The Bishopric & the Youth | A How I Lead Interview with James Fletcher

James Fletcher is the founder and chief investment officer of Ethos Investment Management, and has been investing professionally in emerging markets for 20 years. He is also the founder of the global non-profit Young Investors Society, which provides lessons to teens on investing and financial literacy in over 3,000 high schools and 80 countries around the world. James has a bachelor's degree in Finance from Brigham Young University and also teaches as a BYU adjunct professor in Finance. He has lived in a variety of places, from Boston to Brazil and Los Angeles to Hong Kong, and currently lives in Springville, Utah, with his wife and five children, where he serves as a bishop in the Hobble Creek Springville Utah Stake. Links Young Investors Society: YIS.org Share your thoughts in the Leading Saints community Transcript coming soon Get 14-day access to the Core Leader Library Highlights James Fletcher shares his insights and experiences as a bishop and youth leader. He shares his approach to engaging with youth, highlighting the advice he received to focus on them while allowing other leaders to manage adult responsibilities. He discusses his passion for working with young people, which has been shaped by his background in youth mentorship and his founding of the Young Investor Society, an organization that teaches financial literacy and investment principles to high school students. James emphasizes the importance of setting high expectations for youth while providing the necessary support and mentorship. He also discusses the significance of creating engaging and interactive experiences for youth, rather than simply delivering lessons. He shares how challenging youth with high expectations can lead to remarkable growth and engagement, citing examples from both his church leadership and his work with the Young Investor Society. 00:04:04 - First Impressions of Being a Bishop James shares his experiences and feelings during the first months of his calling as bishop. 00:05:16 - Unique Ward Dynamics Discussion about the unique characteristics of James's ward in Springville, Utah, including its diverse community. 00:06:57 - Approach to Engaging Youth James explains his focus on youth and how he prioritizes their needs in his leadership role. 00:07:54 - Background in Youth Engagement James discusses his history of working with youth and the founding of the Young Investor Society. 00:09:37 - Weekly Engagement with Youth Insights into James's weekly activities and how he applies principles of mentorship and engagement with youth. 00:11:06 - Measuring Success as a Bishop James shares advice on how to judge success in his role, emphasizing spiritual guidance. 00:12:00 - Personal Story of Mentorship James recounts a meaningful experience with a young man named Zach and the impact of mentorship. 00:14:23 - Principles for Working with Youth James discusses key principles for engaging and inspiring youth, including setting high expectations. 00:18:47 - Interactive Learning Experiences The importance of interactive and challenging experiences for youth to keep them engaged. 00:21:10 - High Expectations and Support James elaborates on the balance of high expectations and providing support to youth. 00:23:01 - Recognizing and Nurturing Gifts The significance of helping youth recognize their gifts and potential. 00:30:54 - Real Love and Genuine Support James emphasizes the importance of showing genuine love and support to youth in leadership. 00:36:21 - Young Investor Society Overview Information about the Young Investor Society and how it supports youth in financial literacy. The award-winning Leading Saints Podcast is one of the top independent Latter-day Saints podcasts as part of nonprofit Leading Saints' mission to help Latter-day Saints be better prepared to lead. Learn more and listen to any of the past episodes for free at LeadingSaints.org.

Episode Transcript

(00:05):
Does a youth leader ever feel like they
have it figured out? This hasn't been my
experience.
However, I couldn't be an effective youth leader
today without Dan Duckworth's
presentation about going from youth worker to youth
mentor. Mentorship is a key concept to understand
when leading youth. In his presentation,
Dan talks about ways to really turn the
traditional approach to leading youth on its head.

(00:27):
How can you better know your purpose? How
can you find out their life goals?
How can you build a relationship that is
transformational rather than simply filling time during the
weekly youth activity?
You can watch Dan's presentation
in the Young Saints virtual library by going
to leadingsaints.org/fourteen.
You'll get free access for fourteen days, and
that will give you plenty of time to

(00:48):
watch Dan's presentation
a few times. Let's give youth the leadership
they deserve.
So my name is Kurt Frankem and I
am the founder and executive director of Leading
Saints and, obviously, the host of the Leading
Saints podcast. Now I started Leading Saints back
in 02/2010. It was just a hobby blog

(01:11):
and it grew from there. By the time,
2014
came around, we started the podcast and that's
really when it got some,
traction and took off, 02/2016.
We became a five zero one c three
nonprofit organization, and we've been growing ever since.
And now I get the opportunity
of interviewing and talking with remarkable people all
over the world. Now this is a segment

(01:32):
we do on the Leading Saints podcast called
How I Lead, and we reach out to
everyday leaders. They're not experts, gurus, authors, PhDs.
They're just everyday leaders who've been asked to
serve in a specific leadership calling, and we
simply ask them, how is it that you
lead? And they go through some remarkable principles
that should be in a book, that should
be behind a PhD. They're usually that good,

(01:54):
and, we just talk about, sharing what the
other guy is doing. And I remember being
a leader just simply wanting to know, okay.
I know what I'm trying to do, but
what's the other guy doing? What's working for
him? And so that's why every Wednesday or
so, we publish these how I lead segments
to share.

