Leadership

LDS Quotes on Leadership

“I am more afraid that this people have so much confidence in their leaders that they will not inquire for themselves of God whether they are led by him. I am fearful that they settle down in a state of blind self-security, trusting their eternal destiny in the hands of their leaders with a reckless confidence that in itself would thwart the purposes of God…Let every man and woman know, by the whispering of the Spirit of God to themselves, whether their leaders are walking in the path the Lord dictates, or not.”

Brigham Young

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“Effective teaching is the very essence of leadership in the church. Eternal life will come only as men and women are taught with such effectiveness that they change and discipline their lives. They cannot be coerced into righteousness or into heaven. They must be led, and that means teaching.”

Gordon B. Hinckley  |  "How to Be a Teacher When Your Role as a Leader Requires You to Teach"

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“If you want to get the spirit of your office and calling as a new president of a quorum, a new high [councilor], a new bishop [or, I might say, a Relief Society president]—try fasting for a period. I don’t mean just missing one meal, then eating twice as much the next meal. I mean really fasting, and praying during that period. It will do more to give you the real spirit of your office and calling and permit the Spirit to operate through you than anything I know.”

Ezra Taft Benson  |  The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson (1988), 331–32.

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“Don’t tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results.”

George Patton

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We talk of independence. No man is independent. We are all interdependent; and we shall only rise as we carry others with us, and as we are assisted by others.

James E. Talmage  |  A Beginner's Guide To Talmage

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Mark well those who speak evil of the Lord’s anointed, for they speak from impure hearts. Only the “pure in heart” see the “God” or the divine in man and accept our leaders and accept them as prophets of the Living God. . . .

I want to bear you my testimony that the experience I have had has taught me that those who criticize the leaders of this Church are showing signs of a spiritual sickness which, unless curbed, will bring about eventually spiritual death. I want to bear my testimony as well that those who in public seek by their criticism to belittle our leaders or bring them into disrepute, will bring upon themselves more hurt than upon those whom they seek thus to malign. I have watched over the years, and I have read of the history of many of those who fell away from this Church, and I want to bear testimony that no apostate who ever left this Church ever prospered as an influence in his community thereafter.

Harold B. Lee  |  Conference Report, October 1947, p. 67

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“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

Maya Angelou

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“He who has never learned to obey cannot be a good commander.”

Aristotle

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Spencer W. Kimball Portrait

“Jesus said several times, ‘Come, follow me.’ His was a program of “do what I do,” rather than “do what I say.” His innate brilliance would have permitted him to put on a dazzling display, but that would have left his followers far behind. He walked and worked with those he was to serve. His was not a long-distance leadership. He was not afraid of close friendships; he was not afraid that proximity to him would disappoint his followers. The leaven of true leadership cannot lift others unless we are with and serve those to be led.”

Spencer W. Kimball

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“Our chief want is someone who will inspire us to be what we know we could be.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

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“At the end of a particularly tiring day toward the end of my first week as a General Authority, my briefcase was overloaded and my mind was preoccupied with the question “How can I possibly do this?” I left the office of the Seventy and entered the elevator of the Church Administration Building. As the elevator descended, my head was down and I stared blankly at the floor.

“The door opened and someone entered, but I didn’t look up. As the door closed, I heard someone ask, “What are you looking at down there?” I recognized that voice—it was President Thomas S. Monson.

“I quickly looked up and responded, “Oh, nothing.” (I’m sure that clever response inspired confidence in my abilities!)

“ But he had seen my subdued countenance and my heavy briefcase. He smiled and lovingly suggested, while pointing heavenward, “It is better to look up!” As we traveled down one more level, he cheerfully explained that he was on his way to the temple. When he bid me farewell, his parting glance spoke again to my heart, “Now, remember, it is better to look up.”

Carl B. Cook  |  "It Is Better to Look Up," Conference October 2011

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“I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions.”

Stephen R. Covey

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Spencer W. Kimball Portrait

“If you were to select just two or three individuals in your life who have been most influential, what specifically did they do that was most helpful to you at a critical or important time in your life? On reflecting for a few moments, you are apt to conclude that such a person really cared for you, that he or she taught you something you needed to know. Reflect now upon your own performance.”

Spencer W. Kimball

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“There is an urgent need for leaders of the Church at all levels to spiritualize their leadership more so that our overarching purposes are not lost in the mechanics of meetings, organizations.”

Harold B. Lee

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Richard G. Scott Portrait

“No one intends to make serious mistakes. They come when you compromise your standards to be more accepted by others. You be the strong one. You be the leader. Choose good friends and resist peer pressure together.”

