PROVO — When the goal is to reach hundreds of millions of people worldwide, you can't inch your way along.
"There's power in setting an objective that appears to be so ambitious that you can't possibly get there," Mark H. Willes told a group at BYU Thursday. "That's the magic of it. Because if you can't get there doing what you're currently doing … then you have to think radically differently, and then some wonderful things can happen."
Willes, president and chief executive officer of Deseret Management Corp., spoke Thursday night at the fourth annual Neal A. Maxwell lecture series about the ambitious goal to reinvent the church's media businesses.
Deseret News, KSL Television and Radio, Bonneville International, Deseret Book and the new Internet company Deseret Digital Media all have been tasked with a bold, new mission statement: "to be trusted voices of light and knowledge, reaching hundreds of millions of people worldwide."
Such a lofty goal means that messages from print, radio, television and Web outlets must expand beyond the Wasatch Front, Utah and even the membership of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Willes said.
Those messages are not intended to convert or teach doctrine, but simply convey principles in harmony with the LDS Church's mission: civility, morality, integrity.
"We (recognize) that in today's world, there are 1,000 other people who are going to tell a different story," Willes said. "We know that, we love it. We're going to make sure we tell stories that are consistent with our values, which is to show people love and respect and concern."
Willes, who is a former stake and mission president, was appointed by LDS Church President Thomas S. Monson to the Deseret Management position in March 2009.
He formerly served as CEO of Times Mirror, publisher of the Los Angeles Times, and vice chairman of General Mills Inc.
After hearing the lecture, junior economics major Josh Rabe said it was easy to see why the church has entrusted Willes with the communication organizations.
"He's a smart businessman," Rabe said. "It was cool hearing the goals he's previously set. Reaching hundreds of millions seems like it is something we can achieve with him."
But Willes said impacting that many viewers, readers and listeners is only possible by telling emotionally powerful stories that serve as beacons of truth and light.
"This matter of being a light is even more important in dark times," he said, quoting Maxwell, an LDS general authority who died in 2004. "Our impact, for better or worse, on others is inevitable, but it is intended that we be a light and not just another shadow."
Willes pointed out the first indications of that light are the cleanup of the KSL comment board; a new KSL public-interest show hosted by Bruce Lindsay; and El Observador, a three-times-a-week, Spanish-language newspaper.
"We are not the same set of companies we were a year ago," Willes said. "We will not be the same two and three and four years from now, because this mission statement is meaningful to us, and it is changing what we do and the way we do it."
e-mail: sisraelsen@desnews.com