Leadership and LDS Women: Carpools and Conference Calls

Recently the Press has spent a good bit of time questioning whether LDS Women are given the same leadership rolls as men. Many focus on the influence of only a few visible positions as a measure of all women's experiences in the Church.

Many people miss the equality of opportunity given to women in the organizations of the Mormon Church. I want to stand up and be counted. My husband and I jointly share the Presidency of a Brigham Young University Alumni Society for people who have shown a desire and skill to lead. No, BYU isn't the Mormon Church, but it runs on the same principles.

 In my normal life I am a housewife and a mother. I teach part-time. When my kids were younger I did the carpool thing like so many other women. But when I go to BYU, I am an executive. I help organize meetings that involve well-known leaders in government and in the church. through my duties I have met with many of the same men who are addressing the general membership of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints during LDS General Conference. I have had the blessing of meeting with Apostles and Seventies and I can say that I have never felt that they looked down on my leadership responsibilities or capabilities. My husband and I are actually in positions of leadership over two Apostles. I have very different responsibilities from them, but my net of service takes their needs and interests into account. Within the bounds of the Society that I help to lead, I, as a woman, have authority over them.

I acknowledge that women can experience oppression. Women can be marginalized, but it isn't through the leadership of a truly Christ like man. Real men, real leaders and real followers of Christ know that sometimes it is a woman' s place to be at the head of an organization and they respect and honor these women as they serve and as they receive personal revelation for their stewardship.

Women and leadership in the LDS Church means I give prayers at meetings full of high powered men. My contributions are heard and my experiences are honored. I am also lucky to have had other bright, determine and talented women as my role models. All of them active and satisfied leaders of their families, communities, employers and the world.

Some days I wish I had fewer leadership opportunities! I could have more time to feel bored and dissatisfied with my life. For now, I will just have to accept my loss of free time with family and the extra time and expense and sleepless nights and worries about budgets and conference calls. Lack of Leadership responsibilities for LDS women? Some days, I sure wish that were my problem!

Learning our Duties as Leaders

Why add one more thing to our schedule?  Why gather together?

The idea of having a society for alumni who are leaders among their peers, seems like one more thing to add to your already overfilled lives.  We could have a great dinner anywhere, why sacrifice to gather to the BYU campus?  The answer is not the dinner, the answer is we get to learn from some of the most wise and inspired leaders on earth today.  Our reunion also allows us to fellowship with others who have served and in many cases, are still serving as leaders.  The following quote tells us why this is one of the most important things we can do: 

Elder Richard L. Evans

 In Doctrine and Covenants 107:99-100, the Lord counsels all to learn their (our?) duty.  These verses are directed to those serving in priesthood offices but the spirit of this counsel applies to all leaders.  Elder Richard L. Evans who was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, taught: "Our families, the church, the community, the nation, the kingdom of God are better served by the best-prepared people.  Preparation and knowledge, with faithfulness, are infinitely better than just faithfulness alone.  And those who drop out for trivial reasons, those who cease to learn, those who don't continue to try to increase their competence are, I believe, failing to do their full duty" (in Conference Report, Oct 1966, 55).

Each leadership role has unique duties.  We can learn these duties from handbooks, our leaders, others who have served in the office, training meetings, personal observation, seeking the Spirit, studying the scriptures and praying.

Calls to leadership positions give people the opportunity to learn and practice a variety of abilities, such as 'evaluating alternatives, scheduling, delegating, and motivating others.  However, all Church leaders are encouraged to focus principally on people, to feed the sheep in the Lord's flock, to know and love the members, to listen, and help with personal needs.
[President David O. McKay said,] 'It is the leader's duty... to teach the member to love-- not the leader or teacher, but the truth of the gospel'  [in Conference Report, Oct. 1968, 143-44].  To do this, leaders are frequently counseled to seek the spiritual gifts of discernment and wisdom (cf. Luke 12:12; D&C 84:85)'  (in Daniel H. Ludlow, ed., Encyclopedia of Mormonism,  5 vols. [1992], 2:818)". (Church Education System.  Principles of Leadership Teacher Manual: Religion 180R. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Salt Lake City. 2001. pg 28.)

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Creating Order from Chaos

I regularly read the Deseret News even though I live far from Utah.  I was fascinated with the clarity of understanding presented in Mr.Carroll's article on the leadership model that exists within the culture of  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Although the focus of his article  is business, we can gain a lot of appreciation about how we function within our own roles as leaders.  Many Latter-day Saints chose to be leaders because they see disorder in a situation, not because they want power over others.

