Which One are You Climbing
The hard truth:
Leadership skill and capacity can open doors—but they rarely sustain us once the weight of leadership increases. Skills may earn opportunity, promotion, and trust. But over time, leadership pressures reveal what’s forming beneath the surface.
👉 Most leaders don’t fail because they lack competence—they fail because their character hasn’t kept pace with their influence.
Early in my leadership journey, I was overseeing a growing staff and an expanding group of volunteers. The work was succeeding. Momentum was building. During a performance review, a close friend used a word I didn’t expect: domineering.
I was stunned. I had no idea.
Had I dismissed that feedback—or lacked the humility to hear it—I’m convinced my leadership would eventually have derailed, even while results looked strong.
Why it matters:
⚓ Unaddressed character issues become an anchor on every leader’s voyage.
We often reference the Peter Principle—leaders rise to the level of their incompetence. In reality, many leaders rise to the level of their internal turmoil or their character deficits. As responsibility, pressure, and visibility increase, so does the cost of missteps. And when leaders fall, the impact ripples outward—to teams, organizations, families, and communities.
A helpful framework:
In The Ascent of a Leader, Bill Thrall and Bruce McNicol describe two ladders leaders climb—often unknowingly:
🪜 The Capacity Ladder
- Built on ability, performance, titles, and position
- Focused on achievement and personal potential
🪜 The Character Ladder
- Grounded in humility and trust
- Formed through service, suffering, and faithfulness
- Oriented toward living out a God-given destiny—for others, not ourselves
While both ladders are needed, many leaders eventually realize they’ve focused on climbing a ladder that won’t take them where they truly want to go. They have increased their character without growing their character.
Jesus was unambiguous about this.
In Matthew 23:27–28, He confronted leaders who appeared righteous on the outside but were hollow within—whitewashed tombs with impressive exteriors and decaying interiors. His concern wasn’t visibility. It was integrity.
So what can leaders do?
- 🧭 Stay teachable. Appreciate your gifts without assuming you’ve arrived.
- 🔍 Know your weaknesses. Awareness interrupts failure before it accelerates.
- 🤝 Walk with & learn from others. Trusted peers and mentors provide mirrors, courage, and accountability we can’t create alone.
“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” (Proverbs 4:23)
Bottom line:
Leadership is mostly caught, not taught. Our character—healthy or fractured—will be modeled and reproduced in others. Long after titles fade, our legacy will be measured by the good we’ve done and the people we’ve shaped.
If you want to strengthen your inner life as a leader—or talk about how the interaction between character and skill impacts your leadership—I’d love to connect.