Hungry

When selecting people to join your team, one of the primary characteristics you should look for is hunger. More specifically: a hunger to see God do the extraordinary as demonstrated by humility, sacrifice, and perseverance.  Sometimes an ounce of hunger is better than a pound of experience. Because a truly hungry leader will hunt for wisdom and experience until they find it.  And they’ll learn it by living it out rather than philosophizing and theorizing about it.

On the flipside, I’ve found that experience minus hunger equals arrogance and cynicism. Statements like: 

“But we’ve always…” 

“But we’ve never…” and 

“Why should we bother to…” are a sure sign that the hunger isn’t there anymore. You can’t stay hungry when you’re full of yourself.

Jesus seemed to use this idea in his team selection process. Peter wasn’t diplomatic…but he was hungry. (A little too hungry?) Matthew’s profession wasn’t popular with the people, but he was hungry to make a difference. Thomas wasn’t always sure…but he was hungry to search for truth.

Check the references.  Value the experience.  And certainly validate the character. But don’t forget about the secret ingredient called hunger. It covers a multitude of incompetency.