Discourse on Leadership

Trav’s Discourse on Leadership to his brother Mike in the 2006^th year since the coming of our Lord.

And now behold, I have somewhat to say concerning the topic of Leadership. As promised, I have put together a few random thoughts on this topic since it has been on my mind more and more. I have seen some development in you just through your letters and I hear these things that your President says, what I have always thought, and I thought it might be good to put a few suggestions down on paper. Read these as mere suggestions and glean from them what you find appropriate and useful. Keep in mind as you read too that I have no expectations of titles or positions or whatever some missionaries would consider a leader. No matter the position you are in with an accompanying title, you are a leader through influence, personality, and example. Even being a young missionary, having an older companion, or wherever you find yourself. As a missionary in this church, you are a leader of people. Your purpose is to lead those who do not have a firm understanding of the gospel of Christ unto salvation. And for this purpose I have compiled a few thoughts this week for your perusal.

“Missionary work is far greater than you and I. It is more than just baptisms and goals each month, these are but a means to an end. We are preparing people to be leaders in the worlds that will follow this one. This is God’s work. Our work is to help him get people into the Church. There is no other reason for being in the mission field.”

-Alvin R. Dyer

I will drop some quotes like this, use some examples from some of my favorite books, and maybe use a few personal examples in order to help me get my point across. However, this letter will only scrape the surface on the topic. I am but a mere pupil in the world of Leadership. I admire great leaders. I admire the ability they have to command respect and win the hearts of so many people such as our hero Captain Moroni. I love to study these leaders and see what makes them tick, see what makes them so successful in championing a cause such as the Title of Liberty. I will use examples from the lives of these to help carry a point. But like I was saying, I am by no means an authority on this subject matter, so don’t take the things I write as gospel even if I quote scripture or General Authorities. Just use what you want in your own life.

I started off already mentioning Captain Moroni with his cause he stood for in the Title of Liberty. Earlier, I told you I would use him in my little epistle here because it sounded like you would like to emulate him and I would love to see you pattern your life and leadership skills around his. So let’s dive right in to what I admire about Captain Moroni’s Leadership. When Moroni is writing his epistle to Ammoron, the leader of the Lamanite Armies, there is a lot to be studied there. I love that Moroni is a letter writer and that he writes with such great authority. As you know, I am a letter writer and so is Grandpa. I think Dad is too somewhat. That tells you he is passionate about his causes and intelligent. But what I want to focus on in one particular letter is right at the end when he closes his epistle to Ammoron and in Alma 54:14, after a powerful speech laid down on this letter, signs off saying “now I close my epistle. I am Moroni; I am a leader…” And what a leader he was. The first thing I like about Moroni is that he acknowledges he is a leader. He isn’t one to hide his talents. Good leaders will not “light their candle and put it under a bushel. But on a candlestick that it bringeth light unto all that are in the house.” Good leaders are like a city set on a hill. They cannot be hid. They glow in the darkness, they can be seen from a distance. They stand out and light up their environment. (Matthew 5:14-16) As a leader Mike, I see you letting your “light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your father which is in heaven”. I was impressed with a lot of the comments in your yearbooks that showed people knew who you were and where you stood spiritually. You set a good example to those members, non-members and less actives alike. Moroni’s light could not be hid. And he would not hide it. He knew his role and the responsibilities that would come because of his talents and accepted them with gusto and magnified his calling to the fullest. There was no question in Moroni’s mind that he was a leader. He knew his role, and he intended to fulfill it. He lined up in the right direction with his whole soul. He put is faith to work by action and by kneeling in prayer, and he wasn’t ashamed to do either publicly. That says a lot for what his position was in the army too. You have done this well with the friends you have chosen, the groups you involve yourself in. You have lined yourself in the right direction as well and have had a good life course laid out so far. Continue to do so throughout life. Line it up to follow that example of Moroni where if you were more like him, and everyone could be more like him, “the very powers of hell would [be] shaken forever; yeah the devil would never have power over [your heart].” We don’t need to spend much time developing more of his character. I will agree with you that he is the quintessential hero.