(02:17):
Another how I lead interview on the leading
saints podcast.
In this episode, we talk with James Fletcher.
Man, there's
so much to talk about, so much to
learn from James. He's currently serving as a
bishop, but there's so many things outside
of his maybe church path that is influencing
him as,
preparing him to be a fantastic bishop, especially

(02:39):
working with youth.
He runs an investment firm. He's a finance
guy, does some adjunct teaching at BYU and,
at BYU Pathway.
And he also founded a fantastic organization called
the Youth Investors
Society where they work with 3,000
plus,
high schools to get them engaged in
in investments and investing in in the financial

(03:00):
world. And there's so many principles from his
time and in with this organization,
this spilled over to his time as bishop,
some principles that I think many of us
will benefit from, especially those bishops or bishoprics
out there or young women's presidencies
who are really trying to engage with youth
in a way that raises the bar, that
gets them to believe in themselves and really

(03:21):
accomplish,
great things that they're, meant to accomplish. So
here we go. Another episode about,
leading youth and of maybe from the bishopric
standpoint. So here's my interview with James Fletcher.
Alright, James. So, how long you been serving

(03:42):
as bishop now?
It's been ten months since I got called
as bishop.
Perfect. And we don't let anybody on here
that's been less than nine months. No. I'm
just kidding.
I'm sure you have a lot to share
and and express. So,
just how would you explain the first ten
months or maybe even the first three months?
Like, just finding your footing in this in
this calling, what was that like?

(04:04):
Kurt. As you know, it's,
it's amazing.
It's beautiful.
It's,
heavy at times, and you're just, thrown into
it.
You know, I'd say,
I have
a 100%
testimony that Jesus Christ leads this church.

(04:26):
And, you know, being called as bishop and
right after being set apart,
it was just amazing to feel that Jesus
has a strong view
on
callings and people and reaching out and the
words to say and the things to do.
And all of a sudden,

(04:46):
revelations would just come. And it was it
was just so apparent to me that,
Christ is is leading the church, and I'm
trying my best to, you know, say the
things and do the things that that he
would say.
But it's been it's been a life changing
experience so far.
That's awesome. And you're in Springville,

(05:07):
Utah? Yes. And, and so pretty, I mean,
pretty traditional Utah, you know, Southern Utah County
that, you know, pretty strong area of the
church. Right? Yeah. It's, it's Springville, Utah. Our
our ward is actually,
a little unique in Springville or in Utah
County. So we're up Hobble Creek Canyon,
and so we probably have the

(05:30):
highest amount of nonmembers that live in our
geographical
boundaries,
also in active families.
But the ward is is a, I'd say,
a typical ward. There's about 300 people that
attend every week
and about,
400 something on the on the record. So,
yeah. But we have,

(05:50):
you know, primary
youth,
a big,
spectrum in terms of income levels and,
and also, you know, amazing amazing elderly couples
as well. So, yeah, pretty pretty full
spectrum of of needs and and people.
And what you know, we say living in
the canyon,

(06:11):
it it just attracts a certain type of
person,
and it also
it also creates a culture
where
we're looking out for each other. We have
to we have have to survive in the
winter and in the snow and when cars
break down and when you need help on
the road. And and what it ends up
doing is it just creates a unique culture

(06:32):
in our world where where everyone's looking out
for each other. It doesn't matter whether you're
going to church or not or or a
member or not. We're sort of all in
it together in the canyon. So so it
is it is a unique culture that way.
Very, very beautiful, actually.
Maybe let's jump in. Just walk me through,
like, your approach to the youth and and
how did you
like, where where do you start when it

(06:53):
comes with youth? Because that's such a heavy
responsibility at times for bishops that, you know,
you wanna get right.
Yeah. Yeah. And that you know, when I
was,
called and, you know, spoke to my wife
and I spoke to our state president, you
know, he said
he said, let
elders corpsman or relief society run the adults
and and focus on the youth, and and

(07:16):
that should be that should be your focus.
And and I I love the youth.
I love these young men and young women
with with all of my heart.
I I do have a unique background.
I,
I've always served with youth and young men
and in scouting, and we've lived in Boston

(07:37):
and Los Angeles and Hong Kong, actually, for
five years,
and,
and now here in in Utah.
But one of the,
you know, unique things is,
ten years ago, I started a nonprofit called
Young Investors Society,
and, we can, you know, talk about some
of the stories there if you like. But,

