Professor Kim B. Clark speaks about Christlike leadership

BYU professor of business and former president of BYU—Idaho Kim B. Clark delivered a forum address on Tuesday, July 30, speaking on how to develop Christlike leadership skills.

Clark began by describing how the principles of discipleship and leadership often go hand-in-hand within the Church and at BYU. He structured his address around a framework outlining how individuals can become “disciple-leaders” in their own lives.

“The Lord Jesus Christ has called all of us to ‘Come, follow me’ as both disciples and as leaders,” Clark said. “He is our great exemplar and the source of the principles and blessings that guide and strengthen us in becoming disciple-leaders.”

Leadership is work, but it is great work, according to Clark. He shared a definition for leadership to help any disciple-leader in any organization. True leadership should help people increase personal growth and meaning in their work and lives, realize one’s purpose and strengthen productivity, he said.

Clark used three metaphors to capture the personal nature of leadership: the soul, the heart and the mind.

“Leadership is always and everywhere a moral work,” Clark said of the soul of leadership. “When you as a leader interact with another person or a group of people, you hold their lives in your hands. What you say, what you do, will influence them for good, or for ill.”

He referenced the atonement and how we all can find strength and inspiration to value others and treat others with kindness through Christ.

Clark shared an example of impactful leadership. In 2008, Imad Telhami, an Arab-Israeli entrepreneur, started Babcom — an Israeli company that outsources services for customers around the world.

Telhami said he approached leadership with four core values: a love to serve, a commitment to excellence, seeing the good in everything and improving together as a team.

“At Babcom, people of diverse backgrounds worked well together, grew and progressed beyond their expectations and provided higher quality service at a lower cost than their competitors, all while working in a social environment where anger, resentment and conflict were prevalent and sometimes dangerous,” Clark said. “Indeed, Babcom has lived through five wars since its founding.”

Clark continued to explain the importance of the heart of leadership.

“Love is at the core of the heart of leadership, and the heart of the Gospel of Jesus Christ,” he said. “Giving love and receiving love are essential to human thriving, and therefore to effective disciple-leadership.”

Helping people thrive within an organization can be both challenging and rewarding, according to Clark. He shared an acronym to capture the heart of leadership — LIVE. This stands for love, inspiration, vitality and expression. With these values in mind, disciple-leaders can help individuals experience positive energy and feel empowered, Clark said.

He shared another example of life-changing leadership with Hubert Joy, the former CEO of consumer electronics from Best Buy. Clark described how Joly managed to turn the company around through his “commitment to help people find meaning at work, see people as sources of initiative and creativity, treat people as individuals to help them flourish and forge genuine human connections of respect, value and care.”

The third metaphor Clark shared was the mind of leadership.

“This is the work of mobilizing people in a process of action, learning and change,” Clark said. “It involves engaging people and teams in establishing direction, analyzing opportunities, setting priorities, allocating resources and solving problems.”

Clark explained the difference between “power over” and “power through.” Powering over in an organization involves executive dominion and no place for heart and soul, whereas powering through involves lifting and strengthening a team to accomplish goals.

“Power through is expressed on the basis of accountability and honoring agency in covenant relationships of mutual love, commitment, trust and support,” Clark said. “In this way leaders, acting under the direction of the Lord, activate the potential power in the people to do the Lord’s work.”

The last anecdote Clark shared was of Kathy Giusti’s work at the Multiple Myeloma Foundation, where she exemplified powering through to help the organization prosper.

“Giusti activated the power that was in her core team and in the scientists and doctors in the network with remarkable results,” Clark said. “By 2024, MMRF had raised over $600 million for research, helped 15 new drugs through clinical trials to FDA approval and increased the five-year survival rate for MM patients from 20 to 60 percent.”

Clark concluded by sharing his testimony and telling the audience that when individuals lead in Christlike ways and strive to become true disciples and good examples for others, they will receive many blessings.

“If you take your witness of Jesus Christ with you wherever you go, every day and act with faith in Him to keep your covenants, every day, you will become His true disciples and His leaders, first and foremost in your eternal families, in His true and living Church and in your work among God’s children in these the latter days,” Clark said.