- Calling
Called people have a profound purpose about their lives that flow from a divine perspective. They are not trying to promote themselves, but instead, they support a higher cause. Called people discover something bigger than themselves, a mission, a challenge, a goal, or a movement, that draws them into an arena. Their calling flows around their passion (heart), skills (hands), and expertise (mind).
2. Character
Character is a high standard of living based on a personal code of morality that doesn’t succumb to the whim of the moment or the dictates of the majority. Character is to personal integrity what health is to the body. Character is not reputation—what others think of us, nor is it success—what we have accomplished. Character embodies the total of our being and our actions. It originates with who we are, but it expresses itself in the way we live and behave. No matter how gifted, trained, or seemingly mature a person is, the actual use of those attributes will be determined by character.
3. Commitment
Committed people foster the drive, motivation, and work ethic to get the job done. Commitment spells the difference between mediocrity and magnificence.
4. Compatible
Compatible people are a job, relational, skill, and passion fit. Vince Lombardi once told this team, the Green Bay Packers, “In terms of skill and ability, every one of you is easily replaceable; there are plenty of players around with athletic talent to equal yours.” He went on to explain that the quality that distinguished Green Bay for the other teams was their “chemistry.” The power of chemistry that developed between members and the coach transcended, in Lombardi’s view, individual talent and prior professional experience. He saw it as enabling him to get significant effort from his players.
5. Coachable
Coachable people are aware of their limitations and inadequacies and eager to learn and to improve. John Wooden, the former basketball coach of the UCLA Bruins, said, “It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts.”
6. Competent
Competent people are talented, gifted, and perform at a high level. They know their job and do their jobs well. They bring their “A” game every day.
7. Contributors
They function well as a team player. They are self-aware both of themselves and of others. They thrive in a healthy team environment, wanting the best in themselves and others. Peter Drucker said, “All work is for a team. No individual has the temperament and the skills to do every job. The purpose of a team is to make strengths productive and weaknesses irrelevant.” Contributors work together and help their teammates perform better to accomplish the common goal.
8. Completers
Effective leaders know that teams complete us. When a team comes to a task or a project or an obstacle, the collective whole maximizes strengths and minimizes weaknesses. Bill McCartney, former football coach, said, “We have not come together to compete with one another—but to complete one another.”