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700172565/Globe-looks-at-Mormonism-as-a-business-model.html

Globe looks at Mormonism as a business model

Published: Sunday, Aug. 21, 2011 4:28 p.m. MDT

By Joseph Walker, Deseret News

52 comments

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Referring to Mormons as "the original organization men," Boston Globe columnist James Carroll looks at LDS history and doctrine today on the Globe's website and concludes that "outsiders attempting to understand the surprising arrival of the Latter-day Saints can do worse than to think of it as a business model — made perfectly, it turns out, for the 21st century. Made in America.
"The faith has found a way to make God and a genius for commerce work together," Carroll writes. "The reasons begin not in business but in theology."

Click to view

Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News

The LDS church office building May 30, 2008, in Salt Lake City.

He cites LDS belief that God did not create the world out of nothing, but "organized it out of chaos."

"The distinction between God as creator and God as organizer matters because the perennial religious call to imitate God made organizing a defining act of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," Carroll said. "The Book of Mormon organizes a vast and disjointed history. Joseph Smith, and his main successor Brigham Young, who led the exodus to Utah, were men of high religious charisma, yet each had a gift for practical leadership that enabled the organizing of an historic movement."
  This organization's philosophy, Carroll asserts, translated into an LDS penchant for success in business. By the late 20th century, he says, "Mormons were leaders in organizational development and other business-transforming fields."

The column also explores the organizational impact on the church of the its leadership structure, its early period of polygamy, its properties and holdings, the businesses of Mormon entrepreneurs like J. Willard Marriott and the continuing influence of church structure on tens of thousands of missionaries each year.
Through it all, Carroll says, the business ideal and the religious ideal reinforce one another.

The Value of Each Part

Quincy will be starting  at BYU this fall.  She is like so many other young and hopeful Freshmen.  Her last year of high school was full of parties, dances, tests and triumphs.  Life has been pretty good for this young woman and as a result, her prospects for a successful career as an undergraduate are very high.  She is sure to be an asset to her new ward and the college of her choice.

Quincy will also bring one more thing to her BYU experience that others might be lacking.  She will bring humility.  For the last several weeks, I have been following her adventures as she and her mother have volunteered in a leprosy colony in India. Their most recent blog included pictures of  those who are affected by this disease, and among them is a picture of Quincy gently holding hands with a woman who had most of her fingers deformed and missing as a result of this horrid disease.

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Quincy was in charge of bandage removal. 
This can be  a smelly and very shocking as
to how bad the wound has been since the
last bandage change.  She was very good at
taking on this job and was so good with these 

                elderly patients.  She has a tender spot for this age group                                

http://quincyandbrenda.blogspot.com/

One of our challenges as alumni, is to find ways of mentoring and supporting this new generation of BYU students.  How many of us came to the university with the vision that this girl will bring?.  Along with the memories of popularity will come vivid understandings of the parables of our Savior.  At 18, she has walked among those who have been the most needy and the most neglected; those with whom the God of this Earth walked during his mortal experience.

The prophet Joseph Smith taught about the importance of understanding  about leadership and lepers:

"The cause of God is one common cause, in which the Saints are alike all interested;  we are all members of the one common body, and all partake of the same spirit, and are baptized into one baptism and process alike the same glorious hope.  The advancement of the cause of God and the building up of Zion is as much one man's business as another's.  The only difference is, that one is called to fulfill one duty, and another another duty; 'but if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it, and if one member is honored all the rest rejoice with it, and the eye cannot say to the ear, I have no need of thee, nor the head to the foot, I have no need of thee;' party feelings, separate interests, exclusive designs should be lost sight of in the one common cause, in the interest of the whole." (Smith, Joseph Feilding. ed. The Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Deseret Book. 1976. pg 231)

Timely Words from Thomas S. Monson Part I

The following is from a piece created by Elder Thomas S. Monson entitled Personal Promises.

"May we ever remember that the mantle of leadership is not the cloak of comfort, but the robe of responsibility.

As we lead, let us be true shepherds.  Most of us in the western part of the United States and Canada can, on occasion, see sheepherders driving their flocks to summer pastures or returning from the mountains as winter approaches.  At times the sheepherder is slouched over the saddle, trailing his flock, with a host of anxious dogs yapping at the heels of the sheep and driving them onward in a determined course.  How different is this scene from one that I viewed in Munich, Germany, where a true shepherd, with staff in hand, walked in front of his flock.  The sheep recognized him as their leader, and indeed their shepherd, and followed him willingly where ever he would lead them.

