Hungry, Humble, Smart, and Honest
A while back I had to take an emergency trip that meant missing a Sunday. Everyone had to pivot. Other people stepped up to lead, and the weekend came together, but one thing stays with me.
My admin came in without being asked. She printed step-by-step guides for the people taking over in my absence. Then she reloaded our projection system with a version of the service designed to be led by someone other than the pastor.
Nobody asked her to do any of that. It wasn’t in her job description. She saw what the moment needed and moved toward it.
I just finished Patrick Lencioni’s The Ideal Team Player, and it gave me words for something I’ve been living inside of for years. Lencioni says the ideal team player is humble, hungry, and smart. I’d add a fourth. But first, the three.
Hungry: the one I never had a name for
What my admin did that Sunday was hunger on full display.
Doing the job and being hungry are two completely different things. You can do the job, and do it well, and still never do a single thing that wasn’t required. A hungry person goes the next mile. They do what nobody asked and what nobody would notice if it didn’t get done.
Sometimes it’s as simple as showing up a little early because you know the building needs to be ready before the group arrives, or running the errand someone else could do but doesn’t have time for. Sometimes it’s as big as what she did that Sunday.
Hunger isn’t only about productivity, either. It’s about heart. Can the people around you see that you’re driven to get this done, or to be with these people, or to hold up the culture around you? You can’t fake that. People feel it.
If I had to pick the trait that separates a good volunteer or employee from one you’d build a team around, this is it. You can train a skill. You can’t easily put hunger into someone who doesn’t have it.
Humble: whose empire are you building?
Lencioni’s version of humility is about not needing the credit. Mine is a question: whose empire are you building?
One of my goals in life is to make people forget me. I don’t need anyone to remember who I am or what I did. I want to fade into the background so the organization can thrive. In my case, the thing I want to thrive is the name of Jesus.
That’s a strange thing to want in a culture that rewards visibility. But it’s freeing. When it isn’t about me, I can celebrate someone else’s win without it costing me anything. I can hear correction without defending myself, and I can hand off a ministry I built without grieving.
Smart: know your lane better than anyone
Lencioni means people smart: knowing how your words and actions land on others. I’d add a second layer, which is being smart about your craft.
Being smart doesn’t mean knowing everything. It means being a student of your lane and knowing it better than anyone else in the room.
When I sold cars, I came in early to learn the inventory. I watched videos on every model’s features and on what made the car I was selling stand out from the competition. Nobody required it. It was hunger and smarts working together, and it showed in how I talked to people. I wasn’t guessing, I knew. Because when you are smart you know what you’re talking about and are able to listen to the person in front of you so you can tell them in a way they understand. This is why I didn’t try to see the family of six a two-seater convertible.
The same applies to a children’s ministry leader, a youth volunteer, a worship team member, or an office administrator. Know your lane, keep learning, and make everyone else’s job easier because of it.
Honest: the one I won’t compromise on
This is the fourth trait I’d add, and the one that grates on me most when it’s missing.
If you can’t tell me the truth about small things, how can I ever trust you with big things?
It’s how I raised my kids. If you lie to me about brushing your teeth, how will I trust you with my car one day? Honesty is the foundation of character, and it doesn’t flex. That includes the little white lies we tell ourselves are harmless. We call them minor and feel innocent doing them, but each one erodes the foundation a little. A person who bends the truth in small things will eventually bend it in big ones. You can’t build a team, a family, or a church on that.
Honesty also means saying the true thing when it’s embarrassing, or when we suspect it isn’t what the other person wants to hear. It means “I missed that, and here’s why,” or “I don’t think this is working,” or “I should have said something in that meeting” are better than making something up that isn’t true.
Honest teams aren’t harsh teams. The truth works best when it comes from humility and people smarts, so it helps instead of wounding. But the other three without honesty give you a team that’s warm and productive and quietly lying to each other. A lack of honesty will get you removed from my team faster than just about anything else.
What happens when one is missing
Most of us have worked with people who have two or three of these but not the fourth. Lencioni names the patterns: the humble person who never takes initiative, the driven one who leaves wreckage, the charming one who produces little. I’d add the one who has everything but the truth.
A few things I try to remember:
- Missing one isn’t the same as being a bad person. Often it’s a blind spot nobody has named. Naming it kindly is the gift.
- Some can be grown, some can’t, at least not by you. Skill and knowledge are teachable. Hunger and honesty are mostly heart. Be honest with yourself about which you’re dealing with.
- Start with yourself. I wasn’t only evaluating other people as I read. I was asking where I’m hungry but not humble enough, where I’m coasting, and where I’ve stayed quiet because the truth was awkward.
How to apply this
On your team, staff or volunteer:
- Name the four traits out loud. Vague words like “team player” can’t be coached. These four can.
- Notice and affirm hunger. When someone does the unrequested thing, tell them you saw it. It reinforces the culture you want.
- Model humility. Give credit publicly. Take blame publicly.
- Make honesty safe. The first time someone tells you something hard, how you respond decides whether anyone ever does it again.
- Invest in people’s craft. Give them time, books, and training so they can be smart in their lane.
For yourself:
- Where did I go beyond the job this week?
- Whose empire am I building?
- Do I know my lane well enough that people trust me with it?
- Is there a true thing I’ve been avoiding saying?
The Reality
That Sunday I was away, and the church did just fine. It wasn’t because of anything I did. It was because of the people who were hungry enough to see the gap, humble enough not to wait for credit, smart enough to know what to do, and honest enough to say what was needed.
That’s the team I want to build, and the kind of person I want to be. In church or at the office, a team made of people who are hungry, humble, smart, and honest gets a lot done and holds together while it does.
If I did my job right, nobody needed me that day. That’s the goal.