Indispensable Qualities of a Leader: CHARACTER

By: Ma. Eleanor Lerio

Allow me to share with you all some lessons I have learned on why many of our leaders lacks something which will make them great leaders. This is only one of them. Actually I learned all these from my 3-years leadership training.

Maybe we cannot change these existing "leaders" manning our country but we can start anew. Let's start with our kids, raise them up to become good citizens & leaders of the future. That's what we are doing right now. We still have so much hope for our country and while many are trying to solve this problem of the country right now. we are forming children who are the hope of our fatherland.

HOW CHARACTER BREEDS PERSPECTIVE (Gen. 50:15-21)

Joseph (the dreamer) puts his entire life in perspective in the final chapter of Genesis. During the height of a terrible famine, his brothers came humbly before him & bowed down, just as he had predicted decades earlier. But instead of using his enormous power to punish them, he said, "You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive."

How does one develop such a godly (and rare) perspective? What enabled Joseph to refrain from exacting the kind of vengeance most of us would be tempted to dish out in similar circumstances?

One word: CHARACTER

Because Joseph had spent years in God's character-building course, he could maintain a proper perspective & use his power to bless his brothers rather than curse them.

How a leader deals with the circumstances of life tells you many things about his character.

Crisis doesn't necessarily make character, but it certainly does reveal it.

Adversity is a crossroad that makes a person choose one of two paths: character or compromise. Everytime he chooses character, he becomes stronger, even if that choice brings negative consequences (remember why Joseph ended up in prison?)

The development of character is at the heart of our development as leaders. (which we hope we will develop, too, if we want to be leaders maybe not as political leaders in the Philippines, but in our respective fields of endeavors. It is better to learn early.)

If you want God's perspective on life, then make sure to develop your character. It's the only way, as Joseph reminds us.