Let’s focus on how Moroni led. First, he set a standard and called it “Title of Liberty”. It included the things that matter most: “Our God and our freedom, our wives and our children.” Then he enlisted the help of God. He asked that the powers of heaven would rest upon him and his people as long as there remained a “band of Christians to possess the land”. (Alma 46:13)

No wonder men such as Helaman, Teancum, Lehi, and others rallied to the cause. A leader of Captain Moroni’s stature has a plan, makes a commitment, and then, with his total will and the help of God, marches forth into battle. It is also interesting that he had to clean house among the Nephites before he moved against the Lamanites. A leader knows that unity in a cause is essential (I’ll discuss more on this later). Internal rot and disease must be removed before an army moves forth to do battle with the enemy. I am certain that Moroni did not really know how great he was. I doubt that he ever studied a leadership principle from a popular book or fancy seminar. There simply came a great need, and Moroni, in his confidence, stepped forward and allowed the Lord to use him. I love this about Moroni. He really was called upon in this situation. He did not aspire or move up ranks or use political gainsmanship to get to where he got. He had a talent, he was endowed with gifts from God, and when called upon to use the gifts he was given, he made himself available. President Harold B. Lee suggested that only as we make ourselves totally available can we become worthy disciples of Christ. Interestingly, lack of self-confidence or feelings of unworthiness do not conflict with this thought. Moses and Enoch both were “slow of speech” and wondered why they were called to such a calling. We may feel inadequate with some of the things we are called to do, but when there is a job to do, someone needs to step forward and do it. A righteous leader who makes himself available will accomplish great and noble things. In fact, I believe that all who make themselves available and have willing hearts will be called to lead. It is part of the gospel plan (D&C 4:3).

Another attribute of Moroni is that a good leader will not expect others to do what he would not do himself. The reverse is true. That leader expects more from himself than anyone else and generally does not look back to see who follows. He is THE example for the entire group he leads. In Moroni’s case and in any great leader’s case, example means everything we do. In this the leader has to be constant. He cannot be one level of character on the battlefield as it were, and another level when he is alone. I’m sure Moroni was that example on and off the battlefield. I don’t think he talked behind the backs of his generals or cast blame for a lost battle. Don Shula who is the only coach in NFL history to take his team undefeated all season said, “The superior man blames himself. The inferior man blames others.” I’m sure Moroni didn’t even talk smack of the enemy, he didn’t delight in the shedding of blood and would do anything to avoid it. He repeatedly urged his people to make covenants of peace and to preserve them by faith and prayer. He refused to talk about the enemy and said they were always their brethren who were simply misled by the traditions of their fathers. That is a great example of a leader. Even when he was criticized or hated, he is still able to see the value of the person behind the attitude and not want to “shed their blood”.

One of the great things about this church is the way the Lord prepares the members of His church to be Leaders. Vaughn J. Featherstone said “The role of this Church is one of leadership. The role of the priesthood is one of leadership.” The set up of our scouting programs, the quorums we grow up through, Missions, the whole system of the church is a big, inspired succession plan. I love that about the church. I was given so many opportunities to lead my peers whether being Senior Patrol leader, Deacons Quorum President, etc. (there are too many to name here and I know you can name the same). But that is the great thing. How priceless is it to advance in ranks like this for that experience? I can’t think of a church that has the opportunities to lead and gain experience that will help you not only through your mission with it’s numerous leadership opportunities, but through life as you get into the work force. The business field is already flooded with successful Latter Day Saints and it will only increase exponentially as years go by. I can’t help but believe that the Lord has intended for this! Look at what the Perpetual Education Fund has done for so many LDS kids and where that will put them in the job market as a result. I actually wrote a lot more about the business world leadership model, but I am refrained because this will be written on my other plates which will come out of obscurity at a later date when it is more applicable. You have a long road to hoe until we get to the necessity for leadership skills in the business world.

Good leaders are shepherds, not sheepherders. I’ll explain the difference. Shepherds know their sheep’s individual voices, their personalities, their aspirations, strengths, and weaknesses. When a sheep strays, they care enough about each individual to leave the 99 and go after the one. Most importantly, they notice when one in 100 is gone or straying (John 10:14).

