Leadership in the Church - President Samuelson

President Samuelson warned of the dangers of waiting to serve until you are less busy. Describe how you will make yourself available to serve, even in the midst of an ever increasing schedule and responsibilities.

I think the first part to conquering anything is deciding that you want to. I want to be someone who is able to serve my entire life. I have learned over the past few years in BYUSA that I need to be sure to focus on making my time line up with my priorities. If I am sure to maintain proper balance on my day to day activities, I will definitely ensure that service is apart of my life.

In sharing his experience in speaking at a funeral, President Samuelson encouraged those in attendance to have the courage to say what needs to be said, when it needs to be said. Describe a time when you have had to stand alone in your role as a leader. Please include how you will respond to future opportunities to stand alone as a leader.

Many of my experiences over the past year would be good examples for standing alone in my role as a leader, especially in my experiences working with Ryan. On many occasions, we have not seen eye to eye, but I have been in a position to offer my opinion and help us to be on the same page.

In the future, I hope to always maintain my honesty, but tactfully communicate how I feel about different issues. It's amazing what you can learn from people when all parties are willing to be honest and open to new ideas. I want to strive to understand where people are coming from, without ever compromising who I am. I want to always stand for the church and never be ashamed of my beliefs.

President Samuelson shared an important lesson he learned about making assignments in his role as an Elders Quorum President. Please identify what you believe made the difference in the outcome he described going from having to complete the assignment himself to having others take accountability. How will you apply this concept to leadership roles you have in the future.

By fulfilling all of his commitments by himself, he wasn't truly able to fulfill his calling. Part of serving in the church is enabling others to also serve. By helping others to have accountability, he was enabling them to learn how to be more effective leaders. I plan to apply this concept by committing myself to have frequent self evaluations about whether or not I am fulfilling my role, and whether or not I am in balance. If I am not in balance, I will need to delegate more. If I am not appropriately helping others to fulfill their responsibilities, I will need to delegate more. Either way, it is going to come down to regularly looking at where I am at and how I can improve.