Quick & Nimble LDS Leadership | How to Create Ward Culture

I recently finished the book Quick and Nimble: Lessons from Leading CEOs on How to Create a Culture of Innovation by Adam Bryant. It was a though provoking read and I recommend it to all leaders. The book is based on 200 interviews with CEO. 80% of the book is quotations from these CEO on how they develop remarkable culture in their organizations. I went into the book not overly interested because sometimes these books don't relate as well to LDS leadership. With each turn of the page I really enjoyed various quotes from the book that I'd like to share. All these quotes are mostly from different CEOs which I reference at the end of each quote. Culture eats strategy for breakfast. (Kindle page 175) I've heard this quote in various publications but nobody really knows who conceived it. It sums up this book in one sentence and is something that should be applied to our local LDS leadership. We talk a lot of strategy in ward council and look over the power of building solid culture in our quorums and groups. "I have a very simple model to run a company. It's starts with leadership at the top, which drives a culture. Culture drives innovation and whatever else you're trying to drive within a company. And that then drives results. When I talk to Wall Street, people really want to know your results, what are your strategies, what are the issues, what it is that you're doing to drive your business. They're focused on the bottom line. Never do you get people asking about the culture, about leadership, about the people in the organization. Yet, it's the reverse, because it's the people, the leadership, the culture, and the ideas that are ultimately driving the numbers and the results." -Stephen I. Sadove (Kindle page 184) Are you wondering why sacrament attendance is down or visiting teaching isn't getting done? Instead of looking at your strategy, consider your culture, your people, and your ideas. “The way we define culture overall is ‘how companies get things done.’ If you have a factory, you get a lot of things done through machinery. Most companies in software get things done through people. So our machinery is people, and to put it in technology terms, people are the hardware and our values are the operating system." -Mark Templeton, CEO of Citrix (Kindle page 491) In the LDS church our operating system is the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's a powerful thing, but it requires the action of others to make positive change. Don't forget operating system requires hardware (people). “I reach out to a lot of employees. It’s one of the first questions I ask: ‘Are you having fun?’" Chris Barbin, CEO of Appirio (Kindle page 680) One of the important questions of a personal 1-to-1 interview is "are you having fun?" There is nothing more fun than being passionate and if they aren't finding a passion in the work call someone else that will. This reminds me a discussion I had with a bishopric counselor. He shared with me his deep passion for his calling and couldn't see why people would avoid such a responsibility that allows you to be so involved in the work of the Lord. He loved his calling--he was in the right place. "As all these examples show, there is no “right” set of values for an organization, nothing that stands out as a best practice. Values have to emerge in a way that doesn't feel forced, so that they reflect the personalities and beliefs of the leadership team and the collective culture of the organization." Marcus Ryu, CEO of Guidewire (Kindle page 758) Values can never be forced! An elder's quorum president cannot force upon his quorum the values of home teaching. He has to help them discover it within each individual so that the values reflect what they already believe. “When they’re awesome, I tell them they’re awesome. When they mess up, they hear about it. But do it the right way. Do it consistently. Do it with respect. No yelling and screaming, but ‘Here’s our expectation, and here’s where you m