Leadership
for Saints,
Part 5:
What Great Leaders Are
by
Rodger Dean Duncan and Ed J. Pinegar
Great leaders
are people of great character. Great character enables vision and
empathy. Great character makes possible personal revelation. Great
character results in credibility and moral authority. Character
affects everything a leader says and does. What a leader is radiates
to others.
By every word
and deed in your leadership role(s), you project an image. For you
to be effective, your image must be worthy of the confidence of
those you serve. As you become more Christlike, the light of the
Lord emanates through you because of His goodness.
In your quest
to become like Jesus and to lead like Jesus, you progress line upon
line and precept upon precept. You develop a Christlike character.
You will not be perfect in all things, but you can be perfect in
your overall approach to leadership. You can be perfectly consistent
in seeking correct principles. You can be perfectly consistent in
trying to be fair. You can be perfectly consistent in wanting to
do the right thing. After all, character is about seeking and trying
and wanting.
As people around
you sense your genuineness, their confidence in you will increase.
They will “give you slack” when you make mistakes because
they know you are seeking, trying and wanting great results in their
behalf. Character is not about perfect results every time. Character
is about constantly trying to do the right thing for the right reasons.
We love the
motto used by the elders and sisters in the Japan Fukuoka Mission:
• OBEDIENCE
is the price
• FAITH is the power
• LOVE is the motive
• THE SPIRIT is the key
• CHRIST is the reason
Of course this
applies not only to missionary endeavors, but to every other kind
of leadership in the Church. Let’s consider each part and
see how it applies to your leadership.
OBEDIENCE
is the price. To be a great leader, you must be a worthy vessel.
Great leaders are clean and guileless. They obey the commandments
and keep themselves free from the burden of sin and guilt. They
lead in righteousness. Great leaders also obey principles of healthy
human relationships. Violating such principles jeopardizes effective
leadership. Great leaders understand true principles of every kind,
and they gladly pay the price of Obedience because they have discovered
the “linkage” between obedience (to promptings and commandments)
and increased endowments of personal revelation.
FAITH
is the power. To be a great leader, you must be a person with faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. You must have rock solid faith in God,
our eternal Father, and in His Son Jesus Christ. You must have faith
in the promises of God. And you must have faith in yourself as a
child of God. To be a great leader, you must have a believer’s
heart. Great leaders perform with the assurance expressed by Nephi
who noted that the Lord gives us no task without enabling us to
accomplish it (see 1 Nephi 3:7 and 1 Nephi 17:3). Great leaders
are powered by Faith.
LOVE
is the motive. To be a great leader, you must exude love. You must
lead because you genuinely love the cause you champion and the people
you serve. You must work hard to build strong loyalty—not
loyalty to you, but loyalty to the Savior. After all, bringing people
to Christ is your primary purpose. Everything else is subordinate.
Nothing should be done for your ego or self promotion. Everything
should be done to glorify God and to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ
to the forefront in the lives of those you lead. Great leaders are
motivated by Love.
THE
SPIRIT is the key. Great leaders are able and willing to
be guided by the Spirit (see 1 Nephi 4:6). To provide the quality
of leadership your people want and expect from you, you must have
the Holy Ghost as your constant companion and guide. Although certain
skills are very important, great leadership is not a matter of “technique”
or “style.” Great leadership is primarily a function
of connection—our connection with the Lord first and foremost,
connection with correct principles, connection with a vision for
the future, (closing the gap between present performance and desired
future performance), and connection with the people we serve. All
of these require discernment, and discernment comes from the Spirit.
Great leaders seek and listen to and heed the promptings from the
Spirit.
CHRIST
is the reason. Great leaders focus on the Savior. They not only
believe in Jesus, they believe Jesus. He is the central purpose
of everything they plan and everything they do. In comparison, nothing
else matters. They understand this is His work not theirs. They
recognize that they are merely vessels for Him to accomplish His
purposes and designs among His children. After all the programs,
meetings and planning are finished, a great leader would determine
his success by observing whether the people under his stewardship
had drawn closer to the Lord. For great leaders, all roads must
lead to Jesus the Christ, who then leads us to the Father.
To be a great
leader, your integrity will be beyond reproach. Your word will be
your bond. Complete honesty will be your only policy. Righteousness
will be your native tongue. You will be true to yourself and true
to your God. There will be no duplicity in your life.
The cornerstone
character traits of great leaders are integrity and honesty. We
define integrity as “the integration of behavior and professed
values.” People of integrity are clear about what they stand
for and what they will not stand for. People of integrity say what
they mean and mean what they say. People of integrity adhere steadfastly
to high standards of morality and personal ethics. Honesty, a sibling
of integrity, involves being genuine and truthful.
As your character
is developed, it becomes the launch pad of your performance as a
leader. You willingly sacrifice for the greater good. Your ability
to teach and persuade increases. Your perception and power of discernment
are enhanced. Your goals are clear. Your preparation and planning
in the strength of the Lord are done with an eye single to His glory
and for the blessing of those you lead and serve. You are not concerned
with receiving credit or accolades. Your ego is never a factor in
your leadership.
Your success
will not be measured in programs, but in the lives of the people
you serve. As you realize your place as an instrument in the hands
of God, your enthusiasm will be unrelenting. Your heart will be
full of desire to bless and serve. Your conscience will be free
from sin and your example will be a standard for those who depend
on you. As a leader, you will go forward with dedication and steadfastness
in the pursuit of excellence in the things you do and the people
you serve.
As you ponder,
pray and meditate on becoming a servant leader, always remember
that your character should reflect the love and light of the Lord
Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father. Determine to be “. .
. even as He is” (see 3 Nephi 27:27).
Quotes
to Remember
We need strong leaders of good character in all places—leaders
who are examples of integrity, dependability, and righteousness.
– N. Eldon Tanner
Those whose hearts are pure do the right things for the right reasons.
Their motives are pure and unsullied by self-interest, ambition,
pride, or malice. – Alexander B. Morrison
There was to
be no deviation from the outlined plan for the redemption of mankind.
It is definite and specific in all of its requirements. Obedience
is the price of salvation. – Alma Sonne 4
First, the successful leader has faith. He recognizes that the greatest
force in this world today is the power of God as it works through
man. – Thomas S. Monson
Faith... worketh
by love. Love is the motive power underlying all things. The atonement,
righteous living, all good things grow out of love—the love
of God for his children and the love of his children for each other
and their Creator. – Bruce R. McConkie
Actuated by
that spirit, leaders will think more of men than of the success
of a system. – David O. McKay
Let us never
forget that we are disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our
Leader and Exemplar. – Stephen L Richards
… leadership
success is an appropriate combination of knowledge, attitude, skills
and habits made effective through the instrument of the personality
of the leader. – Sterling W. Sill
Note:
The excerpts of Leadership for Saints posted on Meridian
are only a fraction of the contents of this 349-page book. To learn
more about this ground-breaking book and to order copies, click
here.
© 2002
by Rodger Dean Duncan & Ed J. Pinegar
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