Leading for 87 Years and Beyond | An Interview with George Wootan

George Wootan is a retired physician living in Port Richey,
Florida. He is 87 years old, the parent of 11 children, and very
active in his ward. George and his wife recently served a mission
in the Tampa, Florida mission office, and are currently serving as
ward missionaries. Links There is already a discussion started
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Leader Library Highlights 2:00 Introduction. Kurt is speaking at
the Zions camp retreat with a live audience and introduces guest
speaker, George. 5:20 George talks about how he spent his life
living outside the box while trying to convince people that he's
inside the box. 7:40 George has severe dyslexia but still made it
through med school and has what he calls an interesting brain that
comes up with solutions. He loves creating solutions and sharing
ideas, especially in his ward. 8:30 Even though George is 87 years
old he still wants to be a part of leadership and have a role in
the ward. He just barely retired from being a doctor last year and
he still has a lot of life to give. 12:40 George’s leadership
experience and the mission he and his wife went on in the Tampa
mission office. 17:00 George speaks on ward unity and implementing
ideas. He talks about how he organizes activities and even though
it’s not technically his calling he takes initiative to plan things
in the ward. 21:40 George talks about how he met his wife and the
dynamic in their marriage. 27:00 Setting up a new program so that
people that can’t afford to feed the missionaries can still feed
them with help of the bishops storehouse. George also sets up less
active families to help feed the missionaries too. 28:30
Maintaining engagement in the ward. Learning people’s names. One of
the traits of leadership is that Christ knew people’s names and
changed their names. 30:00 Another one of George’s ideas is baking
bread for the ward with the help of the youth. Each week ministers
will be assigned to deliver the bread. 31:15 Did you ever have an
idea that wasn’t taken well by a bishop and how did you handle it?
The difference between the gospel and church policy. 33:00 Starting
a men's group for single men over 40 35:20 Advice to future leaders
Focus on learning names. Use first names instead of last. We call
our friends by their first names. 37:50 Reaching out and finding
people who are on the records but the bishop doesn’t know about.
George talks about how he is going about finding those people and
reaching out to them. 40:50 How can we elevate women’s voices in
our wards and stakes? 42:00 Final thoughts on leadership 45:40 How
87 years of leadership has made him a better follower of Jesus
Christ. Be a disciple not just a follower. The 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. Past guests include
Emily Belle Freeman, David Butler, Hank Smith, John Bytheway, Reyna
and Elena Aburto, Liz Wiseman, Stephen M. R. Covey, Julie Beck,
Brad Wilcox, Jody Moore, Tony Overbay, John H. Groberg, Elaine
Dalton, Tad R. Callister, Lynn G. Robbins, J. Devn Cornish, Bonnie
Oscarson, Dennis B. Neuenschwander, Anthony Sweat, John Hilton III,
Barbara Morgan Gardner, Blair Hodges, Whitney Johnson, Ryan
Gottfredson, Greg McKeown, Ganel-Lyn Condie, Michael Goodman, Wendy
Ulrich, Richard Ostler, and many more in over 600 episodes.
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