Joseph Smith was a fabulous communicator! Good leadership depends on the ability to get your ideas out to those who will help make them a reality. Truman Madsen, an expert on the life of Joseph Smith shares the following:
"[Joseph had] the ability to be simplicity-minded, and that's a gift. Not 'simpleminded,' but 'simplicity-minded,' having the ability to reduce elaborate ideas to a core center or essence. At the same time it is a gift to be able to see what other minds do not; to recognize implications, nuances, extensions of ideas that go beyond ordinary perception. Here again Joseph Smith was an original, for on the one hand in administrative and decision-making enterprises he went quickly to the heart of the matter with ingenuity and skill. But on the other hand, if required and asked to elaborate on a given doctrine or teaching he could do so and then would stretch the minds of all present. " (Madsen, Truman G. Joseph Smith the Prophet. Salt Lake City: Bookcraft 1989. pg 23)
It is very easy to develop the skill to communicate with people like ourselves, but a truly effective leader will not be satisfied with such a limited audience, no matter how well educated that audience may be! In his book, Madsen goes on to quote Brigham Young who acknowledged the broad range of Joseph's skill as a communicator of ideas:
" 'The excellency of the glory of the character of brother Joseph Smith was that he could reduce heavenly things to the understanding of the finite. When he preached to the people. . .he reduced his teachings to the capacity of every man, woman, and child, making them as plain as a well-defined pathway,' In that connection, speaking of Christ the Prophet said, ' If He comes to a little child, he will adapt himself to the language and capacity of a little child.' " ( Madsen, pg 89)
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