When we, as leaders, set before others a proper example, they will follow us as sheep follow the true shepherd.  Should our assignment be with youth, perhaps a few suggestions would assist us.

First, may we consider the problems we face.  Second, may we listen to the pleas of youth.  And third, may we promise to be leaders worthy of emulation.  The problems facing youth today are more serious than in previous generations.  All about us we see a lowering of moral standards.  We see, accepted on every hand, the permissive society and all that goes with it.  Fractured families likewise contribute to the problems we must meet and solve.

As we note the deterioration in moral standards, we think back to the great classic The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, by Edward Gibbon.  He stated the reasons for the dissolution of the great political force that had held the civilized world together for more than five hundred years.  The principal reasons included:

1. Excessive spending by the central government.
2. Unwillingness of the young men to bear arms in defense of their country.
3. Overindulgence in luxury.
4. Widespread sexual immorality and easy divorce, which destroyed the integrity of family life.
5. Disregard for religion.

That was Rome, fourteen hundred years ago.  Does the picture seem to apply to us today?" (Thomas S. Monson. Be Your best Self. Deseret Book. 1979. pgs 144-5)

Why We Blog

Did you know that actively participating in a blog community is a great way to do missionary work?  Many people want to learn about the beliefs of Latter-day Saints, but might be afraid to ask questions of their LDS friends or may live in areas where there are few church members.

When we actively participate in a blog, or even create one of our own, we give people a way to search for insights on what it means to be a Mormon.  The Bee allows us to point to the strength and wisdom of our LDS leaders.  Our Prophets and General Officers have such a gold mine of ideas on how to improve the lives of others!  Many people throughout the world might be surprised that they can also learn to be a better leader, just by taking a few minutes each day reading about the ideas of men and women who are inspired by God.

Sharing the Gospel Online

“With so many social media resources and a multitude of more or less useful gadgets at our disposal, sharing the good news of the gospel is easier and the effects more far-reaching than ever before.”

—President Uchtdof  http://lds.org/church/share?lang=eng

What Do I Share?

Missionary work can be as simple as living the way a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is expected to live. Telling your friends you went to church on Sunday, for instance, lets them know you participate actively in the gospel. By your everyday actions, others can also know that Mormons neither smoke nor drink alcohol, coffee, or tea.
With a blog, you have an even greater opportunity to share your beliefs. Talk about your day-to-day life. Remember that some who read your blog may not understand traditional “Mormon jargon”; be careful to be clear in your writing. Share what you learn when you go to Church. Share your family home evening experiences. Share how the Lord has blessed you. Bear your testimony where appropriate and if you are prompted by the Spirit.

Where Can I Blog?  How Can I Read Blogs?

Choose the blog medium that works best for you. Here are some sites where you can start a blog and start sharing with others online:

• Blogger.com
• Wordpress.com
• Posterous.com - start a blog just by sending an e-mail!
• Tumblr.com
• Facebook.com

There also is technology you can use to be notified when there are new blog posts on the blogs you want to read and subscribe to. Google Reader is a great place to set up these notifications, or you can usually do this in your email software. Some blogs even let you subscribe by e-mail.

How Do I Promote My Blog?

Start by notifying your friends and family that you have a blog. You can do this by phone or e-mail. You may also want to show them ways they can subscribe to your blog.
You can create a Twitter or Facebook account and share your new blog posts there with people that subscribe to you. Providing an RSS link or e-mail subscription through a service like Feedburner.com also gives people a way to subscribe and continue reading your blog. Linking to other popular blogs from within your blog posts can also get the attention of those bloggers. Be respectful as you bring others into your conversation and you will gain the attention of many.
Participate in the conversation! Conversation is crucial towards the success of any blog. Get to know what others are saying on the topics you want to write about. Comment on other blogs. Link to other blogs when you talk about the topics their authors are discussing. Most important, use the Spirit as you contemplate ways you can use your blog to share the gospel.  

http://lds.org/church/share/sharing-via-blogs?lang=eng

Spencer W. Kimball's "Keys to Leadership"

President Kimball was very direct;  which may be one of the most important thing he teaches us about leadership.  Although he is probably speaking about his own leadership experiences in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I think these ideas will be important in any field of labor.

