Will you pay the price to reach your destiny as a leader?

While on vacation recently I picked up a book to read titled The Ascent of a Leader: How Ordinary Relationships Develop Extraordinary Character and Influence.  It is a powerful look at the choices leaders can make regarding their climb to success.  The authors write that there are two ladders leaders can choose to climb.  The first is the Capacity Ladder which is the one most choose to climb.  It will take you as high as your abilities allow.  The second ladder they call the Character Ladder which is much harder to climb but will take the leader higher.  They point out that some leaders will begin to climb the Character Ladder but when things start to become difficult they switch to the Capacity Ladder and settle for the level of success they find there.

Although there are challenges on both ladders, the ones on the Character Ladder can be the most demanding since they deal not only with our skill levels but also with who we are inside.  How many leaders have you known who did not fail because they lacked the skills but because of character issues within their lives?  This is why it is so important to intentionally choose the Character Ladder and deal with the issues each rung of that ladder brings.

The fourth rung of the ladder is called Paying the Price, and it seems that it is here that drives many leaders off the Character Ladder and onto the Capacity Ladder.  Paying the price will either test or prove our character, and this can be a very frightening time for most of us.  Such testing is never easy nor pleasant.  Sometimes we learn things about ourselves we would rather not know.  We can choose to ignore those lessons or we can choose to address our new-found knowledge and take the steps to correct those things in our lives that are not right.  If we choose to climb the Character Ladder we will face a time when we must be willing to pay the price if we want to continue our climb.

The authors point out that "Reaching our destiny requires such testing.  Although we may reach certain goals, we will not reach our destiny without the refining and purifying of our hearts.  We need the process of the fourth rung in order to mature.  This maturity gives us the strength we need to manage our influence well."

As ministry leaders our goal should be to achieve the destiny God has in mind for us.  I'm a great believer in goal setting, and it's important to reach our goals, but we must not settle just for that.  God had a destiny in mind for each individual even before they were born (Jer. 1:5).  Our ultimate goal should be to know and achieve that destiny, but we must be willing to pay the price that will involve.

I have found this to be a great book and only wish I had read it much earlier as a younger leader.  You can order it by clicking on the book cover below.