Loyalty & Leadership

This week I learned a lot about leadership and how crucial it is to have leaders who are loyal and honest. President Hinckley has taught and has challenged us to, "...run from the tide of sleaze that would overcome you. Flee the evils of the world. Be loyal to your better self. Be loyal to the best that is in you. Be faithful and true to the covenants that are associated with the priesthood of God. You cannot wallow about in lasciviousness, you cannot lie, you cannot cheat, you cannot take advantage of others in unrighteousness without denying that touch of divinity with which each of us came into this life." With this perspective, we know that we must be loyal in every aspect of our lives.

President Kim B. Clark, in his talk, "Leadership with a small "L"" taught many great things we should all heed when it comes to leadership. He taught, "... leadership with a small “L”—the kind of leadership that builds and lifts and inspires through kindness and love and unselfish devotion to the Lord and His work. It is the kind of leadership that we need at every level of every kind of organization in the world and in every ward and stake in the Church. It is the kind of leadership you will need to build an eternal family." I feel like there is much to be taken from this. He then gave three principles of how to accomplish this. First, lead by example. One of the most important things a leader does is what they do. The second principle is to lead with vision. President Clark said, "One of the most important things that leaders do is to help the people they lead understand the larger meaning and purpose of their daily work. " The last principle is to lead with love. Effective leaders learn to energize those they lead through love in action.

From the Standford video, "Aspects of Building Trust" I learned that trust others and they will trust you. In this video, Guy Kawasaki gives examples of trust found in businesses. He also talks about "bakers" and "eaters". The "bakers" are the ones who have the trust.

I really loved  the reading, "Message to Garcia," and was impressed by so many things it talked about. I was impressed when it said, "The world cries out for such: he is needed and needed badly, the man who can carry a message to Garcia.”" I hope to always remember this example. The article talked about the ability to execute being so valuable, and is actually more valuable than education or talent. It also talked about our world of underachievers, but we all have the choice to to develop attitudes, habits and instincts to be among those who succeed. They list 4 steps to take to develop these things. They are: accept the mission and get started, be curious, immediately sketch out a plan, if you need resources don't be afraid to ask, enlist help when needed, report back and show your work, underpromise and overdeliver, expect to make small mistakes, put results before schmoozing, and to replace the voices in your head with positive action. I also learned about having a
Vision, Strategies, Projects, Tactics (VSPT) framework.