Keys To Leadership

1.  Be guided by the Spirit

2.  Prayerfully Call and Explain Duties

3.  Establish Goals

4.  Delegate

5.  Follow up

6.  Recognize the Work of Others

7.  Develop Warm Personal Relationships

8.  Encourage and Motivate

9.  Organize, Plan, Prepare

10. Develop Good Judgment 

11. Review

12. Be Loyal

( Dellas W. Lee.  Israel the Lord's Chosen People. Wordsworth Books. 2009. pg 137).

Kindess is not a weak word

  When we serve in leadership positions, whether inside of the church or outside, we may find that the challenges we face sometimes require us to grow and change ourselves. Recently, I was involved in a large project; it demanded a lot of time and resources. Some people became dissatisfied that their pet projects were to be set aside for a time.  One individual became offended and began to express anger that their project didn't receive the resources they felt were "owed" to them.  I found the statements and anger expressed to be self-serving and short sighted.  In response, I could feel anger building up in myself.

I knew that the project needed everyone's effort.  As a leader, I had a choice:  give in to my own anger and frustration as a way of manipulating  this individual or find a way of side-stepping contention and get everyone back on track with the larger, more demanding project.  I really wanted to do the first, after all this person was acting like a jerk!  Instead, I chose something better.  I decided to do as Alma taught in the Book of Mormon :

"Now, as I said concerning faith--that it was not a perfect knowledge-- even so it is with my words. . .

But behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if you can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for  a portion of my words. (Alma 32: 26-27).

The motto we have chosen to use for the BYU Former Student Officers Society comes from an address given by  President Gordon B. Hinckley.  Speaking at a Regional Conference of Priesthood Leadership in the Boston Massachusetts area on April 22, 1995, President Hinckley said, "Kindness, civility, decency, honesty, integrity, in our relationships--these are the qualities we need." (Gordon B. Hinckley, Discourses of President Gordon B. Hinckley Vol I: 1995-1999, Deseret Book. 2005. Pg 270.)

As I faced my co-worker, both of us by now offended and angry, I could hear these words from a Prophet of God ringing though my head, "Kindness, Civility, Decency, Honesty, Integrity."  I thought of Alma, and decided to try a faith experiment on the word.  The word I chose from among the group was kindness.

I took a deep breath, like you would jumping off a cliff, and then said, " I realize that you are being required to make sacrifices for this project, but all we are really asking for is a little kindness on your part."

In an instant, I was looking at a person with a very different countenance.  The anger was gone!  My own anger was replaced by respect.  My co-worker had  done just as Alma describes, "Therefore, blessed are they who humble themselves without being compelled to be humble; or rather, in other words, blessed is he who believeth in the word. . ." ( Alma 32:16)

No blind followers Part III

Good results come from training people to do their jobs.  Productive leaders need to understand how each  person or department contributes to the over all success of the program and  they find ways to empower workers to learn how to fulfill responsibilities.  Giving in to the temptation to do someone else's work for them, encourages our people to remain blind to their own obligations.  In our impatience to "get the job done right" or move the work along faster, we get short term rewards with long term consequences.

" 'We must be as coaches in a football game and not become the quarterbacks, to attempt to do directly what we have the responsibility to teach those under our charge to do.'  A dictatorship may be a shortcut to get immediate action, but the longer-lasting results come in painstaking and patient instruction and development by giving a man a responsibility and then letting him learn his duty and giving him the authority to act in his office and calling, according to his appointment.

"This is an objective of leadership which we sometimes fail to consider in our anxiety to promote certain programs. . .  The principle of stewardship is one in which we each have some clearly defined responsibility and a sameness of calling and concern for others, even as God holds us accountable to Him for our performance.  We may fail to let the principle of stewardship operate when we take over someone else's responsibility.  If we do, we not only prevent growth but we blur the lines of accountability.  The matter of our being willing to let another learn his duty involves our willingness to teach correct principles and then allow the individual enough room to apply and grow in his leadership.   (Lee, Harold B,. The Teachings of Harold B. Lee, Clyde J. Williams, Ed.,  Bookcraft, 1996. pg. 512)

Joseph Smith the Communicator

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)

Twelve Commandments for a Good Leader

Harold B. Lee was the 11th President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  The following quote reflects his immense wealth of leadership experience.

