Leading Saints Podcast

Greg Clawson from My Memory Works joins Kurt Francom to discuss memory tactics for LDS leaders. Remembering names and birthdays, allows leaders to be more effective with more impact, and why a good memory makes you an even greater leader. They discuss the foundations of remembering names, birthdays, and personal details, of ward members, co-workers, and others. Why we should never say, “I’m not ve...

Larry Gelwix is widely known as the Head Coach of the Highland High School rugby team where he lead his team for 36 years with an overall record of 419–10 and 19 national championships. The movie Forever Strong is based on his experience as the coach of that team. Larry and wife Cathy have also served in numerous callings in the church and recently returned from serving as mission presidents of th...

Brian and Laura Hales are the authors of Joseph Smith’s Polygamy: Toward a Better Understanding. Brian is an anesthesiologist. Brian’s interest in polygamy began when he had a family member who was excommunicated for joining a polygamist group. As a result he researched and wrote three books about polygamy. However, he kept getting questions specifically about Joseph Smith and polygamy, which is w...

There is a constant passive aggressive struggle between auxiliary leaders and those that hold the keys to extend church callings to members. This struggle is also apparent between bishoprics, and stake presidencies when stake callings are needed in the ward (i.e. clerks, elder’s quorum leaders, high priest group leaders, etc.). A Relief Society president, for example, needs an instructor called fo...

Bill Reel from Mormon Discussion Podcast joins me again for chapter 2 in our discussion about the leader's role in assisted Church members that experience a faith crisis. In this interview we discuss the framework of the Fowler 6 Stages of Faith. Understanding these concepts will help LDS leaders gain a deeper perspective of the stages people experience when facing serious doubts of faith. Bill sp...

Ardis Parshall is a professional researching that has spend the last 15+ years in LDS Church history. Over those years she has compiled some of the riches LDS leadership stories related to women in the Church. Her work is important because many of these stories have been lost in LDS folklore and need to be heard. She just launched a Kickstarter campaign to help her fund the book project where she...

This experience comes from the April 1985 General Conference when Elder Marvin J. Ashton talked about his experience learning from a prophet while visiting those in prison: Another lesson was learned from President Kimball as we visited a prison together. One day a few years ago President Kimball said, “Marvin, I’d like you to take me to visit the Utah State Prison.” He remembered that when I was...

Great inspiration comes to those that listen to genius. Great minds challenge one to think deeper about the problem in front of them. One of those geniuses is Clayton Christensen. Not only is he a Harvard Business Professor and famous author he is also a Latter-day Saint and former Area Seventy. I enjoy listening to him solve business and leadership problems because it makes me wonder if his answe...

Chris Staggs was so kind to sit in the interviewer chair and ask me some questions. With more than 20 How I Lead interviews on LeadingLDS I thought it was time to open up personally and talk more specifically about how I lead as a bishop, why I started LeadingLDS, and what I see in the future for this organization.

President Rychen Jones is an elder's quorum president in Salem, Oregon. At the time of this interview he had served for 9 months. Listen to this interview in order to hear how he approaches his weekly quorum meeting to make it focused and enjoyable for those in attendance.

Chad Francom is a bishop in West Valley City, UT. He is also my older brother. I was excited to interview him and hear about what he learned in the last 8 years as bishop. Yes, that right's, he's been bishop for 8 years and counting. He's a remarkable big brother and I am excited to share with you his knowledge in this interviews. Bishop Francom's 5 Leadership Principles: Delegate or Make Auxiliar...

Steve Willis has served in many leadership capacities in the church including Bishop, Branch President, Stake Presidency, and is currently serving as a Young Men’s President.  He has also worked at VitalSmarts, the company behind , Influencer: The New Science of Leading Change and Crucial Conversations, for over 20 years. One aspect that VitalSmarts teaches is how to focus on vital behaviors and h...

Kreig and Sherry Smith are from Overland Park, Kansas. They are preparing to serve a Leader and Member Support mission in the Brazil, Santa Maria Mission on September 7th , 2015. Following his service as a missionary in Brazil, Kreig and Sherry met in a class while attending BYU. Kreig has a Masters degree in Organizational Behavior and Sherry has a Masters degree in Communicative Disorders. After...

How young is too young to have conversations with your children about intimacy and human sexuality? On this podcast, we get the answer from Dina Alexander, President and Founder of Educate and Empower Kids. In the digital age, where a couple of clicks can lead your child to a place he or she shouldn’t be online, it is increasingly important to protect them and educate them about this topic. Dina a...

Few topics are as emotionally charged or require more sensitivity than same-sex attraction. This complex matter touches on the things we care about most: our basic humanity, our relationship to family, our identity and potential as children of God, how we treat each other, and what it means to be disciples of Christ.  - mormonsandgays.org In this podcast, we have an enlightening conversation with...

NetNanny is one of the leading software developers in the fight for protecting families from the harmful affects of pornography. NetNanny is part of ControlWatch which is a pioneer in the industry and has more than a million customers world-wide. They have won countless awards because of their work in protecting families and businesses from the evils of pornography. I got the chance to sit down wi...

Kristen Jenson is the author of Good Pictures Bad Pictures: Porn-Proofing Today's Young Kids. It is her mission to immunize your children against the destructive and addictive dangers of pornography. She currently resides in Richland, Washington. She grew up in the Boston area and later served a mission to Portugal. She is now serving as a gospel doctrine teacher. In this interview we discuss appr...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaVnqaXOL8w&feature=youtu.be The Food Order Reference Guide is a tools used by bishops, branch presidents, Relief Society presidents, or anyone else that is tasked with filling out an LDS Food Order Form. This reference guide is a 8.5" by 11", durably laminated, 3 page guide. The purpose of this guide is to help LDS leaders more effectively feed families and individ...

Steven and Rhyll Croshaw live in Mapleton, Utah and are the founders of SA Lifeline, a non-profit organization that helps individuals and couples struggling with pornography or any other type of sexual addiction. They have authored many books and speak around the county (including at UCAP Conference) about the pressing need for greater awareness and education of the negative effects of pornography...

“Come down”—this is a phrase very commonly found in the scriptures. It is often used in the context of a request to a leader—requesting they “come down” from their mountain or from whatever state they are in.

Jake and Polly Scott are from Centerville, Utah and are powerful influencers in the world of overcoming pornography addiction. In this interview, Jake tells of his struggle with pornography addiction and his journey to find the road to recovery. Polly gives her side of the story about dealing with betrayal trauma after she found out about Jake’s addiction to pornography. We talk about some of the...

Liz Wiseman, is first, a loving mother and an incredible saint in the gospel. She's a Brigham Young University graduate, lives in Silicon Valley and has experience as an executive at Oracle Corporation. That career led her into leadership research and now teaches leadership to executives and emerging leaders internationally. I have been looking forward to getting Liz on the podcast. She has been e...

Meetings in the Church—it's a love/hate thing. Rarely do people enjoy attending meetings but we still discover ways to plan more meetings. This may come across as a blunt message, but meetings are either well done or toxic and it's important that leaders get them right. How you run a meeting has a dramatic influence on how you are loved as a leader. If you run a good meeting, those who follow you...

What is Ethnography and how does it apply to church leadership?

A story told by Elder Marvin J. Ashton in the April 1985 General Conference A few years ago I was in my office about 6:30 A.M. I am mentioning that so you will know I was there early—it takes some of us a little longer. My phone rang, and as I answered it, I recognized that special voice that said, “Marvin.” I replied, “Yes, President Kimball.” He said, “Could I come up and see you?” His office is...