(07:58):
basically, it has become the high school,
the teenage
investing and financial literacy club.
I sort of started it you know, we
were living in California at the time, and
we had youth. I was working in youth,
and I had I had the young men
come over to my house every Wednesday night.
And they had questions about the stock market

(08:18):
and about, you know, how to analyze companies.
And and, you know, I just started for
fun, teaching them lessons and classes about the
stock market. And and and what ended up
happening is this,
we hit on a nerve where a lot
of teenagers around the world were looking for
learning about financial literacy and and investing. And,

(08:41):
this this little, you know, idea that I
had ten years ago
has snowballed
into first, we had six high schools participating
and then 50 and then a 150 and
then 300.
And this past month, we just surpassed 3,000
high schools
in a 100 countries around the world.

(09:01):
And I spent a lot of my spare
time
working with teens,
mostly, you know, not members of the church,
and just talking about, you know, business principles,
investing principles, but also also life principles. So,
anyways, I I love working with you. I
think we've learned a lot of lessons about
how to engage youth, how to engage teams.

(09:24):
And,
it's,
it's just been one of my calling's in
life is to help teach them about the
stock market of all things. And now with
Bishop, I get to, you know, help the
youth learn about spiritual things as
well. Yeah. So what does that look like
on a week to week basis or, you
know, whether you're doing interviews or whether you're,
you know, leading out on an activity? Like,

(09:45):
what are what are the touch points of
of applying some of these principles?
Yeah.
So, you know, we're we try and be
very engaged with youth on, you know, our
weekly weeknights.
We try and and spend time during quorum
on Sunday.
As you know, you know, the responsibility of

(10:06):
Bishop is is you have many different responsibilities
while always trying to
prioritize the youth.
I but what I found, and, again, I'm
sort of new into this, is,
one is
so when I was,
you know, called as Bishop, I actually replaced

(10:26):
one of your previous,
guest who's a who's renowned and beloved,
Bishop Sweat, Anthony Sweat.
And, one of the advice,
points that he gave me is, you know,
I said, how do you judge success when
there's so many things you can be doing
as bishop and you have so much on
your plate?

(10:47):
How do you how do you judge success?
And and I've never forgot his response. He
said,
pray to receive your errands
or the impression of from the spirit
and act on it. And on a daily
and weekly basis,
if you are receiving an errand from the
spirit and you're acting on it,
then, you know, despite all the things you

(11:08):
could be doing,
you can know that,
you know, it's a success. It's a successful
week. So
I I,
try to do that on a daily, weekly
basis.
I pray by name,
every morning for all of my young men
and a lot of our ward members that
I'm working with.

(11:29):
And then oftentimes,
you know, impressions will come and visits will
happen and
and messages and texts and and reaching out.
And so
I think it's you know, there's never one
answer every week of what what the spirit
will guide you to do or or what
you should say, but I think it's being
in tune with those, promptings.

(11:50):
Yeah. I'm sure, you know, many of these
instances are are special and private, but is
is there any specific story that comes to
mind that you're going through that process that's
something you could share? Yeah.
So,
this is this is,
this will take us back fourteen years, but
I was serving as young men's president in

(12:11):
Boston.
I had a young man named Zach that
is a wonderful young man and was being
raised by a a a single mother, and,
and I was close to him. And and
over the years, he's gone through lots of
the roller coaster of life and,
you know, did not end up serving the
mission and and went through one of the

(12:33):
ups and downs of life. And,
you know, a couple months ago, he reached
out to me and said, you know, brother
Fletcher,
can we meet up for lunch? And and
and he had come back to a church,
and and he was working to prepare for
the temple, and
and he was living in Idaho at the
time. And,
and then,

(12:55):
you know, what was it, four weeks ago.
So with about a week and a half
notice, he he texted and said,
I've,
passed my interview, and I'm gonna receive my
endowment in Pocatello, Idaho.
And,
you know, he said it'll be this Friday
or this, you know, upcoming Friday.
I looked at my schedule, and I had,

(13:16):
like, a full calendar of work. And Yeah.
I said, oh, Zach, I wish I could
be there. And, you know, it's just last
minute. And as I prayed that night, I
felt that that I should be there,
that it was important. So cleared my calendar,
you know, got up early,
drove, you know, four hours
there,

(13:37):
was there with him through the temple, and,
and then drove back.
And it was it was so powerful. It
was so powerful. I was able to be
his escort, sort of his father figure through
that. Yeah. And,
I think I think it's just being in
tune and willing to,
you know, seek first the kingdom of God

