President Bob Cowan served as a counselor in the Australia Brisbane Mission. He has also served as an Area Seventy, president of the New Zealand Wellington Mission, stake president, bishop, and temple ordinance worker. Sister Jenny Cowan has served as a multi-stake young single adult adviser, stake and ward Relief Society presidents’ counselor, stake Young Women president and stake seminary supervisor.

Bob learn on his mission that leadership is more about the individual that you’re leading than the group as a whole. After Bob returned from his mission he married Jenny and they struggled with infertility and this taught them to have empathy and that there are always opportunities to reach out and comfort those going through similar situations. Children eventually came into their family and have three grandchildren.

Being a mission president was rewarding to Bob and Jenny because they enjoyed being a part of the missionaries lives and seeing how the Gospel change them and helped develop stronger testimonies. As a temple president and matron, they like to focus on making sure that each patron can connect with Heavenly Father during their service at the temple and that the individual is important to include and being flexible helps each person find the comfort and joy in serving.

Bob suggested an idea for stake presidents and bishops to invite one individual each week to come in for an interview and help that person become more focused on temple attendance. This individual would be someone who is unendowed, unbaptized, or uncommitted in some way and the invitations would help them focus on their personal journey back to Heavenly Father. (minute marker 40:00)

5 Principles of Leadership (minute marker 44:00)

1. Teaching them correct principles and letting them govern themselves.

2. Return and Report

   • This concept applies to life outside the church as well. We also must not give false praise or over the top praise so they have the opportunity to self reflect and improve.

3. Focus on Outcomes and not Procedures

   • Leadership isn’t about having people do things your way but making sure that end results are what matters most.

   • How did you encourage missionaries to not focus on baptism numbers?

     1. Having missionaries feel that they are an essential part of warning the people of Christ’s coming

4. Getting the right leaders in place

   • Zone leaders were never chosen by who baptized more or whether baptisms mean that a missionary is better than any others. The individual’s focus on Christ is the only leadership quality to look for in a potential leader.

   • Worthy Workers Win became a mission standard to be obedient and hardworking.

5. The 90% vs The 10%

   • If your ward has a low percentage of tithing payers, a normal strategy is to having a sacrament meeting to help inspire the members, but really it’s a limiting move. It’s more important to sit down with the individual and talk to them face to face to have them commit to change.

   • The same idea applies to home and visiting teaching, it’s easier to motivate the individual on a personal level rather than as a whole.