Leadership in a Combat Zone

I was thinking about you while reading an article called “Leadership in a Combat Zone.” It’s an article my advanced business writing students read written by the lieutenant general William G. Pagonis —I have them read a number of articles from Harvard Business Review. He’s writing about what he learned about leadership while in the Gulf War.

He boils it down to two essential qualities of effective leadership: expertise and empathy. I like that combination. He sites a number of personal experiences in his life and in the military illustrating those points. He also claims that true leaders are not only shaped by their own environment, but they also remake their environments.

That got me to thinking about how our personal experiences in life, especially those that come to us through trials and challenges when tempered by the Holy Ghost give us both expertise and empathy and can prepare us for later events.

For instance, I’ve been thinking about Nephi and how we see him grow as a leader. We’re introduced to him when he’s just a kid, in awe of his father and his father’s visions. But his experiences which most often are tremendous trials help him gain expertise, but he always reaches out with empathy.

I’ve also considered that all of his experiences are necessary and prepare him for who he actually becomes. Take the experience of building the ship. We’re familiar with the struggle with his brothers, but think about the difficulty of building the ship. He’s clear that he’s never built anything before, and as a merchant’s son he really doesn’t have the skills. The scripture account does tell us he goes to God frequently in prayer to receive direction, but here is a land-locked son of an affluent family struggling to build a sea-worthy ship to take their families to a new land.

Now, fast forward to a later time in Nephi’s life. In 2 Nephi 5:16, Nephi says simply, “And I, Nephi, did build a temple.” What Nephi learned during that terribly trying time for him was essential for him later in life became a blessing—a builder of temples, the builder of people.

Your difficult, dark times are giving you both expertise and empathy in ways that you can’t even imagine now, but they will work out for your own good. You will see yourself, others, and the world differently because of them. They will make you strong as you stay close to your Heavenly Father.

I am touched by the power of the Savior to say, “Let there be light,” and then there is light—light overpowering darkness. The same happened to the Prophet Joseph when he goes to the grove to pray—he too is overpowered by darkness until he prays and that Pillar of Light descends upon him. It also happens to Lehi when he has his vision of the Tree of Life—he is wandering in darkness and a dreary waste until he prays and the tender mercies of God save him.

In the dark times of our lives, we must have the Savior light our lives and our way. He will always dispel the darkness, even if we don’t feel it or acknowledge it. He will turn that darkness and adversity into light and good if we continue to reach out to Him.

He is so aware of you. Stay close to Him. You are His. You have a work to do, and you’re preparing yourself right now with expertise and empathy. He is blessing you.

Continue to fight—you’re not alone. Force yourself to make it to your classes, to get to church, to read your scriptures, and to get out with people—don’t withdraw, even if it seems to bring the only comfort.