Sheep know their shepherd completely. Shepherds don’t need to build themselves up or play hero. It is enough that the sheep know the shepherd and trust him enough to follow him at the very sound of his voice (John 10:4). Notice that the shepherd goes before his flock and leads them. Sets the example, sets the pace, and his flock follows. That is the difference between shepherds and sheep herders. Sheep herders have to drive their sheep. Pushing, prodding, begging in order to get them to move or get things done. They have to push because they don’t know their sheep and the sheep don’t know the sheepherders. These leaders never really listened to their sheep and don’t really care about them. They care more for their wages. They are more like a hired hand. Working more from a “what’s in it for me” viewpoint. The wages they seek may be glory, honor, or the power and/or control a position bestows. Dad and I were actually talking about this yesterday after the Turkey Bowl. He had a missionary in his mission who’s dad was an AP, and all of his older brothers were AP’s on their missions. He made it clear to everyone in Dad’s mission that he was going to be AP. He never was. Dad said he must have been the dog in his family because he didn’t get the calling he aspired so hard for. The problem with his situation is that he obviously wanted it for the wrong reasons. If I were the Mission President and caught wind of some guy telling missionaries he was going to be AP because his dad and brothers were, and getting overly confident about it, I would never call him into that position. He is seeking his “wages” or honor that he feels would continue in the family by joining the ranks in his family as it were. He would be a total sheep herder because the missionaries in that mission would never trust him or follow him. These types may even aspire to a higher position or one of greater social standing for these reasons, because of these motives, rather than the genuine concern for the flock. Their voices ring hollow and are the voices of strangers. Not just sheep, but we as humans can hear sincerity, genuine concern, love. We can also hear insincerity, self promotion, selfishness, and phoniness (John 10:5). “True Leaders are inspiring because they are inspired, caught up in a higher purpose, devoid of personal ambition, idealistic and incorruptible.” (BYU Today, February 1984, pp. 19, 45) You think a sheep herder is going to stick around if a wolf comes around? He’s probably even going to throw a struggling sheep to the wolf to buy some extra time to get out of there. How often do we see that in poor leaders? But a true shepherd will defend his flock at the risk of his own safety. One more example of Moroni here; where, as a national hero, at the end of his service and he “yielded up the command of his armies” he could have had any office or honor. His motto was, “I seek not for power” and as to the rank he thought of himself only as one of the despised and outcast of Israel. Very interesting. But the fact that he was the epitome of a Hero and exemplar of a great Leader and his whole motto was “I seek not for Power”. You know he could have had the judgment seat at the very word. He could have ruled the people and done it worthily. But he had fulfilled his calling and responsibility that he was called to do. That to me is one of the BEST qualities of Moroni.

Good leaders must be HUMBLE enough to admit that they can’t perform all these leadership functions by themselves. They will need others to help them initiate and support ideas, make decisions, and carry out those decisions. Some people, I won’t call them leaders, but people in a leadership position, feel like they need to do everything or may feel inclined to make all the decisions and try to do all the tasks because they feel like they’d be forfeiting some of their power to others in the team. If others don’t have any responsibility or don’t feel like they can make a valuable contribution, they are not engaged and then who is this supposed leader leading at that point? There is a theory that Stephen Covey teaches called the Abundance Mentality. Most people are actually deeply scripted in what he calls the scarcity mentality. They see life as having only so much, as though there were only one pie out there. And if someone were to get a big piece of the pie, it would mean less for everybody else. People with a scarcity mentality have a very difficult time sharing recognition and credit, power or profit, even with those who help in the production. They also have a very hard time being genuinely happy for the successes of other people, sometimes members of their own family or close friends and associates. It’s almost as if something is being taken from them when someone else receives special recognition or windfall gain or has remarkable success or achievement. They want other people to be the way they want them to be. They often want to clone them, and they surround themselves with “yes people”, or people who won’t challenge them, people who are weaker than they are. It’s difficult for people with a scarcity mentality to be members of a complementary team. They look on differences as signs of insubordination and disloyalty. I don’t think Captain Moroni had an ounce of Scarcity Mentality. I think he valued the counsel of his Generals. I don’t see Helaman, Teancum, Lehi or the others being “yes men”. That would have been a dynamic and synergistic group that would have executed just about any plan they put their minds too. The Abundance Mentality, on the other hand, flows out of a deep inner sense of personal worth and security. It is the paradigm that there is plenty out there and enough to spare for everybody. It results in sharing of prestige, of recognition, of profits, of decision making. It opens possibilities, options, alternatives, and creativity. The Abundance Mentality takes the personal joy, satisfaction, and fulfillment of what a team can do together and creates a more cohesive team unity. It creates a public victory. A public victory does not mean victory over other people. It means success in effective interaction that brings mutually beneficial results to everyone involved. Public victory means working together, communicating together, making things happen together that even the same people couldn’t make happen by working independently. A character rich in integrity, maturity, and the Abundance Mentality has a genuineness that goes a long way with everyone they interact with. Good Leaders delight to see people who have more talent than they have. They see the outstanding traits in everyone, and they use men or women where they can accomplish the very most for the cause. Compliment other missionaries often. That goes against the Scarcity mentality when you give away kudos and compliments. But as you do so, the abundance mentality kicks in, people see you for a builder, they gravitate to you, they respect you as an observer of good qualities and want to show you more. Sometimes the feedback is more constructive. You don’t always have to give kudos, but if it’s critical, make sure it’s always constructive feedback. Tom Landry, one of the most successful NFL coaches said: "Coaching is making men do what they don't want, so they can become what they want to be." If someone is doing something ineffectively or just not doing well at all and you see what the weakness is, you have to give them suggestions that will get them to be where they need to be. The patient leader is more interested in developing and training souls than in getting the job done quicker or in some other way, or by someone else. President Harold B. Lee often focused attention on one word in the Lord’s admonition to “let every man learn his duty.” (D&C 107:9) What word do you think it was? It’s let. The Christ-like life requires constant seeking and growth. Mortality provides the opportunity to gain knowledge and improve our skills. Often, the best of us mess up but then fully realize it and want to change. A patient leader will understand that often the process is as important as the result. This is definitely true in the life of every missionary. At the close of their mission, the achievement of completing a mission brings great satisfaction; however, the great blessing is the growth that was achieved after two years of various spiritual and service experiences. It was the process that was valuable, not the goal achieved. I think this is why training missionaries was more rewarding to me than some leadership callings. Training is much more of a process than a typical leadership calling, but don’t skew the lines of training and leadership. I might not have grasped exactly what my training responsibility was to my district as a DL, or what training I should have done with my zone as a ZL. My whole job as a traveling AP was training, so I finally had that concept implemented while I served in that capacity. But I think I missed the boat in those previous callings.

