I’m reading this great book called What Matters Now by Gary Hamel. The title tagline is, “How to Win in a World of Relentless Change, Ferocious Competition, and Unstoppable Innovation.” The basic premise of the book is how organization need to adjust their management style in order to foster more innovation. Of course, as I have read this book I have naturally applied the principles to the LDS leadership context.
One quote from the book that made me stop and think was this…
“The goal with innovation is to amaze customers with something they never could have imagined, but having once experienced it, can’t imagine living without.”
Think of the product in the world that this applies to – central cooling, indoor plumbing, anything that Apple makes.
So what about the church? What innovation has the church created that you can’t imagine living without? I’m not asking this in a the context of gospel principles. There is no argument that the gospel principles, dare I say the Atonement, is obviously something we can’t imagine living without. What about the structure of the day-to-day or week-to-week church? The answer to this question is going to be different for everyone but think of your circumstance. If you are serving as the Elder’s Quorum President and the First Presidency sends out a letter stating that Elder’s Quorum will be forever cancelled what reaction would your quorum members have? Would they look forward to an extra hour on Sunday to add to their nap — or would they miss something?
Has the way you organize your quorum meeting been so innovative that quorum members would petition to reinstate Elder’s Quorum if it were cancelled?
If not….change something.
Thought provoking post. I teach Seminary and hope that our class is learning that gospel study is something they can't live without.
Love your blog, btw.
My recent post I Wish I Taught Seminary in South Carolina!
Thanks for the comment. Good to know someone enjoys reading.
I enjoy reading it!
I think there might be a couple of our HPG members who would miss that meeting. The rest would gladly follow the new policy as long as it really was from the 1st presidency. They're 100% willing to do what the prophet directs, especially if it means a little less meeting time.