(13:57):
and be willing to make the sacrifices. And
and again, you're not gonna do that every
time, but when the spirit says go,
you have to be willing to to go.
And, it was just a beautiful day that
that day was that. That's cool. I love
that. Great story. What other principles come to
mind as far as working with youth as
you you're navigating this? Obviously, you haven't dialed

(14:18):
it in or cracked the code by any
means, but there's some other principles that you
try and and focus on.
Yeah.
So and and maybe if I could, I
would just take it back to Young Investors
Society. So,
because a lot of what I've learned working
with you
was through those early days of working with
teens and Young Investors Society. So, you know,

(14:41):
the first story of Young Investors Society,
it,
it started because I visited a class in
inner city Los Angeles.
And I as I was visiting this class,
I was I was representing the stock market
game, and this was a very sort of,
you know, low income area of Los Angeles.
I remember going to this school and my

(15:02):
coworker was like, you know, good luck teaching,
you know, this it was Roybal Academy. Like,
good good luck teaching these kids about stock
market investing.
And and I went there, and it was,
you know, 99%
Hispanic,
group.
And we just had this remarkable discussion. These
kids were so bright, so engaged.

(15:23):
I told them, like, in my day job
that I invest in emerging markets, and we're
looking for people with, you know, Spanish backgrounds
and different cultural backgrounds,
and here's what we do on a daily
basis, and here's how we look at stocks.
I I received a letter from a young
man named Edgar, and he said
he said, mister Fletcher, you probably won't believe

(15:45):
this, but your forty five minute visit has
changed my life. It has
he it said,
I now wanna go to college.
I wanna study finance. You've given me something
to strive for. And he said no adult
has ever shown that they cared before,
especially for kids like me. And, that that

(16:07):
phrase,
no adult has ever shown that they cared
before, just would not leave my head. And
then, you know, I went to someone from
Harvard Business School and someone from Merrill Lynch,
and we came together and started the Young
Investors Society. And like I said, it's grown
and grown and grown.
But one of the principles I've learned throughout
these years of Young Investors Society is, one,

(16:28):
kids need a vision of who they can
become.
They need someone to believe in them and
love them and meet them where they are.
But I'd say one of the principles
beyond that is
that kids, especially teenagers,
they need a high bar. They need something
that's challenging.

(16:48):
They need to use this sort of
raise the challenge on them, and then they
rise to it. Right? Like, I have three
teenagers right now at home.
If I tell my teen, you know, go
do this puzzle that's easy. You know, they're
bored. They're not engaged. They're not excited. If
they've heard it a million times, they're just
not engaged.

(17:10):
If I tell my like, my son came
to me and he's like, I wanna build
a workbench
like Mark Roper does.
And I and I said, alright. Let's think
through how we're gonna do it. And he
went to our neighbor and, you know, all
of a sudden, like, we're spending Saturday building
this, you know, workbench. And for
for teenagers,
they need to be challenged. They need to

(17:32):
see what they can become,
and they they need a high bar. Like,
president Nelson, you've you've heard this before. He
said, this rising generation
has the capacity to be smarter
and wiser
and have more impact on the world than
any previous generation.
And, you know, I've seen that with you.

(17:53):
If you set the bar high, they rise
to it. If you set the bar low
or average, they're just bored. They're just not
engaged. If if you're saying something they've heard
a million times,
they just disconnect. Like like in our core
meetings,
we start off every lesson because they're preparing
to be missionaries in a couple years or
or soon.

(18:13):
We start with a role play question of
what they'll receive on their mission, and we're
not giving them, like, softball questions. Right? We're
giving them, like, hard investigator questions
that they need to think through, wrestle.
They need to answer with scriptures.
And the kids, like, rise to it. They
love it. It's exciting. It's challenging.

(18:34):
Whereas if, you know, you just,
you know, make it easy,
you know, teens, they they disengage. These are
smart kids. This is the smartest generation
that's ever come to the earth as president
Nelson said. Right?
Awesome. So, I mean, when you so as
you're engaging with the kids, you walk into
a room. I'm just thinking, like, scenario. Oh,
you know?
So so glad you're here, James. We need

(18:56):
you to go set the vision and set
some standards for for these youth. I mean,
it's more of, like, taking them to that
higher a higher level. Right? Raising the floor
almost where,
you know, like you did that at that
school. It's like nobody had really even thought
to go to a place like the stock
market. Like, oh, that's so above them. They
wouldn't understand it. Or would they even like

(19:16):
it? But when you went there, suddenly
those who
wanted to, right, rose to that occasion. Yep.
Yep. Exactly.
It's been interesting at Young Investors Society, for
example.
We have piloted so many different competitions
and lessons for teens
and to see, like, what sticks and what