Try to learn and know the talents and abilities of your group and play to their strengths. Know your own strengths and weaknesses. Play to your own strengths, delegate your weaknesses. This is how church programs are set up. Talents are utilized by wise leaders and the Director of this orchestra. The Lord knows what instrument belongs where, to maximize the best performance. The more spread out responsibilities are, the more personal growth is taking place with every individual. The more participation and spread out the responsibilities are, the more faith in others is necessary. A true leader gets things done through people, thus building the entire team and accomplishing the result that much quicker. This brings us to the inevitable action of evaluating these individuals. Studies have shown that one of the four most important things in getting things done is having a standard of accountability. This is as true in organizations as it is in the church. The Lord sets up His own standard of accountability. You are held accountable to your covenants each time you go to renew your temple recommend. You are held accountable each year in tithing settlement. You are held accountable each month when you report on how your home teaching went. You are especially held accountable on a mission when you report on your stewardship for your area and companionship. I know missionaries who resent the numbers they have to report on. They try to justify their feelings by saying it’s not about numbers, it should be about the quality or something like that. However, the Lord has set up this standard of accountability for wise purposes. I will not profess to understand it all, but one reason I know for sure is that people play differently when they are keeping score. When we play tennis and we’re just warming up or hitting around, it’s fun, low key, we’ll horse around, etc. But the minute we start keeping score, it’s down to business. We are more serious about making every shot count, getting every serve in, and every point matters, right? The Lord wants us to take our callings and responsibilities just as seriously. This is the super bowl of life down here. Failure is not an option. Leaders need to help their players understand the importance of every play, down, point, shot, hit, etc. Every individual plays their own position. The Lord has spread the responsibilities around based on our abilities. We all have a position to play, an assignment, a responsibility. Whether that’s a field captain or just a lineman playing a role for now. But we are all accountable for how we perform our unique responsibility. So how do we hold our “players” accountable? Some leaders will berate people based on a poor performance. Some will become cold or give them the silent treatment for a while. But every individual needs feedback to know how their performance is stacking up. Good leaders will let them know honestly and they will have them critique themselves. Notice the temple recommend is ultimately our own judgment of ourselves. We all truly know what we can work on to improve. No one needs to be told in order to know. Good leaders let their people judge themselves and offer to help wherever they can. Joseph Smith was asked at one point how he was able to effectively lead so many people and he said, “I teach them correct principles and they govern themselves.” What an ingenious leadership principle. This is the Lords’ way. Everyone has their free agency to choose what they will do, who they will follow, and how they will act. Not even the best leaders can have 100% success rate. As a District Leader I could not convince a missionary in my District who I was friends with to stay on his mission. He made up his mind that he was going home. That broke my heart. But we do all that we can do and let them “govern themselves”. People tend to be much harsher critics of them selves than anyone can be of them. So have honest conversations when holding people accountable for their stewardship. Then show an increase of love and support for what you can do to help them achieve their goals. Let’s not forget self evaluation. Holding yourself accountable for what you should be doing. The leader is the example always when they are in front of their “flock”. But what about when you are just tracting with your companion and the conversation gets casual? Do you say things about a particular Elder or Sister behind their back? What about a former companion? Let’s take it a step further, what if it’s your companion who is sharing his opinion on a certain missionary in your District? Engaging in this kind of talk threatens credibility and makes anyone who participates in it harder to trust. Leadership is not so much a matter of techniques and practices as it is fundamental character and integrity, humility and morality. In the description of Captain Moroni’s integrity and character leaves no doubt in my mind that he never engaged or supported the kind of talk I have referred to. Just to come back to the topic of quantity and quality when discussing accountability and stewardship, these reports are good tools not only so missionaries “play differently when keeping score” but also for planning, decision making, companionship pairing and that kind of thing. But it’s also effective in creating both mutual respect, and humility alike. Both of which can be HUGE motivators. I remember being a new Zone Leader in Connecticut. I came to the “slacker” zone of the mission. I was used to the fast paced work of the city. It took me a while to get my bearings up-state. My first DL/ZL meeting I stood with my companion and reported in turn with all of the other Zone Leaders, the numbers my Zone had accomplished. They were the lowest in the mission. I thought to myself, I guess I better get used to that. I’m in CT. now. But I heard President Howell praise the ZL’s that reported next for the vast improvement from last month’s numbers and I was determined that something was going to change. I only had my companion for that month and I got a new companion and hardly knew the area still, let alone the Zone. I shared my vision with my new companion. I threw away the tracting map and started a new one, we re-organized the Dusty area book looking at less actives, and I held my first Zone meeting. I shared my vision with the zone who was satisfied with mediocrity and committed each individual to a new level of accountability. We started some area blitzes in the slowest area to pick up the teaching pool there. I reported to each companionship the weekly numbers of all the companionships in the zone just to light up the scoreboard for all of us to see and increase all of our accountability. As numbers went up, the success went up. As the success went up, every companionship caught fire. Each month in DL/ZL leadership meetings, I stood, reported a higher set of numbers and got the praise from Pres. Howell. I had accomplished the goal. Check that, My zone and each individual missionary actually accomplished the goal. I just played to their strengths, praised their increases, held them accountable in front of their peers, and let them govern themselves. I was in that area and zone for 7 months. I took on my 3^rd companion there before I was transferred out to end my mission as A.P. The moral of the story is that it started as a goal to get from worst zone in the mission to a more respectable one. We actually were the highest baptizing zone in the mission for 2 months in a row my 5^th and 6^th months there. But from one goal to that next, we gradually caught the true spirit of what this was about. Sure the contests or the gimmicks may be some people’s methods to jumpstart a group. But eventually they lose their punch and you have to spread the vision of what needs to be accomplished. Each companionship soon learned as they were contacting more, teaching more, and then baptizing more, this was not just a bid to become more respectable. The scope of the initial vision in that first zone meeting grew and we all had testimonies that this was the Lords work. People’s salvation and quality of life rested on these contacts, lessons, and baptisms. The accountability went beyond the numbers. The accountability became Christ centered. As a Leader, share your vision, get their buy in, then let their own strengths, testimonies, faith, obedience, and motivation go into the Lord’s hand. Vaughn J. Featherstone, who was my area President on my mission and someone else that has great perspectives on leadership in the church, talks about when he was a new mission president in the San Antonio, TX mission. He got together with his missionaries and said, “We decided we would be a Spartan Mission – disciplined, obedient, frugal, spiritual, and willing to sacrifice. We wanted to be a mission that would be totally obedient and bring down the blessings from heaven to assist us in the work. A Quorum or class can have a cause – missionary work, welfare activities, activation of all quorum members, temple preparation, the bonds of brotherhood or sisterhood (unity), and dozens more. When we are involved in a united way, we achieve results we hardly dare dream.” Very well said. Great Leaders have to have the ability to unite everyone in their stewardship to a cause. A Leader must sometimes speak with fire in his words, words that set the spirits of other men and women on fire. There must be a cause worthy of enlisting all who dare, who only need a leader and a cause. Get out your Roget’s International Thesaurus and look under CAUSE. Huh? You say you don’t have that handy right now? That’s alright, because I will quote some of the words in there for you. Prime mover, movement, crusade, burning issue, campaign, call forth, evoke, determine, advance forward, march under the banner of, and fight the good fight. The thing to remember about a cause, because you will have plenty of causes you work for and toward throughout your life, is that the cause is never greater than when it is based on God’s eternal truths and principles. That is your cause now. The greatest cause there is!

