Leading LDS

There’s a new blog called Leading LDS that you can find at LeadingLDS.com. It’s similar to this blog in that the purpose is to help inspire, motivate, and correct wrong attitudes. Where this blog takes the approach of teaching correct doctrine and looking beyond the sunday-school answers, Leading LDS focuses on teaching correct leadership and moving beyond the easy “coasting through this calling” level of leadership in the church.

Conversation with Elder Bednar

One of the most recent posts is a video from the church’s HR department entitled “A Conversation on Leadership With Elder David A. Bednar.” Kurt, the author of the blog states that this video “is exactly what [his] site is about.” I’ve got to say, everyone should watch this video. So click one of the links, check out this awesome blog, and make sure you watch/listen to this fireside with Elder Bednar. I just can’t tell you how powerful and helpful it is for anyone who is, or ever will be in a leadership position, in—or outside—the church.

I don’t know how many people realize that Elder Bednar was a very well-respected teacher of business and organizational management. He wrote several books on the subject and is an expert on leadership in the business world. Among the things hit me the hardest, was when he said:

When we fail to give needed correction or counsel, it’s because we’re thinking of ourselves. We normally think ‘well I don’t want to hurt this person’s feelings.’ No, that’s really not true, you just want to be liked. And the reason I’m not going to tell you what needs to be said, is because I don’t want to be viewed negatively or fall into disfavor. It is far more loving to appropriately provide correction and counsel, than it is to duck the issue.

His personal experiences with the Bretheren, give rare personal, candid, insight to how the 1st Presidency and Quorum of 12 operate. Just watch it. Then leave a comment on Leading LDS to let Kurt know if you find it useful, and feel free to comment on the Elder Bednar fireside in the comments on this article.

Updates

I’ve made some updates and changes to Sacred Symbolic. You’ll notice some design changes, as well as simplified sidebars (so it’s not as overwhelming). I’ve also setup a Facebook page for Sacred Symbolic, so you can “like” (used to be “follow”) it and get updates that way, if you don’t want to go through the process of installing the Networked Blogs plugin on Facebook.

I also incorporated what’s called OpenID sign-in features for posting comments. This means you don’t have to type your name, email etc, if you don’t want to. Just click the link that says “Leave a verified comment using…” followed by various email/social network options. Then you just sign in using your Google (Gmail), Facebook, Blogger, Twitter, Windows Live, or Yahoo account. If your browser has you already logged in, you’ll just need to “allow” Sacred Symbolic to use that account. Then you can leave a comment with just a couple quick clicks, and we always love comments!