for the long-haul. In my next article, we’ll look at the next two pillars of character in leadership.
