Smart Isn’t Enough: You Need These 3 Ingredients!

Most leadership failures don’t come from a lack of intelligence. They come from misplaced confidence.

My son and I have been shuffling through the Proverbs trying to glean some wisdom about life, love and leadership and recently came across this little nugget of goodness in Proverbs 21:30.

No human wisdom or understanding or plan can stand against the Lord. - King Solomon

The language caused me to pause with this simple reminder: no amount of wisdom, insight, or strategy ultimately outruns God. That’s not an abstract spiritual claim. It's just a basic and practical leadership reality.

In order to access into what God has to offer, there are three areas that I'm working through, in my own life, to unlock the mystery of God's wisdom. Here they are:

Humility.

Character.

Surrender.

First: humility. There are smart leaders everywhere. You trip over them. Humble ones? Not so much. Skill and experience absolutely matter, but problems start when leaders mistake being competent for being in control. That’s when decisions get fragile.

Humility keeps you curious.

Humility slows you down just enough to listen.

Humility questions your assumptions, and actually learn.

Arrogance does the opposite.

Arrogance narrows your perspective.

Arrogance convinces you that you’ve already figured things out, usually right before everything changes.

Don't hear what I'm not saying. I'm not saying intelligence isn't important. I'm just saying that humility is more important.

Second: surrender. Submitting leadership to God doesn’t make you passive. Surrender is quite an active thing to do. When leaders surrender their timelines, outcomes, and ego, they lead with less panic and less posturing. This is 100% true in my own life. A surrendered leader is much more proactive than she is reactive. When we give up control, perspective will naturaly grow.

Third: character. As I consider leadership, I'll take strong character any day over a clever plan. You and I can easily figure out a brilliant strategy on paper, but if the foundation underneath it is weak, pressure will eventually expose it. You can have all the competency, calling, chemistry, and be the best cultural fit. But if your character is weak, you will eventually be exposed. We've seen this over and over in our culture. Proverbs doesn’t dismiss wisdom; it's all about wisdom. It just puts wisdom in the right order.

In short: lead with humility, put your strategy under a higher authority, and build for character. That’s not weakness. That’s how leadership actually holds up over time. Give yourself over to it and see it come together as God intended it to, for you, in the places and spaces that you lead.

Praying this adds value to your life and leadership. Peace and love to you. ~ Paul