Skip to main content

Chapter 5 - Principle #4: Lead With Your Strengths

There are a plethora of books published on how to be a great leader.  Most of them are the musings of famous or successful people.  While I think it is important to read about the success of others to help you better define your leadership pattern, it can also lead you into a trap.  Often the leadership principles in these books are portrayed as the 3,5,7, or 10 things you need to do to be an effective leader.  However, that leader was effective because the (pick a number) leadership principles that they wrote about in their book are their leadership strengths.  Unfortunately, it is rare to find a book about leadership that is well-researched and documented that spells out exactly what will make you an effective leader.  Your leadership pattern is as individual as you are.  

Over the past several years a number of companies have embraced StrengthsFinder as an approach to evaluating employees. StrengthsFinder is a test and an the accompanying instructions that help an individual identify their top strengths.  This work was followed with the book “Strengths-Based Leadership.  The author of that book, Tom Rath, said the following. 

“If you spend your life trying to be good at everything, you will never be great at anything. While our society encourages us to be well-rounded, this approach inadvertently breeds mediocrity. Perhaps the greatest misconception of all is that of the well-rounded leader."  (Tom Rath, Strengths-Based Leadership.)

There has been other research into this idea of leading with your strengths, but it comes down to a simple doctrine that we sometimes miss.  We are not all blessed with the same talents and gifts.  D&C 46:11-12 says.  

 11 For all have not every gift given unto them; for there are many gifts, and to every man is given a gift by the Spirit of God.
 12 To some is given one, and to some is given another, that all may be profited thereby.


The gifts we are given are supposed to be used for the profit of others.  Yes, we should seek to obtain and develop the best gifts (D&C 46:8), but what do we do in the mean time?  We use the gifts, talents, abilities, and strengths we are given.  We don’t hide our gifts and talents, but we bring them forward as part of our leadership pattern.  When we use and develop our strengths we will be a far more effective leader that trying to mimic the leadership style of some famous person.   

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Marking Scriptures in Gospel Library

The other day as I was reading my scriptures and using a few of the available colors to do some highlights when I realized that I wasn't fully utilizing the entire pallet of colors. In the Gospel Library app there are 10 colors available.  Each of these colors can be used in the underline, highlight, or text color mode.  I asked extended family what they do and one of my niece's responded with this color code: Red- doctrine Orange- clarifications or explanations of doctrine Yellow- commandments and specific instructions Purple- promised blessings and how to attain them Grey- power phrases Blue- favorites Dark blue- ones with a deeper meaning (I always attach a note with a dark blue)  Pink- examples of Gods love/charity Brown-specific for our day Green - Not used This "Come, Follow Me" color code seems to be all over Pinterest.  I'm not sure where it came from, but it is based on the 12 colors in a small box of crayons. Here is a color coding ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Bajio, Cafe Rio, or Costa Vida?

It is time for the showdown.  Which one is best: Bajio, Cafe Rio, or Costa Vida?  Or is it (as was my opinion) that they are all exactly the same? I decided to do a taste test.  Six people participated.  Three were salad testers and three were burrito testers.  None of the people who participated have any food judging experience although a couple of them have competed in cooking contests and have a couple of first place finishes to their name.   Each couple went to a different restaurant and picked up a Sweet Pork Salad and an Steak Burrito to go.  We ordered each salad with black beans and their creamy green dressing (whatever they happened to call it).  The steak burritos were ordered enchilada style with black beans. Then we all met at a central location and judged each dish on the following: Value Score = Weight (oz)/Cost($) Overall Appeal (visual appeal, aroma, garnish) Recipe (Cooking, ingredient combination, too m...
14 comments
Read more

No, I am not a vegan

Why I'm not a vegan (or a vegetarian for that matter).  After my previous post about the Word of Wisdom , I felt I should write an additional post covering this topic.  First, the word "vegetarian" means nothing.  There are so many levels, tangents, and offshoots of vegetarianism that applying the label to yourself or anyone only causes confusion.   Some vegetarians eat dairy, some don't.  Some eat fish, some don't.  Some eat eggs, some don't.  Some are weekday vegetarians, and some only honor meatless Monday.  And the list goes on and on.  Labeling yourself as a vegetarian is simply a label that brings on a confusing discussion.  So, I don't use it.   I'm not a vegan either.  You see, vegans typically fall into three categories: - They are in it for their own good health - They are doing it to be kind to animals, promote animal rights, avoid animal cruelty, etc.  -...
3 comments
Read more