Quotes on Leadership by Prophets
President Harold B. Lee: “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.”
President Spencer W. Kimball: “....if we desire to lengthen our stride in the management of the kingdom at all levels of its operation … we must be more willing to expend more of our time, talent, and means in providing leadership training.”
President Ezra Taft Benson: “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.”
President Howard W. Hunter: “The need for leadership through the wards and stakes of Zion [is increasing] dramatically. What is needed is not just people of training and skill, but rather we will need a generation of great faith, those who have learned discipline and discipleship. What will be needed is a generation who understand not only how to organize a ward but also how to build faith, how to sustain the weak and faltering, and how to defend the truth.”
President Gordon B. Hinckley: “You can be a leader. You must be a leader, as a member of this Church, in those causes for which this Church stands. Do not let fear overcome your efforts. ... Cast that fear aside and be valiant in the cause of truth and righteousness and faith. If you now decide that this will become the pattern of your life, you will not have to make that decision again. You will put on “the armour of God,” and raise your voice in defense of truth, whatever the circumstances now and in all the years that lie ahead.”
And Elder Neal A. Maxwell of the Quorum of the Twelve has said: “... the Church has no corps of professionals. It must depend upon leaders developed from within the membership as a whole ... the Church’s need is greater than ever now, both in terms of numbers and a requirement for greater devotion and skill ... so must the need for more capable and responsible leadership multiply.”
Quotes are from the Book: Leadership for Saints