Brigham Young: A Leadership Analysis

“Leadership is not about titles, positions, or flow charts. It is about one life influencing another” (Maxwell). Brigham Young fits this mold well. He was president of the Mormon church for over thirty years, and in those years he influenced many people by his great leadership qualities. Although he was hated by countless numbers of people, Brigham Young, through his determination, faith, and mental strength, was the only capable person in 1846 to lead 16,000 pioneers on a successful journey from Illinois to Utah. Even though he was being judged harshly, Brigham Young’s determination never failed him. One comment about Brigham Young was: “He said some really bigoted and hateful things about Blacks and mixed marriages, i.e., ‘their children should be killed’” (Lynne). Brigham Young almost always brushed off comments like this because he didn’t want them to weigh him down. “I care nothing about my character in this world. I do not care what men say about me. I want my character to stand fair in the eyes of my Heavenly Father” (“Brigham Young: An American Moses”). This shows that Brigham Young cares more about
Steven Benna, in an article about being mentally strong, said some characteristics of being mentally strong are: expressing gratitude, bouncing back from failure, and accepting responsibility for wrong choices. Brigham Young showed these qualities by saying prayers of gratitude daily, always continuing on after something goes wrong, and by accepting he made a wrong decision and learning from them to choose better choices. “We have been kicked out of the frying-pan into the fire, out of the fire into the middle of the floor…” (“Brigham Young: An American Moses”). Because he was mentally strong, he was able to pick himself and his people out of the dust and back onto their feet again where they continued to travel on their challenging