Tag Archives: leadership

Thank You For Your Service

November 11th is US holiday dedicated to honoring military veterans and celebrating their service. And I believe its also a day we should honor and celebrate the families of the veterans who are as much the heroes as those who serve. I am so grateful to veterans and their families for affording me a great nation of freedom […]

Opportunities Are Like Sunrises, If You Wait Too Long You Miss Them

“Opportunities are like sunrises. If you wait too long you miss them.”  – William Arthur Ward I’ve observed many situations where an opportunity was placed before someone, and then they hesitated, and fretted, and deliberated, and flip-flopped, until eventually their hesitation lost them the opportunity all-together. Opportunities…especially golden ones…don’t present themselves all that often. Golden […]

How Not To Feel Lonely As A CEO

Today I spoke at an executive luncheon for CEOs and executives from different companies. It was a Q&A format so there was a lot of questions asked about the different things that CEOs deal with. Talking with them I was reminded of the stresses they were carrying on their shoulders and I could remember feeling […]

Don’t Let Your Fear Stop You – TRY!

I’ve been known to be the first girl out on the dance floor, the girl who can’t sit still if she’s bored, a leader, an entrepreneur, a public speaker, a writer, and a philanthropist. What I am not known to be is a girl who does anything that requires walking long distances, running even short […]

To Win Someone Over Your Reasoning’s Gonna Have To Trump Theirs

When my husband and I were building our home years ago we got into a debate (some may even think of it as an argument, but debate sounds less negative 🙂 ) while picking out which doorknobs  to have on all the doors – he wanted the heavy duty expensive ones and I was thinking […]

If It Feels Like Work You Are Doing It Wrong

“If it feels like work you are doing it wrong.” – unknown Today I must be doing it wrong because it has definitely felt like work. Those feelings reminded me of an article I once read that was written by Jenna Goudreau for Forbes called Seven Steps To Happiness At Work, she shares seven tips from a […]

Attributes Of Empathy

“Be kind for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.” – Plato This video clip below is awesome! It is a perfect illustration of why we ought to have a little more empathy for other people. We shouldn’t assume we know what someone is feeling or what they might be dealing with. We can’t […]

Ethics, Turbulence, Leadership and Integrity

Last week I flew to Driggs Idaho where we held our BYU Wheatley Ethics Advisory Council retreat. I’d never been to Driggs or Jackson Hole so I was really excited to get to see both places for the first time. But we had a bit of a harrowing experience on the trip when the Pilatus […]

The Torch Bearer

Each of us have been born with special talents that God gave us so we might use them to benefit the lives of others. As we do, our own lives will be blessed as well. I love the following poem because its a great reminder to stay humble and recognize that our gifts are just […]

Tell The Negative Committee That Meets Inside Your Head To Sit Down And Shut Up

“Tell the negative committee that meets inside your head to sit down and shut up!” – Ann Bradford I still remember as a child seeing my mother standing in the kitchen talking to herself. No joke. She would literally have entire conversations with herself. At the time I just assumed my Mom must be a […]

Advice For Entrepreneurs Trying To Win Over An Investor

Many people have asked me what advice I can give to entrepreneurs that are trying to win over an investor. As I thought about the most important piece of advice I could share it would have to be the same advice I wrote back for Forbes when I was just a year into becoming an […]

Promise Yourself

“Promise Yourself To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind. To talk health, happiness, and prosperity to every person you meet. To make all your friends feel that there is something in them To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true. To think only the […]

If I Had My Life To Live Over Again

Yesterday I blogged about a talk Steve Jobs gave in which he discussed keeping perspective on life and death in the context of making decisions and not letting fear hold you back. After I’d finished that blog I couldn’t help but think a bit more about that subject of life and death, but my thoughts […]

You Have To Be Odd To Be Number One! (This Will Pump You Up!!!)

“You have to be odd to be number one.”  -Dr. Seuss If you want to get SUPER PUMPED UP at the start of your day then listen to the audio in this video. It is an AWESOME way to start your day and get all fired up to get out there and be willing to […]

If You’re Gonna Do It, You Gotta Own It!