"Twelve Commandments for a Good Leader

First--Abounding faith in the importance of your work.
Second--Infinite tact in meeting trying situations.
Third--Unlimited patience in overcoming inertia in the community where you live.
Fourth--Endless good nature in the face of all trials.
Fifth--A saving sense of humor when nothing else will save the situation.
Sixth--A large vision of the work to be done. . .
Seventh--Ability to lose gracefully and rebound after every defeat. . .
Eighth--Unquenchable optimism in spite of all discouragements. . .
Ninth--Indomitable courage in standing for the right. . .
Tenth--A grim determination to see the work through to its completion. . .
Eleventh--A contagious enthusiasm that inspires local leadership. . .
Twelfth--Unreserved belief in the importance of the Church to the community and to the country."

(Williams, Clyde J., ed.,  The Teachings of Harold B. Lee,  1st ed. [1996]  503)

Knowing what we don't know Part II

For Joseph Smith, his statement of vision was literal, for most of us, however, our statement of vision is symbolic. The vision a leader shares with others, must identify a problem and offer insight into the reason for the problem.  Joseph's vision is central to the belief of faithful members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints because it allows us to feel that Joseph's problem is also ours.  He didn't know how to develop a good relationship with God (the problem) and how to overcome the specific things that enable the problem to continue (the additional information he previously didn't know--which also prevents us from solving our own challenges in developing a meaningful connection with our Heavenly Father and his son Jesus Christ.)

Whether it is re-branding a product with slumping sales or helping a child with slumping grades, our job is the same.  Ask the question, be willing to do some research into contributing issues, then present a positive means for changing those factors. Often, our understanding of a problem is good but we just need to find a more productive way of doing what we already know.  There are times, however, when finding an answer to our question requires us to change everything!  Are we willing to do that?  Are we willing to admit to ourselves that the vision we support about our product or ourselves is flawed?

Maybe the answer to our challenges can be found in much the same way as those of Joseph Smith:  "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." (James 1:5).

If we exercise faith and admit that we "don't know, what we don't know," then we have His sure promise that he will provide us with a means to "know what we don't know."  What we do with that knowledge is up to us!

Knowing what we don't know Part I

I don't mind working on puzzles.  I enjoy sorting the different pieces and finding relationships among them.  Sometimes, my favorite puzzles are made with words, not just cardboard.  While studying various materials to use with the students I teach, I came across a sentence that has kept my mind busy for some time:  "I don't know what I don't know, until I know what I don't know."  (The Red Road to Wellbriety , White Bison,  Colorado Springs, Co., 2002  pg.46).
 
 To be effective leaders, we need to have a plan or vision.  The puzzle in the sentence above is the same one we face when we are trying to create our own vision.  In the first clause of the sentence, the writer tells us that there is some type of problem facing us, the second clause tells us that we can't begin to solve that problem until we understand why we don't know how to solve the problem.  Lost?  Let's try looking at it through an example:

Joseph Smith was a 14 year old with a problem.  He wanted to please God, but didn't know how to go about it.  He knew that membership in a church could lead him to a better understanding about how to please God, but there were a lot of churches and a lot of doctrines to sort through.  Joseph understood he had a problem, and knew the only way to resolve the problem was to find out why it existed in the first place. In other words, he knew what he didn't know and he wanted to know why he didn't know it!

                                                                                               To be Continued

BYU Officers Bee

One of the purposes of the Brigham Young University Former Student Officers Society is to open up a dialog on important leadership issues that are of interest to our members and friends.  Let's face it, how do we accomplish that when we have members all over the world and we only meet with a small fraction of you each year during our Homecoming events?  This blog will be our humble attempt to get a meaningful dialog going.  Feel free to join in, maybe make a few waves, but always keep in mind that the purpose of this site is to develop a thoughtful, challenging and uplifting discussion on what it means to be a leader.  We are alumni of Brigham Young University and in no way do we speak for or in behalf of the University or its sponsor, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

So, lets get going!  The first question you might ask is, "What's with the name--Officers Bee?"

Answer:  The Bee represents industry.  A hive functions as a single unite, despite the amazing diversity in work assignment.  There is a strong, predictable structure in the function of the hive and every member depends on another to fulfill its shared goal of providing food, shelter and safety for the rising generation.  The way Bees communicate is amazing.  They don't waste time with endless memos, or unnecessary board meetings, they communicate by being of one mind.  They share a vision and that vision creates a link between the members of the hive.  I think that when we are doing a good job of leading, those around us often seem to "know" what is the right thing to do, because it "feels" right; it is something that is in harmony with the vision of our organizations.