M E R I D I A N     M A G A Z I N E

Leadership for Saints: A Practical Guide for Christlike Service
Meridian Will Serialize a Ground-breaking Book

On August 7, Meridian will begin serializing a ground-breaking new book called Leadership for Saints.

Written by Rodger Dean Duncan and Ed J. Pinegar, Leadership for Saints is aimed primarily at a church audience but also contains plenty of material to help parents, community volunteers and business people who serve in any kind of leadership capacity.

Subtitled “A Practical Guide for Christlike Service,” the book emphasizes the leadership model offered by the Savior and the living prophets.

Meridian interviewed the book’s co-authors.

Meridian: Why did you write a book on leadership?

Duncan: Leadership is at the heart of everything that goes on in our world today. Virtually every important news story is somehow connected to leadership in politics, religion, business, community service, education or family life. When something good happens, some form of leadership is somewhere in the story. When something bad happens, somewhere there was a lapse in leadership. The plan of salvation itself is about leadership. It’s about the Savior’s leadership through the ages, and it’s about the agency and personal leadership that each one of us must exert.

Pinegar:  There’s a crying need for leadership resource material. I had just given bishopric training in our stake and I thought it would be nice to buy them a book on leadership. I visited several bookstores and to my surprise nothing was there. The prophets consistently talk about the importance of effective leadership in the Church, in the home and in the community. A good resource was needed.

Meridian: What about Church handbooks?

Pinegar: Church handbooks are available only to a few people in a ward or stake. Besides, Church handbooks are relatively brief and they focus mostly on policies and procedures. Leadership for Saints is nearly 400 pages of ideas and practical guides on every ingredient of great leadership. It addresses the things that great leaders are, what they see and what they do. It covers planning and organizing. It explains ways to build unity. It talks about creating a climate of hope and energy. It discusses the many ways that good communication builds bridges between the hearts of people. It shows how to exert righteous influence, how to breathe life and vitality into meetings, how to be worthy of and use the spirit of discernment, and how to maintain a sense of personal balance. No other book on the market covers these leadership issues in such detail. 

Meridian: Did you follow any particular model in writing the book?

Duncan: Of course the primary model is the Savior. The scriptures are a treasure trove of the Savior’s example of righteous leadership. And the living prophets teach us both by precept and by example. As for modeling the book after any previous books, no. We’ve tried to make Leadership for Saints especially user-friendly. It’s printed in a two-column format. The smaller columns contain hundreds of quotes – mostly from Church general authorities – about leadership. The primary columns contain discussion of leadership principles and straightforward tips on how to put the principles into practical application.

Pinegar: Both Rodger and I have “been there.” We’ve both had the privilege of serving as bishop twice. We’ve both served as stake president. We’ve both been heavily involved in missionary programs. We’ve both served on general Church committees and worked closely with the brethren. We’ve been able to observe – close-up – men and women who are some of the most effective leaders in the history of the Church. They’ve been great mentors to us. We certainly don’t claim to be great leaders ourselves. In this case we’re just reporters.

Meridian: How do two people write a book? Don’t you get in each others’ way?

Duncan: It certainly helps that we’ve been friends for 35 years. Total trust, candor and mutual respect are critical for this kind of project. Then it helps to have a reasonable division of labor. Ed knows the scriptures better than anyone else in my circle of friends. He has great spiritual insights. He’s a gifted speaker. My orientation is writing and leadership coaching. In addition to my own church service, I know leadership from a professional perspective because that’s my focus as a consultant. I did most of the drafting, then Ed made suggestions on where to fill in the holes, where to strengthen a point, where to tie concepts together. Although the book’s style and rhetorical “voice” are mine, the spirit of it comes from both of us. This is a true collaboration. Neither of us could have produced this book alone.

Pinegar: People who serve often say things like “How can I …?” “What should I do if …?” “Do you have any ideas about …?” or “Do you have any information on …?”  We constantly asked ourselves questions like that, then produced a book that’s designed to provide some helpful answers.

Meridian: Did you feel any special “help” in writing this book?

Duncan: Only time will tell how this book will be received and the impact it will have. But I can say this with absolute certainty: Virtually every time I sat down at my computer keyboard I asked the Lord to give me clarity of thought. When I sought that help I was able to write things that I would never have thought of on my own. On those few occasions when I was in a hurry or too preoccupied to pray (boy, that’s a lame excuse, isn’t it?), the writing was much more laborious and my thinking was not as lucid. It seemed that the Lord definitely had an interest in this project. His influence was clear.

Meridian: Leadership for Saints has what is probably the best collection of endorsements of any other book published for the Latter-day Saint market. How did that come about?

Pinegar: We sent the manuscript to a number of people whose opinions we value and whom we know to be reliable critics. People like Truman Madsen, Hugh Nibley, Stephen Covey, Mary Ellen Smoot, Elaine Cannon and many others reviewed the book and gave it very generous endorsements. Our friend Ardeth Kapp, former general president of the Young Women, wrote the book’s foreword. We are humbled by this very positive response and know that it’s a tribute to the importance of the subject, not to us personally.

Meridian: Why are you making the book available for serialization?

Duncan: We want the book to bless as many lives as possible. Meridian is the leading Internet site for Latter-day Saints. Each month it reaches more than 110,000 people in about ten dozen countries. We want the book to be read, talked about, and used. Meridian is a wonderful gathering place for Christians who are interested in the principles and practices of righteous leadership.

For more information on this book, including how to order copies, click on http://www.ldsleadership.com/IntroM.htm

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