Two Important, but Overlooked Traits in A Leader

I’ve written quite a bit over the years on leadership and especially in this newsletter. A few recent ones:

• Why Trust Matters and How it Erodes

• Between Two Classes

• You Can’t Lead From the Green Room

• Don’t Adopt Your Mentor’s Worst Traits

• Talent Versus Leadership

In that last one, one of the things I talked about was the way we often prioritize giftedness versus character. I believe leadership, especially spiritual leadership, requires both, but we often minimize some of the essential character traits when evaluating people for positions of authority. For instance, the qualifications for Christian leadership as outlined by Paul in the pastoral epistles (1st, 2nd Timothy, Titus) do require giftedness (ability to teach) but are mostly about issues of the heart, such as gentleness, steadfastness, kindness, faithfulness, etc.

Underneath these, I believe, are two underrated aspects of a leader’s heart: the ability to forgive and the relationship with the father. I wrote on the latter, here, but want to expand on how both forgiveness and the father work together.