Have you ever taken a job and discovered immediately you were not equal to the task? This has happened to me on several occasions. The panic of those moments of realization lingers still in memory. 

I was given an assignment to lead at a high level with a toolkit I had seen precisely once before. Trust me, it did not go well. I was ready to quit on the spot in the moment when I realized I was making a mess out of an important opportunity. 

This text, like Exodus 18:19-23, shows us the best way to distribute responsibility and authority. We train leaders by assigning responsibility and authority they can handle and grow into. We give them opportunities to succeed and to build confidence. 

You may have heard of the Peter Principle. It says a leader rises in an organization to his or her level of incompetence. Leaders like me who run into their incompetence with full force have a choice at this point. They can get comfortable at that particular level, or they can continue developing their knowledge and skills to move to the next levels of competency. 

Our Father in heaven takes us where we are and moves us to where he wants us to be. He gives us opportunities to succeed. He helps us learn from failure. It is true that failure is not final unless we fail to learn from it. It is likewise true that experience is not the best teacher, evaluated experience is. 

• Where are you in your leadership journey today? 
• How are you maximizing the opportunities before you?
• How are you preparing for what’s next? 

Leaders are learners. The day we stop learning is the day we begin to shrink backward in our abilities. We get comfortable at our level which causes discomfort in the organization. If we do not press forward into new areas of knowledge and skill, we atrophy at our own work and hinder the work of others. 

It is worth asking again, where are you in your leadership journey?

• What’s next? 
• How will you better equip yourself to lead forward with wisdom and strength?
• How will you make your coworkers better through your self-leadership?

What can you do this week to make a significant stride forward to who you should be can be by God’s grace and your full engagement? When will you start? What resources do you need? Who will you take with you on the journey?

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