The Challenge to Become

In his October 2000 conference address, The Challenge to Become, Elder Dallin Oaks said, “The Apostle Paul taught that the Lord’s teachings and teachers were given that we may all attain “the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” (Eph. 4:13). This process requires far more than acquiring knowledge. It is not even enough for us to be convinced of the gospel; we must act and think so that we are converted by it. In contrast to the institutions of the world, which teach us to know something, the gospel of Jesus Christ challenges us to become something.”

He then goes on to delineate between having a testimony of the gospel and being truly converted, stating that the Lord does not care so much about what we have believed, but what we have become. “To testify,” he says, “is to know and declare.” But the Lord is challenging us to do more than that.  We must be truly converted which comes by doing and becoming.

Elder Oaks declares that the work of conversion is done in our homes.  He said, “Now is the time for each of us to work toward our personal conversion, toward becoming what our Heavenly Father desires us to become. As we do so, we should remember that our family relationships—even more than our Church callings—are the setting in which the most important part of that development can occur. The conversion we must achieve requires us to be a good husband and father or a good wife and mother. Being a successful Church leader is not enough. Exaltation is an eternal family experience, and it is our mortal family experiences that are best suited to prepare us for it.”

A measure of our success on this journey of conversion, said Elder Oaks, is to have the spirit, to begin to see things the way the Lord and our Father in Heaven see things, and to be able to hear their voice instead of focusing on the worldly voices around us.  If we are truly being converted, we are “doing things in His way instead by the ways of the world.”

Good to Great

Good to Great, by Author Jim Collins, discusses 11 companies that became great and the things they had in common.  

3 elements were evident:

1. Disciplined people – getting the right people and keeping them focused “get the right people on the bus”
2. Disciplined Thought – being able to be honest, brutally honest about what is going on, and focusing on the right things.
3. Disciplined action – spending time on the right things

These three elements can be broken down into six key concepts. The first three elements begin to build moment and take the players to push and push, the second three elements are the results of the flywheel effect.  A flywheel, after being pushed for so long, eventually starts to gain its own momentum and pushes itself with little outside effort or influence.  Great companies keep the flywheel moving so that it comes to that breakthrough and truly takes off.  Bad leaders start and stop the flywheel over and over keeping the momentum from ever reaching breakthrough.

• Element 1 – Level 5 leadership: leaders that are humble, professional, hardworking, blame their success on luck rather than skill or personal greatness. Usually come from within the company.
• Element 2 – First ‘who’, then ‘what’: Make sure you have the right people on the bus.  If you have the right people, they will figure out what needs to be done.  The wrong people slow things down and mess up the flywheel.  Don’t waste time on the wrong people.
• Element 3 – Confront the true facts: honesty and candor allow companies to make the right decisions to move forward, rather than deal with distorted facts that can lead them to focus on the wrong things.
• Element 4 – Hedgehog Concept: hedgehogs are simple animals that know one big thing and do it well.  Companies should be the same. They stick to what they are doing and avoid getting deterred by other things or opportunities. They stick to their mission.  They know what they are best at, what makes money, and what their people are passionate about.
• Element 5 – Culture of Discipline: Disciplined people don’t need managers or hierarchy to make them do their work.  Discipline combined with an entrepreneurial effort tend to make for excellent performance.
• Element 6 – Technology Accelerator: Don’t get caught up in tech fads.  Use technology to make what you are doing better, not just so you are high tech.  Find the technology that will improve your business, don’t mold your business around new technology.

Looking Back and Moving Forward

Lessons learned this week:

In his talk, Looking Back and Moving Forward, President Monson said some things that struck a chord with me as I struggle to discover the next steps in my journey.  “It was said of the Savior that He ‘went about doing good … for God was with him.’ May we follow that perfect example. In this sometimes precarious journey through mortality, may we also follow that advice from the Apostle Paul which will help to keep us safe and on course: ‘Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.’”  

He went on to say, “Mortality is a period of testing, a time to prove ourselves worthy to return to the presence of our Heavenly Father. In order to be tested, we must sometimes face challenges and difficulties. At times there appears to be no light at the tunnel’s end—no dawn to break the night’s darkness. We feel surrounded by the pain of broken hearts, the disappointment of shattered dreams, and the despair of vanished hopes. We join in uttering the biblical plea “Is there no balm in Gilead?” We are inclined to view our own personal misfortunes through the distorted prism of pessimism. We feel abandoned, heartbroken, alone. If you find yourself in such a situation, I plead with you to turn to our Heavenly Father in faith. He will lift you and guide you. He will not always take your afflictions from you, but He will comfort and lead you with love through whatever storm you face.”

As I seek to find employment, I have a sincere desire to work in an organization that brings light into a dark world.  I know that the Lord will bless me in my personal struggles and help me to endure the hardships I face that give me fear and insecurity about taking such a step in my life.  But as I seek to bring good and do the will of God, he will use me to both bless the lives of others and strengthen me in my own struggles and weaknesses.