Richard G. Scott  |  “Making the Right Choices,” General Conference, October 1994

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“It is a curious thing, Harry, but perhaps those who are best suited to power are those who have never sought it. Those who, like you, have leadership thrust upon them, and take up the mantle because they must, and find to their own surprise that they wear it well.”

J.K. Rowling  |  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

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Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf

“You don’t need an invitation before you start moving in the direction of your righteous goals. You don’t need to wait for permission to become the person you were designed to be. You don’t need to wait to be invited to serve in the Church.

“We can sometimes waste years of our lives waiting to be chosen (see D&C 121:34–36). But that is a false premise. You are already chosen!”

Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf  |  The Best Time to Plant a Tree

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“You were born to lead as mothers and fathers because nowhere is righteous leadership more crucial than in the family. You were born to lead as priesthood and auxiliary leaders, as heads of communities, companies, and even nations. You were born to lead as men and women willing ‘to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places’ because that’s what a true leader does.”

Sheri Dew  |  No Doubt About It

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Work, chained to its outcome, is misery. Do what you can, do it better than you’re able, and let things happen as they may. The action, not its fruit, is your business. The outcome is not your concern. If God is going to show himself to you in the work that you shoulder, he will only do so if you’ve stopped craving an approving audience and, instead, work out your own salvation.

Adam S. Miller

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“If you would convince a man that he does wrong, do right. But do not care to convince him. Men will believe what they see. Let them see.”

Henry David Thoreau

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“It has always been hard to recognize in fallible human beings the authorized servants of God. Paul must have seemed an ordinary man to many. Joseph Smith’s cheerful disposition was seen by some as not fitting their expectations for a prophet of God. “Satan will always work on the Saints of God to undermine their faith in priesthood keys. One way he does it is to point out the humanity of those who hold them. He can in that way weaken our testimony and so cut us loose from the line of keys by which the Lord ties us to Him.”

Elder Henry B. Eyring  |  "Faith and Keys," Ensign, Nov. 2004

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“The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things. He is the one that gets the people to do the greatest things.”

Ronald Reagan

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“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”

John Quincy Adams

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“To handle yourself, use your head; to handle others, use your heart.”

Eleanor Roosevelt

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Spencer W. Kimball Portrait

“Fatherhood is leadership, the most important kind of leadership. It has always been so: it always will be so. Father, with the assistance and counsel and encouragement of your eternal companion, you preside in the home. It is not a matter of whether you are most worthy or best qualified, but it is a matter of law and appointment. You preside at the meal table, at family prayer. You preside at family home evening; and as guided by the Spirit of the Lord, you see that your children are taught correct principles. It is your place to give direction relating to all of family life. You give father’s blessings. You take an active part in establishing family rules and discipline. As a leader in your home you plan and sacrifice to achieve the blessing of a unified and happy family. To do all of this requires that you live a family-centered life.”

Spencer W. Kimball  |  “The Example of Abraham,” Ensign, June 1975, p. 3

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We sometimes forget the importance of relationships in our ongoing journey to Christ. We are not expected to find or walk the covenant path alone. We need love and support from parents, other family members, friends and leaders who are also walking the path.

Douglas D. Holmes  |  Deep In Our Heart - General Conference 2020

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“Reformation of the world begins with reformation of self. We cannot hope to influence others in the direction of moral virtue unless we live lives of virtue. The example of our virtuous living will carry a greater influence than will all the preaching, postulating, and theorizing in which we might indulge. We cannot expect to lift others unless we are standing on higher ground.”

Gordon B. Hinckley  |  Standing for Something: 10 Neglected Virtues That Will Heal Our Hearts and Homes

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“We cannot afford husbands and fathers who fail to provide spiritual leadership in the home. We cannot afford to have those who exercise the Holy Priesthood, after the Order of the Son of God, waste their strength in pornography or spend their lives in cyberspace.”

Elder D. Todd Christofferson  |  Conference October 2012

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“Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.”

Dwight D. Eisenhower

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“I am more afraid that this people have so much confidence in their leaders that they will not inquire for themselves of God whether they are led by him. I am fearful that they settle down in a state of blind self-security, trusting their eternal destiny in the hands of their leaders with a reckless confidence that in itself would thwart the purposes of God…Let every man and woman know, by the whispering of the Spirit of God to themselves, whether their leaders are walking in the path the Lord dictates, or not.”

