Utah Gov. Spencer Cox talks ‘rivaling right’ with University of Utah’s Taylor Randall and BYU’s Shane Reese

Within the first 90 minutes of Monday’s Utah Business Forward Conference, business owners and leaders from across the region were gleaning career and life counsel from some of the state’s most influential voices in government, higher education and industry.

Hosted by Utah Business Magazine, the one-day conference focusing on accelerating Utah’s economy commenced with presentations featuring Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, University of Utah President Taylor Randall, Brigham Young University President C. Shane Reese and veteran business leader Sheri Dew.

Randall and Reese are no strangers to combining calls for turning rivalries into results, benefiting all.

Earlier this fall, prior to the always heated annual Utah-BYU football game, the two school presidents/friends brought back the “Rival Right” campaign to cool animosity between the sides by promoting mutual respect and collaboration.

On Monday, Randall and Reese were reunited for a “Turning Rivalry into the Right Results” discussion moderated by Cox — a loyal Utah State Aggie.

The governor joined the two school presidents to discuss conflict and collaboration — two concepts “happening between the University of Utah and Brigham Young University.”

Cox joked that when he was growing up in rural Utah, he had no idea who the Republicans and Democrats were in his church congregation and neighborhood. “But I knew exactly who the BYU fans and the Utah fans were.”

The Utah-BYU sports rivalry, of course, stretches across generations, families and communities.

Aptly, the governor began his discussion Monday by asking the leaders of their respective Utah institutions why the rivalry between the Utes and Cougars matters so much — and what are the rivalry’s “good parts” and “rough parts.”

It’s a question Reese said that he often asks himself. After all, it’s still just a game.

“Sports matter, in part, because I think it touches the fabric of everyday life in so many meaningful ways,” he said.

And the overlap that’s found across the two schools is reflected in the two football programs. BYU has coaches who played and coached at Utah, and vice versa. And, of course, Utah families often have close ties to both schools.

So the rivalry matters, said Reese, because of those ties. “We love that there is this healthy competition.”

But it’s best, he added, when that competition is focused in healthy ways.

Meanwhile, Randall’s mother is a BYU graduate. His dad’s a Ute alum.

So the Utah/BYU Rivalry Week “taught me to manage conflict at home,” he said, drawing laughter.

“It was always just so much fun in our household with mom and dad kind of going at each other for a week.”

But it was all grounded in fun — not actual contention.

Randall agreed with Reese that sports rivalries can elevate people, while offering a bit of respite from life’s mundanity.

Cox noted that sports can teach lessons in healthy conflict resolution.

“But we certainly see instances — not just here in the state, but across the country — where (sports rivalries) lead into the unhealthy type of tribalism.”

The governor asked Randall and Reese about their decision to participate together in ads promoting the fun of healthy competition and rivalries — without crossing into something toxic.

The University of Utah president said he has “an incredible amount of respect” for his BYU counterpart and BYU.

“Shane and I both share a common set of goals on how to make humanity better.”

But the two leaders also recognized that the negative aspects of the rivalry game were getting in the way of collaboration. A perspective reset was in order.

“It is just a game, right?” observed Randall.

“We ought to be able to get through that game and, at the end of the day, smile and go back to work with equal passion on making students successful in life, doing research together and solving society’s big problems.

“You’ve got to redefine, in some sense, the competition. We’re not competing against each other. We’re competing against the problems of society — and we ought to be on the same team.”

Reese noted that he and Randall share hope that the two schools can reinforce that commonality can positively coexist with spirited athletic competition.

But he added that the “Rival Right” collaboration even prompted some pushback within their own institutions.

The two men also share beliefs that the competition between the two schools is “not endless.”

“We share, in the vast majority of our work, a common aim — which is to help our students be prepared for the world in which they will enter and face,” said Reese.

Added the BYU president: “We feel like we’re making small, incremental progress.”

The perils of ‘zero-sum’ campus mentalities

Cox also spoke Monday of the many challenges facing Reese, Randall and other higher education leaders across the country.

Besides, of course, the politics — colleges are managing limited resources and the tension prompted by rapidly evolving elements in college sports such as NIL.

It’s easy, said Cox, for colleges to adopt a zero-sum mentality and believe another institution’s success is a threat to one’s own.

