Other than that, the types I remember who made stake, mission or temple president, or area authority, generally were the corporate-career-type a-holes.
1) You must be conformist. Ask the right questions, not the wrong ones. Dress like an IBM employee. Your main vice should be watching too much BYU sports. Your wife should look and act like an Osmon, and your kids should too.
2) Having Mormon royalty helps a lot. Having the right last name and a regional or SLC authority as your uncle or grandfather helps a lot.
3) Have a job that pays well, gives you plenty of time for church service, and doesn't require your wife to work. Dentist is good. Professor, except at BYU, is too intellectual. Corporate exec used to be good, but corporate America expects people to work 60 hours a week now.
4) Do lots of visible church service. Turn in 100% HT, fulfill your calling to the max. Doing non-visible charity won't help you. Make sure the Bishop and SP know you are always available to help out as needed.
5) Have the right resume: seminary, BYU, RM, married by 25 in the temple.
J Golden Kimball said there were two ways to be called as a general authority. Revelation and relation and if he hadn't been Heber C Kimball's relation, he'd never been a general authority.
Picture a ladder that's cut off in the middle, and the top half is missing.
That's about as far as 99.999% of any mormons will travel "up" the up ladder to corporate success in mormon religion.
After you reach the halfway mark, ie, bishop, stake president, regional this or that.. there isn't anywhere else to move up to.
And back down ye'll go soon enough.
It's a corporate hierarchy, oligarchy, and dictatorship rolled into one. It probably does help to be related to someone. But even those with connections are likely to never see the light of day inside church office space.
SP must be the worst gig. You are responsible for 2000 souls, have to oversee 4-8 bishops, and yet you get no compensation. You have to work your regular FT job, and then answer to Mormon leaders who are all paid for their work.
Getting to be a 70 and you start getting paid. They don't work for a living, other than church work. You get to travel on the church's dime and push around volunteers like they were your employees.
The SP is just the highest ranking volunteer in the church. Above him are paid clergy, and below him are thousands of people wanting his time and attention.
In LeGrand Richard's opinion, it didn't matter. The wisest thing I ever heard when I was active in the church in regards to what's important in the church was when he said, "Everything above a Bishop is just talk!"
He felt that the work of the church was done in the wards and everything else was just unnecessary fluff.
My point is that SP is the highest unpaid position in the church. His superiors get healthy "stipends" and expense accounts. He gets to do all that church work while holding down a paying FT job himself.
Only one requirement: pay LOTS of tithing consistently over many years. I've never had a stake president that wasn't very well off. I've known a few area authorities and all were very wealthy. As others have mentioned, any higher than that and you have to have some connection...related to a GA, former stake president of an apostle, connections to important people in gov't, etc...
There are three great tions by which individuals are called to positions of authority in this church: inspiration, desperation, and relation. Of those the latter is the most significant.
My ex-FIL (now deceased) was a GA (president of church-owned college) a long time ago and got his church career started as a seminary teacher, institute teacher, being pals with GAs, bishop, etc, getting a phD, keeping in touch with 'elite' Mormons, making friends with 'elite Mormons' and finally getting a position/calling/whatever (hey, if they have to 'set you apart' for it what the hell is it?) as this college president.
luck, connections, FAMILY connections, and ideally wealth on top of that; beyond that, to get into the system, one needs to have offspring who appear to have a low chance of straying, though once one is in the Q12, anything can happen with one's posterity and it won't interfere with one's natural succession
Law degree (defense practice) Second language Charismatic speaker/Paul Dunn types Real military service (flying planes/helicopters) PR/international business experience (presidential press secretary type defense/debate skill) Successful shady real estate deals Proven track record of defending the church/brethren (LIE) (Angry pulpit pounding when required)
Trophy wife, educated but 99% silent (quiver birther)
1. Never ask difficult questions!! 2. Never think outside the box !!! 3. Never quote dead Prophets !!!! 4. Always say YES !!!!! 5. Make sure your kids stay on the straight and narrow.!!!!!!
6. PAY PRAY AND OBEY !!!!!!!!
I could not adhere to any of those concepts
That is why my Stake President said I would never amount to anything in the Church
Some have intangible qualities such as the Rock Star looks of Dieter, and his international flair. Basically anything that moves you up the ladder of any multinational corporation.
It used to be to rise in the lower half, you just had to appear to be a good person and be a relatively good speaker, but now a solid business or professional job is needed as well, and generally your wife shouldn't work.