There’s a difference between wanting to be awesome and wanting to become awesome.

A lot of people want the credit. They want to already be known as wise, skilled, and impressive. But the leaders who make the biggest long-term impact are the ones who love the process of becoming.

They aren’t just intelligent — they’re always becoming more intelligent.

They aren’t just wise — they’re growing in wisdom.

They aren’t just skilled — they’re developing their skills over time.

The Bible actually describes spiritual growth this way. We’re called to grow steadily into maturity: “Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18).

Let me give you an analogy:  Imagine a batch of chocolate chip cookies. At some point, if you keep adding ingredients, you ruin the recipe. Too much butter, too much flour, too many chocolate chips; eventually, it stops tasting good. But imagine a different kind of cookie — a miracle cookie — where you can keep adding the best ingredients forever. Add more brown sugar? It just becomes more brown sugary. Add more butter? It becomes more buttery. Add more chocolate chips? It becomes more chocolate chippy. It never gets worse — it just keeps getting better.

That’s what it looks like when someone commits to lifelong growth. They keep becoming more disciplined, more peaceful, more wise, and more filled with the Spirit (Galatians 5:22–23).

If you want a less cookie-related analogy, think about the Star Wars universe. In that world, people who are strong with the Force have a high Midichlorian count — force-producing cells in their body. Now imagine that you could just keep adding Midichlorians. That’s what growth looks like for leaders who walk in humility. As long as they keep developing themselves, they keep growing in wisdom, skill, and spiritual maturity.

The real question is this: What could you be available for God to do in a year… ten years… or twenty years… if you kept developing yourself?

No One Else Will Develop Your Potential for You

One of the most important things young leaders must realize is this: No one else is responsible for developing your potential. A coach doesn’t run the miles for the athlete. They challenge them, guide them, and correct them, but the athlete has to do the work.

Leadership development works the same way. At some point, you have to decide: “I’m going to spend time and money developing myself when others don’t.”

That might look like:

• Reading books while others watch movies
• Going to conferences
• Investing in tools or software that improve your work
• Learning skills outside of your job description

Paul told Timothy something similar:  “Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress.” (1 Timothy 4:15)

Growth requires intentionality.

When I look at leaders who truly develop their potential, I usually see them investing in four areas of growth.

Four Areas Young Leaders Must Develop

Young leaders should focus on growing in four areas:  Dreams, Wisdom, Character, and Giftedness.  The first and last are like bookends: dreams and giftedness. But the middle two,  wisdom and character, are actually the most important.

1. Dreams

You want to develop your dream. But a dream without wisdom eventually disappoints.

Dreams often start as desires. You may want to grow as:

• an entrepreneur
• a musician
• a youth leader
• a pastor
• an administrator

Developing your dream means exposing yourself to what that dream looks like in the real world. Look for people already doing what you want to do.

Ask questions like:

• What does their day look like?
• What problems do they solve?
• What skills do they rely on?

Early in my ministry, I would take pastors out to lunch and visit churches we admired. It wasn’t just about learning techniques; it expanded our sense of what was possible. Vision expands when you see examples. Scripture says: “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” (Proverbs 29:18) If I could start over, I would expose more leaders to more vision earlier.

When people see what God can do, it expands their faith.

One practical step: expose yourself to one expression of your dream that is far beyond where you are right now. Let it stretch your imagination. Let it fuel prayer.

2. Wisdom

Wisdom balances dreaming. Dreams imagine possibilities. Wisdom deals with reality. Biblical wisdom means understanding how God designed the world to work and responding accordingly (Proverbs 1:7).

Wisdom recognizes things like:

• Some things take a long time.
• Some mistakes are avoidable.
• Systems matter.
• People behave in predictable ways.

Young leaders grow in wisdom by doing three things:

1. Learning from books.  |  Read what wise people in your field have already learned.

2. Learning from mentors.  |  Ask experienced leaders questions like:

• What mistakes did you make?
• What would you do differently today?
• What realities should I understand early?

3. Learning through observation.  |  Spend time around wise people. Sit in meetings. Watch how they make decisions. Pay attention to how they handle pressure.

Scripture encourages this approach: “Walk with the wise and become wise.” (Proverbs 13:20) You don’t have to learn every lesson the hard way.

3. Character

Character determines whether you’re worth following. It also determines whether success will ruin you.

Character can be the hardest area for young leaders to appreciate because its rewards are slow and invisible. Young leaders often want the results of character before going through the process that builds it. But Scripture repeatedly emphasizes character over talent. “Whoever walks in integrity walks securely.” (Proverbs 10:9)

Developing character means intentionally placing yourself around godly people, not just successful people.

It also means:

• reading biographies of faithful leaders
• inviting accountability
• praying for transformation
• asking trusted friends for honest feedback

One hard truth about leadership is this: you will eventually give an account not only for what you did for God but how you treated people while doing it (Romans 14:12).

If I could go back earlier in life, I would have guarded my character more carefully in certain areas. Sometimes I watched successful people cut corners and assumed it was acceptable. It isn’t. Success without character creates a dangerous future. 

4. Giftedness

Finally, there’s giftedness. Many people treat giftedness as the most important category — but without the other three, giftedness simply turns you into a talented person running on a hamster wheel.

You discover your gifts through:

• spiritual gift inventories
• personality assessments
• feedback from others
• trying different ministry opportunities

You also develop your gifts through practice. Study people who share similar gifts. Watch how they lead, communicate, organize, or build. Pray about your gifts. Take risks. Step up to the plate.

One lesson I learned over time is this: Other people’s opinions about your gifts can be helpful, but they aren’t always correct. Some mentors once told me they didn’t see certain gifts in me. They meant well, but they were evaluating me through their own leadership paradigm.

God develops gifts in ways people don’t always expect. So stay teachable, but stay faithful. Keep returning to your gifts. Keep developing them.

And when you don’t yet have opportunities in the areas you want, develop the opportunities you do have.

Conclusion

Leadership potential doesn’t develop automatically; it develops intentionally. If you keep nurturing your dreams, growing in wisdom, strengthening your character, and practicing your gifts, God will shape you into the leader He designed you to become. The leaders who make the greatest impact aren’t the ones who arrive quickly; they’re the ones who keep growing faithfully over time (Philippians 1:6).

Want More Leadership Insight?

If this idea of growing as a leader resonates with you, we dive deeper into it in this week’s Bible Leadership Podcast episode. In that conversation, I walk through John Maxwell’s Five Levels of Leadership and how understanding these levels can help you grow your influence and develop leaders who multiply the mission. If you want a practical framework for evaluating where you are as a leader—and how to move forward—take a few minutes and listen to the episode.