Inspirtational Leader

When I was thinking about the inspirational leaders in my life, the first person that came to mind was my mom. Not only has she successfully been a joint leader of my family with my dad, she has served in many callings throughout her life and has affected many lives by doing such. While watching her serve to the best of her capacity in these various areas, I have noticed her display many exemplary leadership qualities that I have come to admire. Because of this, I chose to interview her for this assignment.

My mom, Babzanne Barker, is currently the Relief Society president in my ward back in Colorado. It is a rather difficult ward, but she has rose to the occasion and done an awesome job. I asked her to tell me what being a leader meant to her.  She said that it means being organized, understanding, and caring about the needs of those in the organization. One thing that I found interesting is that she feels that by being a leader, "the buck stops here" which means that if something goes wrong or someone is upset by something, that person needs to take responsibility, regardless of who's fault it is. When she told me this, I realized how humble a person has to be in order to do that. Leaders must have humility in order to be positively successful.

Although my mom has served in many leadership positions, I asked her what specifically were her roles as the Relief Society President. She explained that she has to help conduct and teacher First Sunday meetings, attend various meetings, be in charge of Visiting Teaching, make hospital visits, conduct weekly presidency meetings, and serve over the Compassionate Service committee. All of these tasks take a lot of organization to accomplish.

Beyond talking about her current leadership position, I asked her what skills and attributes a person needs to have in order to be a leader. What she said was simple and are things that most anyone can develop if they have enough desire. She said that communication skills are helpful in many things, but it is absolutely necessary for someone to display patience, have organizationals skills, have humility and be able to show love for those in the organization.

While I believe my mom was a natural born leader, most people have room to improve, no matter how good they are. She said that after becoming RS president, she has become more patient with others and learned how to determine what the most important and immediate needs are. She has also learned that the more positive your attitude is, the easier it is to work together with those you are assigned. Most of all, she has learned to have faith, and that when she doesn't know what to do, Heavenly Father knows and will help her if she shows faith in Him.


I asked my mom for an experience that has shaped her in the passed to help her work at the capacity she is in now. I decided to just copy and pasted what she said:


"One experience I had was a couple of years ago.  I was Compassionate Service Leader and had offered to help a young mom in our ward get ready to move.  At the time I was also responsible to get a very large billing for Castlewood Sanitation District ready by the next day. I thought about canceling with the young mom because I knew I would not have enough time to finish the billing if I took that whole morning off.  But I didn't feel right about doing that--I knew she really needed me--so I decided to go and help.  That night I was able to finish the billing in several hours less than I ever had before.  I learned that when we do what we have promised to do, or in the case of an emergency, what needs to be done that our Heavenly Father will always give us the time we need to do the other things we need to do."



Another experience she talked about was when she was a Primary Counselor. She talked about how the president was always very supportive of her ideas and thoughts, even if they weren't very developed. My mom said that this helped her gain a lot of self-confidence in her abilities, and that her example inspired her to always be supporitve of her counselors and let them fulfill their repsonsibilities "without micro-managing everything."



I feel that the best way to become a better leader is by observing others in action. I asked my mom if she had any tips for developing good leadership skills. She said that you should read your scriptures and pray always,and have faith that you are the right person for the job. She said that you shouldn't be afraid to ask for help and gain all the insight that you can. She also suggested that you surround yourselfe with people who can work with easily and that are diligent and dependable. Most of all, she mentioned the advice her sister gave her when she was first called to be RS president: "Don't let doing good things get in the way of doing the things that matter most," like your family.

 Finally, I asked her if she had any closing thoughts about being a leader. She said it is important to always remember that Heavenly Father wants you to succeed, so rely on him. It's okay to make mistakes, so don't be hard on yourself if you mess up. Care about the people you work with and show appreciation. And most of all, have fun!