Leadership is not about iron fist type of control. I love Vaughn J. Featherstone’s concept of loving leadership. I will use his words precisely here… “Gentleness is a word the Lord uses to describe a necessary trait for one who would use the priesthood. Usually we think of gentleness as a womanly trait. Gentleness is inoffensive, is kind, and has a softening way about it. Think of a gentle touch until you can almost feel it. In leadership, often a gentle touch creates discipleship whereas an iron hand creates rebellion. When we perform the ordinances of the priesthood, such as administering to the sick, giving blessings, ordaining or setting apart, baptizing, or preparing the sacrament, physical and spiritual gentleness is always called for. Meekness is equally necessary. Those who are meek are absolutely submissive to God. They are modest in their dress, speech, and service. The meek readily take on the servant-leader role. Righteousness and wisdom may come from any source, even from the lowliest among those whom they lead, and the meek acknowledge and accept it. Meekness causes us to focus on principles, that is, what is right and not who is most influential. The meek feel no need to receive credit; rather they desire to give it to those who may need it. Love unfeigned suggests genuineness. There is no deceit, ploy, self-serving, spurious attitude in the person whose love is unfeigned. This is the type of love leaders must have. Those who exercise unfeigned love are authentic, genuine, natural, sincere, and honest. They do not flatter, nor do they distort.” Blanton Collier another NFL head coach who brought Don Shula up into the spotlight from being his assistant coach, said: "You can accomplish anything you want as long as you don't care who gets the credit for it." That is a great quote. It ties all of these threads together of the difference between a shepherd and a sheepherder, where a sheepherder is going to take whatever credit he can for his wages. The abundance mentality where you are giving credit and building your team, and having love unfeigned as Elder Featherstone talks about, not being self-serving.

