147: Former BYU President Kevin Worthen | Say “Yes” as Often as Possible

Kevin Worthen was the 13th president of Brigham Young University and is a “BYU guy through and through” as he says. Kevin earned both his bachelor’s and law degree from BYU, graduating summa cum laude. After graduating from law school, Kevin clerked for the U.S. Supreme Court Justice Byron White, and later spent a year at the University of Chile as a Fullbright Scholar. Kevin also served as Dean of the BYU Law school and as Advancement Vice President of BYU before serving as President. Most recently, Kevin spent a year at Yale Law School as a distinguished visiting professor.

In this episode we discuss the following:

• As Ken Burns said, “Leadership is humility and generosity squared.”
• Leadership is admitting we don’t know everything and then giving credit to others for their success.
• When Kevin played basketball in college, his coaches would use every second of the timeouts to coach the players. But as the years passed, he noticed that coaches started using the timeouts to counsel with the other coaches. There’s power in admitting you don’t see everything and in getting advice from others.
• As the President of BYU, Kevin learned to say “yes” as often as he could, because there are so many times as a leader that you have to say “no.”
• It’s important to be generous and kind when saying “no,” especially because saying “no” typically doesn’t persuade anyone.
• I love two of the quotes Kevin shared: “Anger never persuaded anyone” and “The law of love is undefeated.”

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