(19:36):
what doesn't. In one year,
we did a we called it a varsity
and a JV competition
because the varsity like, our our our main
competition
is to do a full stock
research report
all the way from company analysis to income
statement analysis, and then they do a full
valuation model. They're doing a discounted cash flow

(19:58):
model, SWOT analysis, all their financials. It was
very advanced. Like, it's it's as advanced as,
like, a high level college
student would do. And we said, okay. Like,
for kids like Edgar, right, like like, they're
just beginning from inner city Los Angeles,
Let's do, like, a very watered down version.
They can analyze the company, but just do,

(20:19):
like, strain, sweetnesses, opportunities, threats.
And guess what? That year, we thought it
would be, like,
like, 60%
varsity, 40% JV.
We had 97%
of the students choose the higher level of
competition,
and only 3%
chose,
like, the basic competition.
Like like, it was and it was so

(20:40):
telling to us every time we try and,
like, do a basic level, the kids are
just not that interested.
And and every time we, like, push them
to the next level and give them something
challenging
and I think we see the same thing
in the church. Right? Like, when we truly
treat these young men and young women like
like the leaders that they are and and

(21:01):
empower them and let them run with it,
they do an amazing job. Like like, let
me tell you another story. We had,
well, it it's a long story, but our
young I'll summarize it. Our young women
were reaching out or thinking about a family
that hadn't attended church in many years,
and the young women leaders, the young the

(21:23):
young women,
you know, class president, they thought let's do
a service project to this family.
They visited this family. They they just overloaded
them with, Christmas gift,
and it touched the family so much that
that they started coming back to church. And
they have three girls.
Their oldest girl,

(21:43):
came to youth conference this year. And, again,
she hadn't gone to church in three years.
Came to youth conference, had a great experience,
came to the girls camp
last week,
you know, in beautiful Heber Valley girls camp.
The whole camp was there, and guess who
we chose to say the prayer in front
of all the girls? We chose

(22:03):
we chose Annika, and she said a beautiful
prayer. And then we asked her to speak
this Sunday, and she gave this talk this,
you know, this past Sunday.
And
I kid you not, Kurt, when she was
up there,
the spirit was so strong.
And she talked about how when she was
researching her talk
that she was guided by the spirit on

(22:25):
what topic to choose, and you could just
feel it. Like, she had been
prepared by the spirit to give the talk.
She delivered this, you know, remarkable talk.
And I just think
anyone, like, we can just
believe in them, help them rise to the
occasion. And all of a sudden, you know,
this young woman that hadn't been to church

(22:45):
in years is, you know, saying the opening
prayer girls camp and giving this, like, remarkable
talk in sacrament meetings. So I just think
believing in them and giving them chances to
to really rise to the occasion and gain
that confidence.
Yeah. So there's a few principles
that are standing out here, and correct me
if I'm sort of off base with how

(23:06):
you're articulating them, but there's sort of this,
this invitation to engage. Right? I I think
naturally,
not just with youth, but in general,
especially in your church setting, the temptation is,
like, to prepare the lesson and go in
there and talk talk about the lesson. And,
yeah, sure. We'll have some interaction. You know,
this person will read that paragraph or, you
know, maybe I'll ask this one question. We'll

(23:26):
talk about it for a few minutes. But
this is more of a interactive experience, would
you say, with with youth?
Exactly.
Exactly. Yeah. I mean so and we we
tailor it by,
age level. So so the deacons
will teach,
you know, sometimes,
but the leader, I'd say, will teach maybe

(23:47):
the majority of the lesson and then they'll
help teach.
By the time their teacher's quorum,
you know, age for young women as as
well,
they are maybe co teaching.
And by the time they're priest corps, they're
leading the lesson.
Like I said, you know, we're doing, you
know, missionary role play and, like, tough questions

(24:07):
to engage them. We do missionary prep nights,
every other Sunday
at a member's house. And and, again, like,
that discussion is not,
is not Book of Mormon one zero one.
It is it is really building their testimony.
It's answering tough questions.
It's preparing them,
for the mission that that they're gonna go

(24:29):
on. So it yeah. I mean, I think
for youth and this is the same thing
with Young Investors Society too. Like, it's,
one thing to teach
personal finance in a classroom,
And, actually, Utah, you know, mandates that all
high schools teach personal finance,
and my kids, you know, have learned personal
finance in high school. And what they do

(24:49):
is they sit in a classroom and a
teacher tells them about,
you know, bonds and, you know, savings rates
and interest rates. And and almost universally, they'll
say that was the most boring class in
high school, you know, and it was just,
you know, and just being taught to. And
what we do in Young Investors Society is
we flip it. We say, like, we believe

