What Matters More in a Leader: Character or Talent?

The surprising leadership priorities in Titus 1

By Pastor John Erickson

We tend to be pretty impressed by talent.

Someone walks into a room and speaks well, has a great personality, knows how to organize people, and can get things done. We immediately start thinking, There's a leader.

And maybe there is. But let me ask a question: What happens if that person is really talented and also kind of a jerk?

I don't mean they have an occasional bad day. We all do. I mean their character doesn't match the image they project. They get results, but along the way they treat people poorly, refuse correction, and make everybody else miserable.

Would you still call that good leadership?

Paul's letter to Titus has a surprisingly direct answer.

A Little Book That Packs a Punch

Titus is only three chapters long, but it's a bit like an uppercut in boxing. A jab is quick. A cross makes its point. But an uppercut, when it connects, can make you rethink a few things.

That's this little letter.

Paul has left Titus on the island of Crete to help put the churches in order. The churches have problems. Their surrounding culture is shaping how some believers live and teach. Paul's first solution is interesting: he tells Titus to appoint elders in the towns (Titus 1:5).

In other words, before they try to change the world, they need to pay attention to who is leading the church.

That's not just a church problem, by the way. It applies to homes, businesses, teams, and communities. Leaders create cultures. What the leader celebrates, people tend to celebrate. What the leader ignores, people learn to ignore.

Our church staff has talked about this: leaders are thermostats rather than thermometers. A thermometer tells you the temperature in the room. A thermostat helps set it.

That conversation is uncomfortable because it includes me. I cannot ask for a healthy culture and then exempt my own attitudes from examination. We reproduce what we are-the good, the bad, and perhaps the ugly.

If a leader is anxious, defensive, and constantly stirring up conflict, don't be surprised when everybody else starts acting that way too.

Look at What Paul Actually Lists

Here's where Titus 1 becomes uncomfortable.

Paul describes the kind of people who should lead. He talks about being faithful, self-controlled, upright, hospitable, disciplined, and not quick-tempered or greedy. He expects leaders to hold firmly to trustworthy teaching.

Those qualifications are remarkably ordinary.

Where's the requirement that you must be a dynamic speaker? Where does it say you need to be the smartest person in the room, run a huge organization, or have thousands of followers?

It doesn't.

That doesn't mean ability is unimportant. People who teach should understand what they are teaching. People who lead should grow in their ability to lead. But the foundation is character.

And there's a difference between character and perfection. I'm not looking for someone who has never made a mistake. Good luck finding that person. I'm looking for someone who is humble enough to admit one, learn from it, and repair the damage.

I talk with people about serving, and I often hear some version of, I am not a pastor. I do not have that skill set.

I am not looking for someone who can do everything. As a pastor, I know how unrealistic that expectation is. I want humble servants who are willing to learn, welcome people, and live what they believe.

I'll take a servant who wants to learn over a superstar who refuses to be corrected.

We Reproduce What We Are

One of the tensions in church leadership is that we're often tempted to reward the wrong things.

Somebody can preach beautifully, but what happens if they don't love people? Someone can run an incredible program, but what if everybody who volunteers under them burns out? Someone can be musically gifted, but what if their attitude makes a worship team afraid to make a mistake?

We sometimes excuse those things because the results look so good.

But Paul doesn't begin with the results. He begins with the person.

And here's where we need to be careful. It's easy to read Titus and think, Yes! I know exactly which leader needs to hear this.

That might be true. But before we start handing out copies to everybody else, perhaps we should ask what this passage reveals about us.

Are we self-controlled? Hospitable? Patient? Do we tell the truth? Do we use our influence to serve, or to make sure we get our own way?

The people around us learn something about leadership by watching how we live. That should make every one of us a little more thoughtful.

A Better Way to Start

If you want a healthy church, home, or organization, start with the character of the people setting the temperature.

That includes you and me.

It is much easier to criticize the culture around us than to let God examine the culture inside us. We can spend a lot of time trying to change other people and very little time asking whether we look like Jesus ourselves.

That's what makes Titus such a powerful letter. It refuses to let us separate what we accomplish from who we are becoming.

Skills can be developed. Systems can be improved. Experience can be gained.

But character requires something more personal: the willingness to surrender our pride, welcome correction, and allow Jesus to reshape us.

So before you ask, What am I qualified to do? maybe ask a different question: What kind of person am I becoming while I do it?

That question might be the beginning of a very different kind of leadership.