The governor asked the two college presidents how to best foster collaborations at a moment of division.

“We have to adopt more of a ‘both-and’ mentality — rather than an ‘either-or’ mentality,” said Reese.

“I think far too often we let people direct us into a false dichotomy of ‘You’ve got to choose this’ — or ‘You’ve got to choose that’. And I just don’t believe in most cases that’s true.”

Zero-sum mentalities, he added, are unhealthy for both college campuses and in the business world.

Randall pointed to the collaborative opportunities that the two Utah universities will enjoy when BYU opens its future medical school.

Some have asked Randall if having another medical school operating within the state will mark a new level competition between BYU and the University of Utah. But he’s quick to respond that the world is in dire need of more well-trained physicians.

“So why don’t we just boot up the strengths of both together and actually try to accelerate that progress in medicine?” asked Randall.

Collaboration between the state’s higher education institutions is vital for society, added the University of Utah president.

“With all the big problems of the world, it’s actually detrimental to go it alone. I think if you just take time and get over the competition, you’ll see the opportunities.”

Cox concluded Monday’s panel discussion saying Reese and Randall are two of the globe’s best college presidents.

“We are incredibly lucky to have them — and we’re even more lucky to have them working together, because the synergies that are happening are going to solve some of the biggest problems we’re facing as a state and a nation.”

A leadership conversation with Sheri Dew

During Monday morning’s Q&A keynote presentation, Deseret News’ Executive Editor Doug Wilks spoke with Dew, the executive vice president of Deseret Management Corp., about lessons she’s learned across a vast, dynamic leadership career.

Dew recalled taking the reins at Deseret Book over two decades ago at a moment when the storied media company was “losing a lot of money” and desperate for change.

Immediately she recognized that Deseret Book’s reemergence would demand a culture of trust throughout the company.

Relationships at the company were essential to its success — and the strength of those relationships would be determined by fostering trust.

That’s a truism found in business, communities and families, said Dew.

“If you can’t trust somebody, you can only strategize how to deal with them. You can’t actually move forward together.”

No one is perfect, she added. All are fallible. But honesty offers a remedy.

“If someone will tell me the truth; if someone’s motive is for the greater good, rather than promoting themselves, and if their judgment’s pretty good … then you can trust that person and you can start to build."

“You can build momentum. You can build ideas. You can keep getting better.”

So early in her Deseret Book leadership career, Dew made a point to surround herself with people she could trust — and then be a person who could be trusted.

“If I told someone something, I would follow through. If I promised something, I would absolutely do it.”

Talent, Dew added, is important to success — “but trust is really important.

The influence of ‘trust builders’

Wilks asked Dew about people in her life that have exemplified such trust.

She counts her late mother, JoAnn Petersen Dew, among several relatives as exemplars of trust.

Dew said she learned to trust her mother as a little girl — and that confidence remained throughout their lives together. Even after years of serving in business and church leadership positions, Dew often sought out her mother’s counsel and assurance.

Dew also spoke of former Latter-day Saint leaders, trusted church presidents Gordon B. Hinckley and President Russell M. Nelson.

From President Hinckley, she learned the value of modesty and pragmatism. “He was a mover and a doer” who could see beyond distractions, get to the point and move things forward.

From President Nelson, Dew learned the importance of seeking others’ perspectives.

The renowned heart surgeon and ecclesiastical leader was typically the smartest person in any room he occupied. But he valued the opinions and insights of all he encountered.

President Nelson, she added, also prioritized expressing gratitude for others, even in the days just before his recent death.

“I could never get over his propensity for saying thank you — and acknowledging (others).”

Dew also saluted business and civic leaders of Utah such as Robert and Katharine Garff, Fraser Bullock and Dave Checketts. Each are people who advance progress by instilling trust and mentoring support.

Demonstrating leadership by identifying solutions

When Wilks asked Dew about how she motivates an employee at a difficult moment, Dew said she usually disappoints herself whenever she allows herself to “get cranky and get grumpy.”

She witnesses far better results with employees when she emphasizes positives, offers encouragement and, together, identifies solutions — and then moves forward.

Dew concluded her discussion Monday by again championing trust.

“That issue of trust — whether you’re building a team or trying to build yourself so that you can be the person who’s trustworthy — that is the key to success in any relationship and any organization.”