(25:10):
in you, and you guys are doing AP
Calculus. Right? You're so smart already.
And so now we're just gonna take that
same brain
and analyze the income statement of Tesla
and and prepare a, you know, stock pitch,
you know, presentation on it. And all of
a sudden, they're engaged because they're doing it.
They're they're the ones, you know, doing the

(25:31):
research.
I think same thing with youth, like, in
the church. Like, they have to be doing
bringing temple names to the temple,
doing missionary work themselves, preparing lessons.
This is what engages them, and it allows
the spirit to work through them
rather than
being talked to. I mean, it's the difference
of, you know, doing a presentation for Young

(25:53):
Investors Society or just sitting in a classroom
and being talked to about personal finance. Like,
one, they'll say that's the most boring class
in high school, and the other will say,
like, these were this was so fun and
so engaging. So Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There's just
a lot to take away from that in
that youth setting. And, really,
you know, and I think we're a lot
of people get there and, you know, they

(26:14):
make it more engaging or interactive the best
they can, but, I don't know. There's there's
so many ways to do that. Right? And
really,
because I I think the temptation is sometimes
we wanna get to the how do I
get what they gotta know about this doctrinal
principle. I gotta just Yeah. Sort of beat
them over the head with it until they
get it. And Yeah. But to sort of
invite them into the scriptures or invite them

(26:34):
to figure something out or Yeah.
That there's a lot a lot that could
happen there. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly.
The other principle I'm sort of hearing in
this is that,
you know, you talk about the the varsity
and junior varsity levels. Like Yeah.
Because because if you just go into a
place with a varsity level thing, you're you
could overwhelm some of those students or especially

(26:55):
those that maybe have low self esteem or,
you know, they've they may be not good
students. They're like, I I can't do that.
And so they're they'll immediately kinda turn off.
But to maybe give them
options to,
you know, challenge themselves
or or or
to not push themselves too far, is that
is that accurate?
Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, that's that's the

(27:16):
flip side. Right? Is is you need to
set the bar high,
but you also need to have high follow-up
and high sort of mentorship along the way.
So and and you've probably heard this as
well, but Elder Anderson talks about, you know,
high love, high expectations.
Right?
And and he says
that's the that's the counsel that he'll give

(27:38):
to mission leaders and his counsel he'll give
to, you know, bishops and youth leaders. But
if you have high expectations
and low love,
then it is turns into just a numbers
game, and you tend to not have real
conversion
of of converts in the mission, for example.
If you have high ex high love but

(27:59):
low expectations,
then you have a lot of friends,
but you don't have a lot of growth
and a lot of stretching. So so the
key is high love, high expectations.
Right? So, like, for Young Investors Society,
what we do is,
you know, the bar is still the same,
and we have a number of different competitions,
and we're helping kids all along the way.

(28:22):
But then where is the high love or
the high support? Right? So in Young Investors
Society,
we have a mentorship program where basically
two financial professionals
adopt a school,
and they are meeting monthly with these students.
And they're essentially you know, they're administered in
a in a in a church context, but

(28:43):
they are they are mentoring these students. So
a lot of times, you know, if it's
a low income school or we call it
an access school, we assign them two mentors
and they may be from, you know, Fidelity
Investments. And all of a sudden, just like
Edgar said to me, like, building that bridge
was priceless to him and no one has
ever,

(29:03):
you know, showed that they cared before,
we're building these mentorship bridges
through these, you know, through our access initiative.
And these kids are getting at least a
monthly visit with two professionals.
And what ends up happening is, yes, they're
helping them with their studies and their competitions,

(29:23):
but, really, I mean, I've been mentors for
a lot of schools. A lot of it
is career advice and college advice. Right? So
they just want, like, okay. Like, okay. That's
fine. Like, well, help me with my Stockfish
competition, but also
help me with, like, where should I go
to college, and what should I study, and
what should my application be like?

(29:44):
Same thing with with young men and young
women. Right? Like, it's high expectation,
high love. Right? The Lord has high expectations.
Why?
Because you are
saved for the last
day, and you are some of the greatest
young men and young women to ever come
to vote. Earth. Right? That's what president Nelson
said. You're smarter. You're wiser.

(30:05):
Your ability for impact is greater than any
generation that's ever come. And laws are laws,
and we're gonna be held to a high
standard. But
the high love comes along with it, which
is
mentorship and support and, you know, the best
mentorship is peer to peer. So if you
get kids, helping kids.

(30:26):
So I think it's just that mentality like
elder Anderson says, high love, high expectations.
And and you're not lowering the bar. You're
you're actually raising the bar, and that is
what is inspiring
action and growth.
But you're making sure that you're loving and
supporting them along that journey.
Yeah.

