1) I was listening to some thoughts by A.G. Laffley, the former chairman of Proctor & Gamble. He talked about CEO succession and that companies generally do a very poor job of choosing the right CEO to lead them. One metric showing this is the average tenure for a CEO has been cut in half over the last couple decades. Now it's only 4 years. Clearly, choosing the leader of the company is very difficult.
2) I was reading D.C. 135 about the martyrdom of Joseph Smith. It got me thinking about how Brigham ended up being a wonderful second prophet. I remembered that I'd heard once that the LDS church was lucky that they got the leader they did after Joseph because it was certainly a crisis to lose their first leader. It certainly was a crisis, but it wasn't luck that Brigham Young was the next prophet.
These two things got me thinking about how remarkable it is that the Church has always had a terrific leader. In fact, I would argue that it's unprecedented in business or religion to have had such strong leaders consistently over a period of 181 years. A few of our Church Presidents/Prophets haven't lived long, but here's just a few examples from most of their lives:
Joseph Smith - founded the church, moved it several times, gave hundreds of revelations and translated the Book of Mormon - both of which we still rely on to guide the church, etc...
Brigham Young - moved the church to Utah, built temples, solidified church in Utah
John Taylor - short time as prophet; nothing jumps out at me, but he was a tremendous missionary in his lifetime
Wilford Woodruff - made the move away from Polygamy; greatest record keeper of early church history; dedicated Salt Lake Temple
Lorenzo Snow - saved the church financially in pushing for tithing again
Joseph F. Smith - made many doctrinal statements, first to suggest FHE, a staple of the church now
Heber J. Grant - prophet for 27 years, strengthened church adherence to word of wisdom, developed welfare program during his leadership - partially a result of dealing with the great depression
George Albert Smith - prophet for 6 years - nothing comes to mind immediately, but he was widely known for loving people (a great trait for a leader, particularly a prophet)
David O. McKay - increased church emphasis on FHE, missionary work, temples
Joseph Fielding Smith - great doctrinal writer for the church, also church historian for 60 years and Apostle for 60 years
Harold B. Lee - convinced Spencer Kimball to have surgery even though Spencer was old; Spencer ended up out-living Harold B. Lee for 12 years; remarkable foresight by the prophet
Spencer W. Kimball - first talk was about every young man going on a mission, prior to this it was considered a "good option" but not a requirement for young men, greatly expanded missionary work; greatly expanded temple building - temples announced for Latin America (Mexico, Guatemala, Argentina, Chile) for first time
Ezra Taft Benson - great emphasis on The Book of Mormon, convert baptisms grew to 300K during his time as prophet
Howard W. Hunter - emphasized every member having a temple recommend, timely preparation for President Hinckley's great expansion of temple building
Gordon Hinckley - growth in temple building (from ~40 to ~115 during his time), shift in missionary presentation and qualifications to serve a mission, great emphasis of retention of converts
Thomas Monson - just starting but looking great so far :) tremendous emphasis on loving/serving others
I don't find a weak leader among the group. My comments are without notes, just things I know/remember. There's clearly more that could be written about them and more examples of great trials or challenges each of them led the church through.
In the past, I thought that perhaps you could say, "but since the longest tenured Apostle becomes the next Prophet, is it really God choosing them and done through revelation?" I think the fact that the next leader of the church was chosen 30-50 years before he actually becomes the Prophet only further shows that revelation is clearly involved and that these are remarkable men. Plus, we never drop people from the quorum of the 12 (in the past it only happened because of unworthiness - the last time was in 1943, over 70 years ago). Those who become Prophet only do so because they were chosen before any other current living Apostle. That's a miracle that the system has consistently created great prophets.
It is an incredible string of leaders that we've had. It has become very clear to me in the last few days that this streak of great leaders is probably unprecedented in the world, either in business or religious organizations. I expect and know that this string of great leaders will only continue going forward. We Thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet and know that God is choosing these leaders and helping them lead his church in our time. Another sign that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the true church - look at the prophets, they've done a remarkable job; they've been chosen by God.
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