Dean Vernon Heperi on Leadership

I had the opportunity to hear from Vernon Heperi, Dean of Students. He shared with us some incredible thoughts on leading by love. I’m just going to put the notes I took during his lecture on here, because it was such a good presentation.

• The quality of our work is directly proportional to our capacity to love.
• Dean Heperi is not the kind of person to say hello to people, but he knows that it lets others know that he cares, so he does it.
• He who truly loves sees others with honest concern.
• It’s not enough to be encouraged. It’s good to be corrected.
• We’ve been called to lead. The way we choose to lead is by serving others.
• It’s a challenge to lead by example. We have the choice to be a better example (even when we’re annoyed). Sometimes reproof doesn’t come from our leaders.
• Serving others and learning to lead by example is vital to our success.
• You must develop a climate of trust. You have to be tolerant and patient, not necessarily let everything slide, but you can still be kind.
• We should be able to have differences of opinions and still be able to have dinner with those people.
• The honor code makes us what we are. It is our brand. We don’t change it – it is what we are!
• Our greatest goal as leaders should be to be leaders in our homes. Good on you if you’re a famous CEO or whatever, but the most important is the home.

Loving those you lead is of the utmost importance. If we don’t love those we are leading, we will not be able to effectively lead them.  It is also important to express that love, even if not through words. In your actions, you can show people you love and care about them. If you assist people in their projects, you are showing them that you care about them. If you offer support in any way, you are showing them that you care. There are an abundance of ways to show people we love them; we just have to make the effort to do it. When we love those we work with, we are also opening up opportunities for us to help them improve. If we try to correct them without love, that definitely won’t go over well. However, if we offer correction with love, those we are assisting will likely be open to the correction, because they understand that we are trying to help them rather than criticize.

April 4, 2012 | Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: byu, honor code, lead, leadership, love, Vernon Heperi | Leave a comment