“If you’re gonna do it, you gotta own it!” That’s what my daughter yelled out to her now husband as he and her brother were talking about whether he should do a funny dance number at her wedding reception a week ago.  She pointed out that anytime you are going to do something public like […]

Life’s Little Instructions

“Life’s Little Instructions -Every so often you push your luck. -Never underestimate the power of a kind word or deed. -Never give up on anybody — miracles happen every day. -Become the most positive and enthusiastic person you know. -Learn to listen. -Think big thoughts, but relish small pleasures. -Don’t expect others to listen to […]

Blessed Are The Flexible For They Will Not Be Bent Out Of Shape

Plans change. Things come up. Stuff happens…that’s just life…and when they do we can either get angry or upset or sad and allow it to ruin our day, or we can decide we are going to go with the flow and make the best of the situation even when its not what we had planned. […]

Give people the benefit of the doubt

“A lovely little girl was holding two apples with both hands. Her mom came in and softly asked her little daughter with a smile: my sweetie, could you give your mom one of your two apples? The girl looked up at her mom for some seconds, then she suddenly took a quick bite on one […]

It Couldn’t Be Done

It Couldn’t Be Done Somebody said that it couldn’t be done But he with a chuckle replied That “maybe it couldn’t,” but he would be one Who wouldn’t say so till he’d tried.   So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin On his face. If he worried he hid it. He […]

How A Great Leader Melts The Iceberg Of Ignorance

“Only 4% of an organization’s front-line problems are known by top management, 9% are known by middle management, 74% by supervisors and 100% by employees…” Sidney Yoshida calls this “The Iceberg of Ignorance” in his study that was presented at the International Quality Symposium. Front-line employees that are working in the trenches are always going […]

Things Will Straighten Out When You Stand Steady And Face Them

Sundays have always been a special day of the week for me. It’s the one day I set aside work and outside activities and as much technology as I can and I use it as a day to refill my spiritual tank. I always attend church for three hours each Sunday (…yes, you heard me […]

Do It For The Others Whose Feet May Someday Pass This Way

I’m sure I’ve shared this poem at some point before but it was on my mind today so I had to share it again. When I’ve had a long day and I’m tired and find myself still awake and still needing to write a daily blog and it’s already 3am in the morning and I […]

‘Pride is concerned with who is right. Humility is concerned with what is right.’

“Pride is concerned with who is right. Humility is concerned with what is right.” – Ezra T. Benson When we focus on “who is right” it is very easy for personal emotions to come into play which often leads to clouding our view – worrying about “who is right” becomes a matter of pride of […]

What Will Matter

Sometimes you read something that says what you are thinking more perfectly than you could say it yourself  – that’s how I felt when I read this poem by Michael Josephson, whom I had never heard of until someone showed me this poem , but I  like the message of his poem so much I’m […]

Just Think Of The Things You Are Glad That You’re Not

When my luck seems all gone, and I’m down in the mouth, When I’m stuck in the north and I want to go south; When the world seems a blank and there’s no one to love, And it seems even God’s not in heaven above. I’ve a cure for my grouch and it works like […]

Come What May, And Love It

Years ago someone gave me a little plate that reads, “Come what may, and love it.” It is a quote that came from a fantastic story told by a man named Joseph B Wirthlin in a talk titled the same in which he shared: “When I was young I loved playing sports, and I have […]

You’ve Been Gifted With The Ability of Leadership – Don’t Waste It!

I will keep my words short today because I want you all to watch this video. I know it’s five minutes but I promise you it is worth the time to watch this entire video – don’t fast forward any of it – I promise…you’ll be glad you watched it. When things get tough, remember […]

Being On Time

Much of my life I struggled with being on time to things. I would always pack my schedule a bit too tight and then forget to leave adequate driving time in between appointments and inevitably I would end up racing around yet still arriving five or ten minutes late to everything. Until one day someone pointed […]

An inspiring message on the importance of empathy from Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft

Friday evening it was my honor to be able to meet Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. He had come to Utah to be the keynote speaker for the UTC Hall of Fame that I was being inducted into and I had the privilege of getting to meet and talk with him before the event. Here’s a […]

There is no such thing as a perfect parent

“There is no such thing as a perfect parent so just be a real one.” – Sue Atkins Without a doubt the hardest job on the planet is that of being a parent. The stakes are so high because every mistake you make as a parent affects your children and you realize that so you […]