(30:46):
Any any other point principle with, as far
as your approach with youth or engaging or
mentoring youth that we need to make sure
we cover?
You know, I would
I would say to,
and this this goes back, you know, that
that initial story for Edgar and Young Investors
Society, but
showing youth
their gifts and their talents and that you

(31:07):
believe in them,
that, you know, the worth of souls is
great in the sight of God. One of
the scriptures that, you know, we recently studied
that, you know, stood out for me because
it does talk about bishops, but I think
it talks about leaders in general is in
doctrine and covenants 46
where it's talking about the gifts of the
spirit.
And and listen to this. It says, unto

(31:29):
the bishop of the church
and unto such as God shall appoint and
ordain to watch over the church. So essentially
all leaders of the church. Right?
It is given unto them to discern
all the gifts, lest there should be any
among you professing
that,

(31:49):
and yet be not of God. And it
shall come to pass that he that asketh
in the spirit
shall receive in the spirit.
So one of my interpretations
of this is as bishop and as a
leader,
one of my roles is to discern the
gifts of others.
And I believe, and I fully view it,
is part of discerning gift is pointing out

(32:12):
gift,
is is saying, you know what, Zach?
You have a gift of kindness.
You know? You are you are just loyal
to your friends.
And and that is me as a leader
discerning gifts
and also helping them recognize their gift.
I think youth, you
you know, they they they follow by example,

(32:35):
and they follow by leaders and parents and
adults,
helping them see,
you know, their potential. I I think youth
struggle with,
you know, low self esteem. I think it's
very tough growing up in in today's world.
I think they struggle with anxiety.
We were we were just at girls camp,
last week, as I said. And and one

(32:56):
of the things they did at girls camp
is they had all the girls write in
a in a UV,
pen
what they would love Jesus Christ, their savior,
to help them overcome in their life.
And
and then they show it in an interactive
way as they're walking through this path.

(33:17):
And,
it was astonishing
and heartbreaking
and harrowing to the soul
to see
the challenges that all the young women
are struggling with on the inside, and maybe
it's not apparent from the outside.
And so I think youth, as leaders of

(33:37):
youth,
it is our responsibility,
as it says in doctor and covenants 20
46,
to discern their gifts and their potential
and point it out and let them know.
And so that's one thing. Yeah. Any opportunity
we have to
point out their goodness and their potential and
and specific compliments to them, I think, goes

(34:00):
a a long, long way for these youth.
Yeah. That's that's fantastic.
James, anything else as far as I mean,
there's so many principles here. Anything else as
far as with the the youth that you've
discovered or or you're applying or or finding
success with? Any principle there?
No. And I think,

(34:20):
well, just to add to the previous principle
of pointing out their,
gifts and talents,
I I think,
loving them in real and natural
ways.
And and, really, that's you know, everyone that
walks in my office as bishop,
they should feel

(34:41):
the love of the savior
in a way that is, you know, the
prodigal son's father running to them.
Right? That same, like, like,
insatiable
love and astonishingly
great love. And I think youth feel it
when it's real and when it's genuine.
When it's when it's, you know,

(35:03):
when it's just part of the program of
church and showing up to a Tuesday activity
and teaching a lesson and saying I love
you on their birthday.
You know, youth pains are so smart these
days. They're so
they're
so aware of of how much you really
mean it. Love love is a verb. Right?

(35:23):
And love is action. And, like, love is
action that surprises them, that astonishes them, that
is out of the normal.
And, so I just think, yeah, pointing out
their talents
and showing love in a way that is
that is different than what they would have
expected. They'll be like, woah. I can't believe

(35:44):
he did that like Zach. Right? Like, I
can't believe,
you know, Bishop Fletcher
dropped everything on a Friday and drove to
Pocatello for four hours. Right?
Like, those are the things they remember and
that they say,
he really loves me. Right? And I think
as a leader, we're trying to show that
that Christ like love.
Yeah. That's awesome. I wanna make sure we

(36:05):
give a good plug to your this organization
you talk to. If people
wanna know more information and I don't know
if it's specifically, like, like or who who
should just anybody who knows a youth or
youth who would be interested or people who
work in the schools
or maybe plug that for us.
Yeah. No. Young Investors Society, it's a nonprofit.
It's entirely free,

(36:26):
and we're funded by some great partners like
Bloomberg and Goldman Sachs. So we don't charge
anything for teachers and anything for students.
And, really, the secret is anyone can go
on and and watch the videos and and
do the lessons if you wanna learn about
the stock market or personal finance. So it's
it's yis.org,

(36:47):
younginvestorsociety.org.
And you can register as a parent or
a teacher or a student and start start
going through the lessons.
I'm active on LinkedIn or,
if anyone wants to connect, and I'm happy
to if there's leaders of the church out
there that want sort of,
some materials or activities on, like, a learn