Vaughn J. talks about a concept called Servant Leadership. It is based on a profound respect for EVERYONE. It requires leadership traits that do not demean, debase, or otherwise cause those we lead to feel inferior. Servant leadership lifts, blesses, and changes lives in a positive way. These are the traits that Servant-Leaders exercise in their roles, they:

• Understand the value of every human soul.
• Have an inborn or developed sense of caring for others.
• Rush to the aid of someone who is going through an embarrassing or humiliating experience.
• Treat all people on a basis of equality.
• Do not feel that tasks they expect others to do are too demeaning for themselves.
• Are not offended by disruptions of people who are themselves going through emotional traumas or stress.
• Expect more from themselves than they do from anyone else.
• Are quick to compliment, give credit, and build up those who perform a given task.
• Judge people by their potential, not necessarily by one single negative experience.
• Do not take credit for someone else’s achievements and love to share credit for any of their own accomplishments.
• Get the facts before finding fault or criticizing another person.
• Help all people feel they had a real part in the success of a project.
• Detest practical jokes or statements that focus humiliation or attention on one soul.
• Always constructively criticize in private and compliment in public.
• Are absolutely honest in their work.
• Are equally fair with all under their direction.
• Are always willing to listen to both sides of a quarrel, discussion, or issue. They know it is a pretty thin pancake that has only one side.
• Set an example in controlling costs and are conservative.
• Make themselves accessible to all, not just those with position or power.

Just when you think, wow, this is a great checklist to use and follow, he says, “True Servant-Leaders do not need a checklist of these character traits, for they live them daily.” So get to know all of these, remember them, set goals to make these points habits in your daily routine. Servant-leaders are leaders because they are servants first of all. Servant-leaders might not be properly recognized by those of greater influence and might even be ridiculed as was Jesus for healing the palsied man. Nevertheless, the people always know who the real leaders are. Ending his concept of Servant-Leaders, V.J. (I’m tight with him like that, I can call him these little nicknames since not only did I rub shoulders with him, I physically rubbed his shoulders and he rubbed mine in a little exercise he had us do of rubbing our neighbors shoulders. Since I was sitting on the stand with him as I conducted the meeting he presided, we were each other’s shoulder rubbing buddies. You might have wondered why I was quoting so much of him in this) talks about the legend of Procrustes. The legend referred to a “bed of Procrustes”. It was six feet long. Those who were not six feet tall were stretched to fit the bed. Those who were over six feet had the excess inches lopped off. Everyone was expected to fit the Procrustean bed. That is fortunately not the way of the Lord or His kingdom. He has always called uncommon men and women with great integrity, ambition, discipline, and faith in Christ. Not all will fit in the same size bed, nor will all fit into the same callings. Everyone will not, and should not, be the pinnacle leader at the ward, stake, or general church level, but everyone can make his or her maximum contributions as a servant-leader in a particular calling and circumstance. And that is all the Savior expects of us, our very best, wherever we are. There is a quote by John Wesley that goes along with that.

