Home Outreach Leaders Articles for Outreach & Missions 5 Signs Your Character Is Eroding

5 Signs Your Character Is Eroding

There are few better friends for a leader than self-awareness.

You’ve seen leaders who think they’re doing great when, in fact, everyone around them begs to differ.

How do you not become that leader?

One of the best things you can do is monitor the signs of any pending crisis. And among all the things to watch, one of the best things you can monitor is your character.

After all, in leadership, your competency will take you only as far as your character can sustain you. Character, not competency, determines your capacity.

So how do you know the state of your character?

Here are five signs I’ve watched in my own life and seen in the lives of other leaders that help me determine if my character is in check or if it’s slowly imploding.

1. There’s a growing gap between what you say publicly and how you live privately.

Character rarely implodes suddenly. Instead, there’s almost always a slow erosion until eventually your character implodes.

Consequently, wise leaders keep an eye on any gaps between what they say publicly and how they live privately.

Quite obviously, this extends to hidden vices like drinking too much, porn use and the like.

But it goes deeper than that. There are socially acceptable ways Christian leaders self-medicate that should grab our attention (I wrote about them here).

It also extends into any gap you see between your words and your deeds.

When you preach grace but snap at your wife, kids and staff, that’s a problem.

When you teach financial responsibility but your personal finances are a mess, that’s a problem.

When you say you care about people but you make zero time for anyone in need in your personal life, that’s an issue.

What’s the solution?

Never say publicly what you’re unwilling to live privately.