Week 8

Loyalty and Leadership

This week were assigned to read a talk by President Kim B. Clark called

Leadership with a Small "L".

President Clark said “To you mothers and fathers and prospective mothers and fathers, the very most important thing you can do for your children is to love each other and support each other and help each other become everything Heavenly Father wants you to be.  You stand before God and your children as husband and wife, father and mother, equal partners in the sacred responsibility of creating an eternal family.

Lead by example.”

How true is this principle in family life but also in the business world?

A while ago I had a customer service job that you had to answer the phone as the calls came in. There were 4 girls in the office (it was a small company), there were some days the phone would ring three times and we would all look at each other and see who would pick it up. I was new and still afraid of running into problems with the callers so I would hesitate and not answer and let someone else take the call. As with customer service jobs there is a high turn over rate. I remember one girl coming in a few days after I was hired that would always be the first to answer the phone and just take charge. She didn’t know all the answers but she took charge and tried. Soon after I saw a difference in the office. I no longer saw anyone hesitate to answer the phones. With her example the office productivity changed in a good way. She led by example, and she is what I call a doer personality, she got things done.

Since thing I have tried to follow her example. I have seen what a difference it can make in an office environment when you are willing to go just a bit over the call of duty. Managers notice it and other employees as well, not to mention it can be contagious.

I try to live my life as an example. “Woody Allen said that 90% of life is “just showing up.” If so, the most important 10% of life is execution. Far too few people do either consistently. But if the ability to execute is so valuable, why is it so rare?”