Brigham Young  |  Brigham Young, (12 January 1862) Journal of Discourses 9:150

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“A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.”

Lao Tzu

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Neal A. Maxwell Headshot

“Long sufferers are really something because they think the errant and unrepentant are really something – something worth saving.”

Elder Neal A. Maxwell

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Joseph Smith Portrait

“A man filled with the love of God, is not content with blessing his family alone, but ranges through the whole world, anxious to bless the whole human race.”

Joseph Smith

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“He who lives only unto himself withers and dies, while he who forgets himself in the service of others grows and blossoms in this life and in eternity.”

Gordon B. Hinckley

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“If you do not magnify your callings, God will hold you responsible for those whom you might have saved had you done your duty.”

John Taylor

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Thomas S. Monson

“In the performance of our responsibilities, I have learned that when we heed a silent prompting and act upon it without delay, our Heavenly Father will guide our footsteps and bless our lives and the lives of others. I know of no experience more sweet or feelings more precious than to heed a prompting, only to discover that the Lord has answered another’s prayer through you.”

Thomas S. Monson  |  General Conference, October 5, 2002

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“Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.”

Martin Luther King, Jr.

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Spencer W. Kimball Portrait

“Any excuse, no matter how valid, always weakens character.”

Spencer W. Kimball

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“We humans have a lamentable tendency to spend more time theorizing reasons behind human suffering, than working to alleviate human suffering, and in imagining a heaven above, than creating a heaven in our homes and communities.”

Terryl and Fiona Givens  |  The God Who Weeps

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Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf

“To be effective Church leaders, we must learn this critical lesson: leadership in the Church is not so much about directing others as it is about our willingness to be directed by God.”

Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf

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A story is told of a woman who was upset that her son was eating too much candy. No matter how much she told him to stop, he continued to satisfy his sweet tooth. Totally frustrated, she decided to take her son to see a wise man whom he respected.

She approached him and said, “Sir, my son eats too much candy. Would you please tell him to stop eating it?”

He listened carefully then said to her son, “Go home and come back in two weeks.”

She took her son and went home, perplexed why he had not asked the boy to stop eating so much candy.

Two weeks later they returned. The wise man looked directly at the boy and said, “Boy, you should stop eating so much candy. It is not good for your health.”

The boy nodded and promised he would.

The boy’s mother asked, “Why didn’t you tell him that two weeks ago?”

The wise man smiled. “Two weeks ago I was still eating too much candy myself.”

This man lived with such integrity that he knew his advice would carry power only if he was following his own counsel.

Jorge M. Alvarado  |  After the Trial of Our Faith

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“While I was working for a large bank, I was invited to attend an executive program at the University of Michigan. During the program, Professor Kim Cameron taught the concept of positive leadership and its heliotropic effect. He explained: “This refers to the tendency in all living systems toward positive energy [light] and away from negative energy [darkness]. From single-cell organisms to complex human systems, everything alive has an inherent inclination toward the positive and away from the negative.”

Mark A. Bragg  |  "Brighter and Brighter until the Perfect Day"

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“You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand.”

Woodrow Wilson

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“These are the days in which a true leader wants to live. These are days when opportunities to change lives and even destinies are nearly endless. You are running the anchor leg of the relay because you were born to lead. You were born for glory.”

Sheri Dew  |  No Doubt About It

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“Christ wants to lift us to where He is. Do we desire to do the same for others?”

Ezra Taft Benson

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“Yours is a great responsibility in this day when the need for courageous leadership is so urgent. You can become those leaders. … Our [people] need to develop qualities of leadership. They need to learn the value of staying power—stick-to-it-iveness. They need to learn devotion to duty—the devotion to duty that keeps a good doctor on the job right around the clock in an emergency; the devotion to duty that leads a scientist or a teacher to persevere in a low-paying position in public service because that is where his maximum contribution can be made.” –

Ezra Taft Benson

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“The supreme quality for leadership is unquestionably integrity. Without it, no real success is possible, no matter whether it is on a section gang, a football field, in an army, or in an office.”

Dwight D. Eisenhower

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“I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the water to create many ripples.”

Mother Teresa

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“The story is told of a church official who returned from installing a new stake presidency. ‘Dad, do you Brethren feel confident when you call a man as the stake president that he is the Lord’s man?’ the official’s son asked upon his father’s return home. ‘No, not always,’ he replied. ‘But once we call him, he becomes the Lord’s man.'”

Terryl and Fiona Givens

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“Leadership is about taking responsibility, not making excuses.”

Mitt Romney

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