Do all the good you can,

By all the means you can,

In all the ways you can

In all the places you can,

At all the times you can,

To all the people you can

As long as you can.

You have many blessings promised if you do exactly that. In Mark 10:29-30, the Savior says, “There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel’s, but he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.”

While I’m dropping poems now, I’ll throw in a good one from Vaughn J. himself. He is actually quite a poetic guy. He has written several poems. This one is called the Law of the Leader:

The law of the leader is irrefutably true;

He will accomplish what others dare not do.

Where do we find the qualities to lead?

The law of the leader says examine the deed.

For a leader will always comply with the law

Of committing himself with a resolute jaw.

He is fearless, and tireless; he’s faithful and true;

He works longer and harder than lesser men do.

He breaks not a commitment and always comes through,

A “go getter,’ do better, inspired and true.

His law is to succeed whatever his cost,

For life to him in the wide world would be lost

If he dared not lead out and aid other men

To take giant strides and be heroes again.

I’m going to move into one of my favorite aspects of Leadership. That is the self fulfilling prophecy. I am a huge believer in this principle and I have witnessed it first hand. I have also tapped into its power to build people up and help them realize their true potential. From my first lesson on it, I must have been in 4^th or 5^th grade. I don’t know if my teacher used the term “self fulfilling prophecy”, but she told us if you tell yourself enough times a day/week/month/year that you will get straight A’s, you eventually will. If you tell yourself or if someone else tells you enough times that you are ugly, you will eventually become ugly. Just as a couple of examples. I was introduced to a more hands on example at the U of U in my Sociology class. I had always believed that concept when I heard it first in grade school. But we watched a film (and maybe you have seen it) but it’s a class of 4^th graders or 3^rd or somewhere in that age group. Their teacher tried a social experiment on them to test more on racial stuff. But the concept is true for a number of situations. She told every one to separate by eye color. Everyone with blue or green eyes went to one half of the room and the kids with brown eyes went to the other half. She put an arm band on the kids with brown eyes and nothing on the other kids then had them all sit down. She told the class that everyone with an arm band would be called in early from recess but the other kids could stay out later because people with blue/green eyes are smarter. You saw a distinct change in the demeanor of all the kids. To make a long story short, she did this in every situation following and gave praise to the Blue/Green eyed kids and told them how much better they were than the brown eyed kids and kept telling the brown eyed kids they were dumb and kept removing privileges from them. She began testing the kids and even though they all had the same lessons, books, and teacher, it was amazing how much better the blue/green eyed kids tested. There wasn’t a single exception to the rule. One day she came in and told the brown eyed kids to take off their arm bands and said there was a terrible mistake. She said she just found out that the brown eyed people were actually smarter and said as a result, all blue/green eyed kids would need to come in early from recess to get more help with their school work and would need to wear the arm bands. She did all the same stuff and tested them again after the same length of time. Without a single exception, amazingly, the brown eyed kids blew the blue/green eyed kids grades away. Even though the teacher was doing this more for racial/political purposes, the self fulfilling prophecy was incredible. This is one of the most important differences between a good leader and a bad one. I’m sure you have seen managers, church leaders, teachers, etc. who will cut people down in public. They will tell the person they are a failure or maybe express their lack of faith in a person behind their back to someone else. As a result, other people begin to see this person as a failure and treat them as such, creating an environment where that person could never succeed. A good leader sees people more than just what they appear. They see their potential. It’s the classic Johnny Lingo. Johnny saw Mahonna as a 10 cow wife which shocked everyone, but after the self fulfilling prophecy came true, even her family felt jipped at only 10 cows. The good leader sees a person more like that artist guy on Saturday’s Warrior that draws a gloomy, depressed Jimmy as a happy, noble stud who knows his purpose. As a leader, try to understand why people criticize, offer excuses, or take escapes. They often feel like a failure or at a loss for how to accomplish their responsibility. Your responsibility as a leader is to understand, train, educate, inspire, and help them. If you criticize, find fault, label someone as incapable, or judge them as being a “loser” or a “slacker”, is a futile activity. You will be exercising your faith in God and in that person if you believe in them and their limitless potential as a child of God. Your DUTY is to learn the process of releasing that potential. It’s different for every person. Some people are harder than others to even see their potential. So how do you do that for each unique person you may be serving as their leader? You have to listen, truly listen, and empathize with them by looking at the world through their eyes. This involves accepting people as they are, appreciating their effort, and recognizing them on work done well. Much easier said than done, especially for me I will admit. I judge much too quickly and don’t accept people for who they are if they are much different from me, but this is a very important quality in a Good Leader. Encourage their right to be individuals and to feel and act differently. You will have all kinds, up and down the spectrum who may see the world totally different from how you do. Embrace that individuality and use it to the benefit of the whole group. I found that best way to do that is to learn how to involve those types of people in planning early on. If you just lay out your goals/vision to people who see things totally differently, then you have already lost them, and along with them go their strengths and knowledge they could bring to the table. Involve them early. Get their participation and ideas and they will be invested in your cause and committed to helping you succeed, because it isn’t just your cause anymore. If you have their buy in, their ideas on how to make something work, they are equally invested, it becomes their cause too and they have just as much vested interest in seeing the cause succeed. If you have a person on your team/District/Zone/etc. that receives only rejection, judgment, criticism, you only build barriers of defensiveness, fighting, and/or bad feelings. On the other hand, if you have an attitude of respect for that person, show faith in them and their ability, you are creating the successful type of self fulfilling prophecy. That will build and help them realize their true potential rather than the type that creates a downward spiral. As Goethe put it, “Treat people as they can and should be and they will become as they can and should be.” This principle works! It’s important for you to comprehend it and use it as a leader in the mission field. It’s vital to build on that ability even after your mission. Consider the usefulness I find in using it as a Dad of an impressionable 3 year old. Or the Big Brother of two sisters who are trying to figure out life and careers, and a younger brother who has limitless potential to be the greatest of Leaders. We have had these talks on several occasions. I think you have an idea of what your potential is. Your parents see it. Your mission President sees it already. I have a knack for sniffing out potential, finding future managers and grooming them into the future leaders of organizations. I do succession planning and manager training/grooming for a living. I have taken interns and turned them into corporate big shot managers around the country and in other parts of the world. I can say honestly Mike, without any hesitation or even bias because I’m your brother… you have more potential then everyone I’ve been acquainted with so far. In fact your potential, not just in future career and leadership positions, but also in church service that the Lord has in store for you is almost scary. I’m not just dropping psycho babble “self fulfilling prophecy” mumbo jumbo on you either. Call this straight up prophecy. The commitment you made your president in your last interview as more than just idle words. For you to say you were committing right then and there to be obedient and hard working demonstrated your drive, character and what kind of committed missionary you are. Always strive to find your true potential Mike and never sell yourself short. You know who you are, but you will go on to do things that will amaze even yourself. Stay humble! Acknowledge your weaknesses. Take them to the Lord, ask for him to strengthen you and then go and “strengthen your brethren”. Remember Dad’s red night cap he gave you and its story. Always be mindful of your language and actions. You are influential in so many ways. It is a big responsibility to be mindful of every action at your age. But that story is such a great reminder when you are in a position of leadership and even before.