(37:09):
how to invest night, I have, you know,
I've done it hundreds of times now, and
I have lots of good activities and, you
know, fun things that they can do. So
feel free to reach out. I'm happy to
help. But, again, they anyone can sign up
for free on on y I s dot
org.
Awesome. Love it. And then if if you're
open to it, I would love to continue

(37:30):
this conversation,
after you know, we'll let this publish and
people kinda get a,
you know, sense of your your leadership to
some of these principles you talked about. And
then let's, we'll we'll we'll put the information
in the the show notes to go to
the community. And then let's meet up again
and record something again,
but do it with, maybe an audience that
can tune in anywhere in the world, and

(37:51):
we can ask questions and and maybe just
learn together if they're open to that. Anytime,
Kurt. You know you know I'm such a
fan of of leading saints, and I just
see it as as such an amazing resource
sharing best practices.
Nice. Well, it's time about time you pull
your weight around here, you know? So
Exactly.
So, yeah, I'm really excited to have you

(38:12):
back and even, you know, we can do
this multiple times or just keep keep learning.
This is exactly the type of information we
need. So last question I have for you
is, you've probably heard over the years as
you reflect on your time as a leader,
how has being a leader helped you become
a better follower of Jesus Christ?
Yeah. It's,
you know, as I mentioned at the beginning,
when I was called as bishop and I

(38:33):
think we felt this probably as, you know,
we got called as full time missionary.
All of a
sudden, you're walking in the savior's footsteps, and
you're saying words that hopefully the savior would
say.
And,
you're getting a glimpse into how much he
loves and how merciful he is.

(38:54):
And it has
astonished me to the core
how loving and how merciful
Jesus Christ is.
I I will never be the same
after
this calling and feeling
how much he loves
and endlessly
forgives and runs
when people open that door like the prodigal

(39:17):
son,
and the prodigal son's father. I've I've had
this analogy in my head for the past
for the past ten months that it's like
on one hand,
the love of God and the love of
Jesus Christ is like the Mississippi River. You
know, there's that there's another verse in doctor
and governance one twenty one. How will a
puny arm stay

(39:37):
the Mississippi River?
And I I've had this, you know, analogy
that the Mississippi River is this love of
God. Like, this love is so great and
it's rushing,
and yet I am like a common garden
hose,
you know, with kinks in it, an old
garden hose. And I'm trying to, like, you
know, push this water of the Mississippi River

(39:59):
through this old kinked garden hose.
And I just have this symbol, like, on
one hand is
the love of God rushing
like a Mississippi River, and here I am
like a puny
garden hose in the middle. And I'm trying
my best to to let people feel,
you know, the water, the the living waters

(40:20):
of Christ. And,
you know, I I will never be the
same
because I now know how much
Christ loves and how much he
cares and how much he loves giving second
chances and how much he believes in people.
Like, we talked about before, like like, the
potential

(40:40):
and his belief in that individual is so
high. And so,
anyways,
leading in the church
has has let me feel Christ in a
way that I will never be the same.
And I hope that my little puny garden
hose can expand a little bit
so that I can properly
convey
the love that Christ has for my ward

(41:02):
members and and for those around me.
And that concludes this how I lead
interview. I hope you enjoyed it. And, I
would ask you, could you take a minute

(41:22):
and drop this link in an email, on
social media, in a text, wherever it makes
the most sense, and share it with somebody
who could relate to this experience. And this
is how we develop as leaders, just hearing
what the other guy is doing, trying some
things out, testing, adjusting
for your area, and,
that's where great leadership's discovered. Right? So we
would love to have you, share this with,

(41:43):
somebody in this calling or a related calling,
and that would be great. And, also, if
you know somebody,
any type of leader who would be a
fantastic guest on the how I lead segment,
reach out to us. Go to leadingsaints.org/contact.
Maybe send this in individual an email letting
them know that you're going to be suggesting
their name for this interview. We'll reach out

(42:03):
to them and, see if we can line
them up. So, again, go to leadingsaints.org/contact,
and there you can submit all the information
and let us know. And maybe they will
be on a future how I lead segment
on the Leading Saints podcast.
Remember, go listen to Dan Duckworth's presentation about
youth mentorship by visiting leadingsaints.org/fourteen.

(42:31):
It came as a result of the position
of leadership which was imposed upon us
by the God of heaven who brought forth
a restoration
of the gospel of Jesus
Christ.
And when the declaration
was made
concerning the own and only true and living
church upon the face of the earth,

(42:52):
we were immediately put in a position of
loneliness.
The loneliness of leadership
from which we cannot shrink nor run away,
and to which we must face up with
boldness and courage
and ability.