You don’t have to be perfect. Sure we have been commanded “Be ye therefore perfect as your Father in Heaven is perfect”. However, we are human. Moses didn’t want to take on his responsibility he was called to. He thought he was inadequate. How did Joseph Smith feel when he was so young and faced with the responsibilities he would have. It’s mind boggling thinking about these two leaders alone. Neither of them a perfect man. Yet look at what the Lord did with them. Two of the greatest Leaders this world and all of God’s children will ever know. Pray and ask Heavenly Father to help you unleash your potential. He will do it in His time. But let Him know of your availability and willingness to serve when you feel you are prepared to take on more. That may vary with you too. You have a time frame and the Lord has a time frame and sometimes they may not be in sync. But prepare yourself and then let Him know of your desires. “if ye have desires to serve god, ye are called to the work” (D&C 4:3). My heart is full with regards to this subject, especially when talking to you about it. I could go on and on. These are actually my abridged plates. But when you are prepared, you will receive a fullness of these writings. Back to my disclaimer, that I in no way profess to be an expert on Leadership or claim to know the least bit on the subject. Do not take me to be any kind of scholar or example of a true leader. Instead, look to the examples I have referenced as they are true leaders of God. Take from these examples as much as you can. Study their lives and teachings. The great thing about Leadership is it can always be improved. You can always be a better leader no matter how good you are. These leaders I have discussed are my absolute heroes and I think yours too. They all have been qualified and directed by the Ultimate example and Leader… the Living Leader of this, His true church. Jesus Christ is that ultimate example and Leader that I will always look to and follow. Let us learn and know is voice. He knows my voice and he knows yours. I testify of that, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen!