00;00;15;13 – 00;00;28;13
Marty
We just jump right in. So, Curtis, thanks for being here. Thanks for having me. Five years at the Utah Valley Chamber. Yeah. Can you believe it? Just after Covid. Yeah. Does it feel like it’s been five years? I mean, Covid can make things feel like it was 20 years, even when it was only five.

00;00;28;14 – 00;00;38;04
Curtis Blair
Lost track of time. Covid is like one of those moments in history. We were like, what did I do before and what did I do after? But I came on just after Covid wound down and it’s been a delight being there.

00;00;38;06 – 00;00;48;22
Marty
Yeah, that’s a really challenging time to take over any organization, but a chamber in particular, because it’s sort of about bringing people together and getting out and meeting people. What are the challenges that you face, like right off the bat when you started.

00;00;48;22 – 00;01;08;11
Curtis Blair
That you want to be in a room together and network and go to events? And that was, you know, limited during during Covid, I’m sure. Well, the way that I was introduced to the chamber was through the golf tournament that we hold every year. It’s at Riverside Country Club, every false and amazing tournament, and I volunteered to run their golf tournament in 2020.

00;01;08;13 – 00;01;29;22
Curtis Blair
And the search committee led by Stan Lockhart said, hey, what are you doing? Over the next couple of years and would you throw your hat in the ring? So. But you’re not wrong. Very difficult coming off of Covid to run a membership organization of any type. Chamber B and I, you know, entrepreneur organizations all over struggled with getting people together.

00;01;29;22 – 00;01;39;06
Curtis Blair
But we figured out a way and that’s that’s partly being entrepreneurial and innovative, which I think I’d like to be known for at the chamber.

00;01;39;08 – 00;01;50;14
Marty
Yeah. I want to start getting to know you a little bit, especially how our audience do that. I love the term business alchemist, and that’s something you’ve either described yourself as or someone described you as that. What do you mean by business, Alchemist?

00;01;50;15 – 00;02;08;19
Curtis Blair
Well, I have a knack for seeing materials in assembling teams, organizations, and missions around that. I found that at the chamber especially, we were just off the heels, as we said, of Covid. And I came into the chamber and saw, wow, what great resources that we have available to us. Let’s assemble these. Let’s put these together for good use to build the community.

00;02;08;20 – 00;02;27;13
Curtis Blair
And and so that’s, you know, all kinds of assets. We had a little bit of financial assets gratefully a little bit of money in the bank. But we had relationship capital and we had intellectual capital. And you combine those you can create value. And so that’s what I mean by an alchemist is assembling teams and missions.

00;02;27;16 – 00;02;29;21
Marty
Yeah. You’re a Utah County native.

00;02;29;25 – 00;02;35;06
Curtis Blair
No, actually no. I was born in Provo because I was the oldest of seven. Okay.

00;02;35;13 – 00;02;36;07
Marty
So I’ll say yes, you’re.

00;02;36;14 – 00;03;00;18
Curtis Blair
BYU parents. And then as soon as I was born and my dad graduated, we were out to the East Coast. I spent more time on the East Coast. We’re on the have on the west. I’ve been in Connecticut twice. I’ve been in Minnesota. I’ve been in Kansas City. I’ve been in Danbury, Maryland. Danbury, Connecticut. Gaithersburg, Maryland. Great, great places.

00;03;00;18 – 00;03;03;28
Curtis Blair
I love the fall on east of the Mississippi.

00;03;04;01 – 00;03;12;02
Marty
I tell us said that you’re a BYU football guy, but where do your sports allegiances lie? Because you’ve been on the East Coast. So even in the Midwest.

00;03;12;03 – 00;03;34;23
Curtis Blair
The living up out east, growing up out east, you would look back at the things that were happening west of the Mississippi. And being that my dad was a BYU alum, I mean, we followed bayou sports no matter where we live, wherever we lived, and when we moved closer to Colorado, we would make the journey to every home game from, gosh, when I was 12 until until I actually went to school there myself.

00;03;34;24 – 00;03;38;22
Marty
Wow. So BYU guy. But professional sports, does that send you like out to the East Coast.

00;03;38;23 – 00;03;41;18
Curtis Blair
A bigger college sports fan all around that and pro sports?

00;03;41;18 – 00;03;54;14
Marty
Yeah. Oh fair enough. You’re in a good spot to do that. You went out to the East Coast, kind of grew up. You know, it sounds like Connecticut. It’s a little bit in the Midwest, a little bit in the Mountain West. But on the other side of the mountains. What brought you back to Utah? Why did you end up coming back here?

00;03;54;14 – 00;04;19;08
Curtis Blair
So schooling is what brought me back. I matriculated at BYU right after an LDS mission and then started focusing my career on humanities. And I love the arts and architecture. And so at the time, the school of thought was, well, don’t major in something that you want to later get a master’s degree in. And I had my heart set on getting an MBA.

00;04;19;11 – 00;04;44;04
Curtis Blair
And so I switched my major and minor to minor in business and never got back to get my MBA until fast forward 20 years. I just completed a master’s degree, not at the school, I thought, and not in the degree that I had imagined. Instead of being at BYU, I graduated from the University of Utah and instead of a business administration, it was public administration.

00;04;44;09 – 00;04;46;18
Curtis Blair
Excellent program. I would do it again.

00;04;46;19 – 00;04;59;13
Marty
I wish I could tell you. We’ll make two versions of this, and one for Utah County. Well, not from that in it, but you know, you’re the one who said it, not me. So you let people know you’re you’re a little bit of a you tell me about this love for the arts. What kind of art are you into?

00;04;59;18 – 00;05;29;25
Curtis Blair
Well, mostly architecture. And I would also say paintings. I really also follow literature. Just to me, it speaks to the creativity. I have just enough right brain in me that it stimulates the left brain to make good decisions and to think about problems differently. I just, I just have had a love for the arts, good photography, sculptures, I plays musicals.

00;05;29;27 – 00;05;35;21
Curtis Blair
So yeah, it’s just been a part of my, I don’t know, DNA from when I was a young, young boy.

00;05;35;27 – 00;05;43;10
Marty
You’ve been around to other parts of the country, but also internationally as well, not just traveling there, but you’ve had some some work experience. Tell me what you’ve done outside of the country.

00;05;43;11 – 00;06;12;27
Curtis Blair
Yeah. In 2002. I started a company marketing firm with a partner, and we traveled all over the Pacific Rim and engaged in relationships to build a marketing campaigns, to sell products, mostly in the the space, the arena of golf and sporting goods. But it branched out to do all kinds of products under the sun, from apparel to other soft goods.

00;06;12;27 – 00;06;31;00
Curtis Blair
So yeah, I love doing business outside of the United States, Japan in particular, South Korea, Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore. In fact, I told my wife one time after I got back from a trip from Singapore and I said, look, if I just go missing one of these years, you’ll find me in Singapore.

00;06;31;02 – 00;06;32;02
Marty
In a good way or in a.

00;06;32;02 – 00;06;33;19
Curtis Blair
Good way. No great place.

00;06;33;19 – 00;06;34;22
Marty
To that could go either way.

00;06;34;24 – 00;06;36;12
Curtis Blair
Yeah, I’d take her with me, though.

00;06;36;13 – 00;06;55;05
Marty
Yeah. You know, beyond the chamber. You’re on a bunch of boards. UVU Foundation board, adoption life agency. You’ve UVU Wolverine Club chair that you’ve served in. How do you decide which causes get your time? Because the chamber presidency sort of drops you into where you’re out and about all the time. So where do you figure out what to focus?

00;06;55;06 – 00;07;23;16
Curtis Blair
That’s a great question. And I focus 50% on personal passion and 50% on the things that I think build community. So, for example, I chair the Meals on Wheels for Wasatch Summit in Utah counties. But I also love UVU athletics. My kids go there. That’s the best value for your money. They’ve got a great soccer program, football, but not the football that we were just the football we just celebrated at the World Cup.

00;07;23;23 – 00;07;37;25
Curtis Blair
And their coaches are amazing individuals. They’re accessible. I enjoy mentoring their student athletes. And so it’s a mix between kind of personal passion, sports and the arts, and then things that I feel like will move the needle in Utah County.

00;07;37;27 – 00;07;40;20
Marty
Tell me about your family. You got a wife and you’ve got five kids.

00;07;40;21 – 00;07;59;14
Curtis Blair
Five children, four boys, one girl. Yeah, we’re pretty much empty nesters now, but they were all raised here in Utah County and which we didn’t think would happen. I didn’t think my wife and I would would. She’s from San Francisco. My formal years. I grew up in Denver, Colorado, kind of high school years there. And I thought, well.

00;07;59;15 – 00;08;00;29
Marty
Where did you go to high school? In Colorado.

00;08;01;00 – 00;08;03;07
Curtis Blair
So it was called Arapahoe High School.

00;08;03;11 – 00;08;09;08
Marty
You’re a warrior. Yes. I’m a Smoky Hill buffalo. Is that right? Colorado high school? Yeah. All right. I’ve played at Arapahoe.

00;08;09;09 – 00;08;13;10
Curtis Blair
In fact, I was out there when C4 70 was being built. So that’ll give you an idea.

00;08;13;12 – 00;08;22;26
Marty
Yeah. And that year, did you graduate from high school? 8686 okay. 96 so we weren’t necessarily overlapping. But yeah, I know I know the neighborhoods you grew up in. All right. Yeah. Very nice.

00;08;22;27 – 00;08;35;16
Curtis Blair
So yeah I mean loved my upbringing. Our kids are thriving. We love each one of them were the grandparents to two awesome grandkids. And they all live close enough that they can come home for a Sunday dinner.

00;08;35;16 – 00;08;49;03
Marty
So I want your assessment on two things. Then. One is how weird is it to transition to being an empty nester? And then two, our grandkids, everything they’re cracked up to be. Because I’m almost to that stage. We’re starting to have kids move out, but we still got some at home.

00;08;49;03 – 00;09;04;07
Curtis Blair
The answer is yes. And it’s awesome. And it’s to both. I mean, it’s just it’s great being empty nesters and about happened at the same time when when our grandchildren came along. And so yeah, it’s been a new phase of life. But yes, it’s everything that they say it is.

00;09;04;08 – 00;09;09;29
Marty
Isn’t it amazing how young you can become a grandpa? You think grandpas are old and then suddenly you turn into one and yeah, that’s not that old.

00;09;10;00 – 00;09;10;15
Curtis Blair
I couldn’t.

00;09;10;15 – 00;09;28;22
Marty
Agree more. All right, I want to talk a little bit about Utah County and the growth in Utah County and the economy in Utah County. So all these things that are very much in your wheelhouse, Utah County’s economy has grown. I think the numbers are from like 32 billion to nearly like $48 billion. And just like the last 4 or 5 years somewhere there.

00;09;28;24 – 00;09;48;09
Marty
Help me understand that number, what that means. Like it’s it’s got to be crazy down there. I live in Davis County. I only hear about what’s going on in Utah County for the most part. What’s it like to actually see the the business community have to change and change, just as that growth comes in and just all of the issues that impact a community when you have that kind of growth.

00;09;48;11 – 00;10;06;14
Curtis Blair
Yeah, I mean, growth is, is is happening whether we like it or want to admit it or not. I think the challenge is just staying out in front of it as best we can. I mean, for example, just driving up here today, you know, I looked to the east side of the freeway and said, well, there’s a new crane that’s gone up.

00;10;06;14 – 00;10;29;01
Curtis Blair
It’s not uncommon to see a new crane go up either side of the freeway in Utah County. And that that signals that there’s some there’s some good things happening. Growth is neutral. I share this with our chamber members all the time. But intentional growth, how we grow matters. And so we try to be out in front of that instead of letting it grow, a set of letting growth manage us.

00;10;29;07 – 00;10;53;21
Curtis Blair
And that means we have to be engaged as a community. And so as the voice of business, we’re able to bring in public private partnerships that say, hey, how should we formulate an architect growth in Utah County? Where does it make sense to have more, more density in housing starts than than other places? And how are we going to get how are we going to move more people more efficiently in the future?

00;10;53;21 – 00;11;11;23
Curtis Blair
And what would that look like? Can we get, you know, tracks, maybe double rail? Can we get that down to Payson and and what year would that happen? We’re really good at also building roads that go north and south. Well, I don’t know that we’re really good, but we do build roads north and south. We’ve got to get better building roads east and west, you know.

00;11;11;25 – 00;11;29;18
Curtis Blair
And so that’s a challenge that we have in terms of transportation infrastructure. And then, you know, we welcome the Olympics. I used to say in ten years now it’s eight. And that just happened fast to be able to go from 10 to 8. And it’ll be soon six and eight, six and then five and it’ll be upon us in no time.

00;11;29;18 – 00;11;45;26
Curtis Blair
So I think about these things and I go to bed at night. How are we going to manage growth? How do we stay out in front of the challenges that growth brings and turn them into opportunities, opportunities for innovation, opportunities for thinking out of the box on how we solve some of our greatest challenges and still have it.

00;11;45;26 – 00;12;06;23
Curtis Blair
A place where our kids can live, work, learn, and play, right? I mean, I think about my my children that range between 33 and 21. The chances of them getting into homes each year is less and less, unless they come upon some sort of windfall of money or opportunity that, that, that, that I don’t think is coming into their future.

00;12;06;23 – 00;12;09;04
Marty
There’s no lottery right now. There is. It’s hard to win it if there’s not.

00;12;09;04 – 00;12;23;27
Curtis Blair
A lot. So so these are things that I worry about, not just because I’m in the role, but I’m living the experiences of most parents in Utah County and that’s, you know, maintaining the quality of life without losing the boutique nature of Utah County.

00;12;23;29 – 00;12;36;24
Marty
I mentioned sort of my perception because I don’t live down there. I get down there with some frequency, but I don’t live down there. What do people who don’t live or work in Utah County get right about? Utah County? And what are they missing about Utah County?

00;12;36;24 – 00;12;57;23
Curtis Blair
Yeah. Well, what they’re missing is, is the fact that we really are contributing so much more than ever before to the state’s GDP. Our job growth numbers are awesome. We have the most youthful workforce of any county in the nation. We have the more the most pianos per capita. We have the most computers per capita than any county in the nation.

00;12;57;23 – 00;13;12;19
Curtis Blair
We’ve got a lot going for us. And so what what our Achilles heel is, is that. Oh, well, Utah County is doing fine. They just go along to get along. Let’s share with them the vision for the state and then they’ll buy into it. Well, I think it’s time for Utah County to say, well, wait a second here.

00;13;12;19 – 00;13;35;04
Curtis Blair
If we’re contributing this much and sending more missionaries from this county then into the county, you know, on LDS missions in the United States and, and all these more baseball fields per capita, all these things that that were first in, you know, that really lends to the overall economy of the state of Utah. And I think that as goes Utah County, so will go to the state in the coming ten, 20, 30 years.

00;13;35;05 – 00;13;57;00
Curtis Blair
Now, that isn’t without our warts and our blemishes. There are some things that we lead in in Utah County that we need to course correct. Mental wellness, suicide ideation, anxiety. Those things worry me too. Just as much. And they should worry our employers. And so they’re finding ways to address the needs of their employees who are met with some of those challenges.

00;13;57;00 – 00;14;14;02
Curtis Blair
But even then, I still think we’re approaching it in a very methodical, humanistic way, which is to meet them where they’re at and provide programs and opportunities for them to grow so that when they join a company, they’re part of a family that cares about them.

00;14;14;05 – 00;14;32;28
Marty
Let’s talk about the Utah Valley Chamber, because you’re trying to help the business community sort of make its way, have the right kind of voice in all of the change that’s going on in Utah County. What do you look at right now as the chamber president and say, boy, this has got to be our top priority or our top two priorities that we have our eyes on right now.

00;14;32;29 – 00;14;51;13
Curtis Blair
Well, we definitely have a tiger by the tail of the chamber. And I used to take, you know, some credit, I guess, growing the chamber over the last five years. And then my wife reminded me, look, you’re living in a very fast growing, business friendly part of the country. You know, she reminds me that if you can fog a mirror, you can do pretty good at your job.

00;14;51;13 – 00;15;19;02
Curtis Blair
So just show up and do good while you’re there. But, yeah, I mean, the chamber is thriving. I got to think we’re one of the fastest, not the fastest growing chamber. We just hired our 10th employee. Our revenue numbers for membership revenues increasing year over year with with a high retention rate. And I also think our events are are being delivered at a high caliber, very well received and well organized.

00;15;19;02 – 00;15;41;28
Curtis Blair
And the attendance shows. So while those things are going well and it shows that we’re growing as a chamber, there are growing pains and we’ve outgrown our space, it’s critical that we select the right partners going forward. I think that public private partnerships is the way that we continue to grow. Selecting the right ones at the right time will matter.

00;15;42;00 – 00;16;02;10
Curtis Blair
But I think that overall, we stand on an amazing legacy. I personally stand on great shoulders of those that that have led the chamber just before me Stan Lockhart, Ronna, Ralph, Val Hale and Steve densely. And then that those five of us have run the chamber for the last almost 40 years.

00;16;02;16 – 00;16;27;21
Marty
I’m an easy sell because I’m a chamber guy at heart, having worked at the Salt Lake chamber. And so I understand why a business community, why a business organization is really important to the overall economic health of an area. I would love to hear your thoughts on that though. Like what? What have you seen in the five years you’ve been there that maybe you didn’t understand before you came in to say, man, this is really the power of a business community?

00;16;27;23 – 00;16;49;16
Curtis Blair
There’s a great question I get asked that all the time to from those that are exploring membership in the chamber, depending on what generation they were born in, for example, there are those that think that we still would wear helmets like Fred Flintstone did to get to Elks Lodge and that we have, you know, a Kumbaya session and talk about how great their organization is.

00;16;49;17 – 00;16;54;03
Curtis Blair
And there might be some truth to that, I can’t say. Oh.

00;16;54;05 – 00;16;56;05
Marty
Thank you. Royal order water buffalo.

00;16;56;06 – 00;17;05;13
Curtis Blair
Very good. You really have watched some old time shows there. And we’re while I’m ten years older than you, I could not. That’s very intuitive.

00;17;05;14 – 00;17;09;14
Marty
So you’ve retained more important information. That’s just what stuck in my head.

00;17;09;15 – 00;17;30;18
Curtis Blair
But that perception is something that we’ve we’ve had a fight against. But we’re no longer your grandfather’s chamber. I mean, we are very much involved in decision making from the ground up, from grassroots. Like how do we how do we embrace new energies and technologies there? How do we make nuclear safe in small, you know, reactors and make that consumable?

00;17;30;24 – 00;17;54;08
Curtis Blair
What about advanced air mobility? How can we expand the idea, the spirit behind the Inland Port Authority and what they’re trying to do to increase commerce? These are new and innovative ways to approach problems that have been around for some time. But as a chamber, being a young chamber, we were really looking at it from a outside of the box sort of thinking, right, we weren’t established in 1895.

00;17;54;15 – 00;18;18;25
Curtis Blair
We’ve been relatively new. Utah County continues to grow. I mean, it was in my lifetime that Footloose was filmed. And now look at where we’re at, right? I mean, 40 years later, 50 years later, we’re really are becoming a force to be reckoned with for economic strength. People ask that. We’re a lot of great people in Utah County, the largest institution of higher learning.

00;18;18;26 – 00;18;49;25
Curtis Blair
UVU is right down there in Orem, partnered right next to a large partner, excuse me, private school, BYU, and then all the other institutions of higher learning that are complementary to those two schools, MTech, RMU and Nordic College of Osteopathic Medicine all contribute to educating a very youthful workforce. And I think that’s one of our superpowers is that we’re young, we’re willing to learn, earn our stripes, and we look at things innovatively and hopefully that will continue to be our benchmark going forward.

00;18;49;26 – 00;19;13;13
Marty
It feels like it’s been 15, maybe 20 years of like really rapid growth in Utah County, like we’ve been talking about Silicon Slopes and such since I was at the chamber. So that’s all the way back to 2008, 2009, somewhere in there. And at the time it was like, oh, there’s new money and new growth in Utah County, whereas Salt Lake was kind of like, well, this is where everything’s established in the capital city.

00;19;13;19 – 00;19;36;22
Marty
I wonder what you’ve seen or what your impressions are, and how the business community has matured to a certain extent. Not that there wasn’t a business community there before, sort of that growth, but like even the even the stuff that started to grow in 2008, 2009, I mean, that’s like 20 years old, right? How has that changed the way that the business community operates there and how it fits into the larger piece across the state?

00;19;36;22 – 00;19;55;04
Marty
When you say, hey, this this new money, isn’t that new anymore? I mean, it’s new compared to something that’s been around for 120 years, but it’s not two years old anymore. It’s been around for a couple of decades. I just wonder how that’s changed. As you’ve seen it during your time at the chamber or how you’ve seen that that change, just kind of looking back over that time period?

00;19;55;06 – 00;20;14;28
Curtis Blair
Yeah, it’s it’s interesting to look back and think that 20 years ago was that long ago. Right. 2006 2007 but when you think about the spin offs of these companies and the entrepreneurial spirit that’s just prevalent in Utah County, you can kind of connect the dots as to why we can, you know, have continued growth. We’re very much a startup county.

00;20;15;00 – 00;20;38;08
Curtis Blair
I think we contribute to that startup moniker of the state from Utah County in a large way. You know, the unicorn companies we often like to speak to and refer to. But the real true fabric of America are the small businesses and the entrepreneurial spirit that’s in Utah County that is contributing to new money. And, you know, you’ve got a millionaire next door and you may not even know it.

00;20;38;08 – 00;21;06;18
Curtis Blair
The advent of the technology, the ability to work from home. And of course, AI is just changing the landscape of the economy in Utah County. And I think we’re in the forefront of a lot of that. But to lean in on the lessons from the past, you know, is meaningful. I think of I think of WordPerfect and Novell as being kind of those anchor companies, maybe New Skin and BYU, some of the larger employers back then and now, you know, if they don’t reinvent themselves, they’re going to find themselves obsolete.

00;21;06;18 – 00;21;20;17
Curtis Blair
Or what I think is also happening in Utah County is just the ideas that spin off of ideas that create new business opportunities. That’s that’s the definition of entrepreneurship, is finding an inefficiency in the marketplace, in the marketplace and filling it.

00;21;20;23 – 00;21;35;06
Marty
It’s kind of interesting because I think of Utah County businesses and I think, well, those were the disruptors, right? That’s where the disruptors were. But after 20 years, you’re not. You go from being like, I’m I’m not disrupting now. I’m sort of the establishment. I may be on the younger end of the establishment on the maturity curve of that.

00;21;35;07 – 00;21;49;27
Marty
But how’s that transition been, do you think just generally across the board to say you got to keep innovating. You can never stop that. But like okay, disrupted, successfully disrupted. And now yeah sort of growing into being somewhat the establishment.

00;21;49;28 – 00;22;15;01
Curtis Blair
Yeah it’s funny that we’re speaking of like Vivint. And it’s that way now you know when when they were, you know, the darlings of 1520 years ago. But but to be disruptive is is it means to to really look at how you marry these important assets together. I mentioned them earlier. You know, your relationship capital, what you know is your intellectual capital.

00;22;15;03 – 00;22;35;20
Curtis Blair
At a mentor and a friend of mine, Rich Christensen, that used that formula all the time, you think you need to start with 5000 bucks and money does help. But I’ll tell you more. Businesses have have have begun by taking relationship capital, adding value to what they know, bringing what they know into the intellectual capital to the relationship.

00;22;35;20 – 00;22;45;26
Curtis Blair
So RC relationship capital plus ESI intellectual capital equals FC financial capital. That’s been the model that Utah County that’s been successful.

00;22;45;29 – 00;22;56;16
Marty
You look at the chamber as an organization and where you want to be five years from now. You’ve been there for five years. Let’s double that time. What do you look at right now and say, well, this is where I want to be in year six to year ten?

00;22;56;21 – 00;23;12;06
Curtis Blair
It’s a really great question because we’re grappling with that right now. Now that we’ve been there five years, what is the next five years look like or 10 or 20? And one of the things that we’ve done really well at, at our chamber is focusing on what’s taking place in the next six, 12, maybe 18 months down the road.

00;23;12;06 – 00;23;32;20
Curtis Blair
And our board of directors second to none. I hold them up against any fortune 500 company in America in terms of character and grit and resilience and innovation, but who’s looking at our growth for the next 20, 30, 40 years, even maybe eight years from now in Olympic readiness for Utah County? And we have a host city in Provo?

00;23;32;24 – 00;24;00;16
Curtis Blair
Hockey will be our sport. But you know who’s assembling the public private partnerships to really measure readiness in eight years? What about infrastructure that needs that we’ll have not only coming out of the Olympics, but to welcome another million people by the year 2065? And my latest research of Kempsey Gardner Institute, we’re going to be pretty level. I mean, pretty close to level with the Salt Lake County here in my lifetime.

00;24;00;17 – 00;24;21;28
Curtis Blair
I mean, towards the, you know, I mean, I’ll be much older then, but but but still within my lifetime, I may see our population match Salt Lake County’s and even a bridge, maybe a tunnel over the Utah lake. Those things are in our immediate future. And so as a chamber, we’re thinking, well, who’s focusing on that kind of strategy and that growth?

00;24;21;28 – 00;24;34;01
Curtis Blair
And so, you know, the chamber has been focused on how we how we look one eye down the road couple generations ahead, while still keeping to our knitting over the next one year to three years out.

00;24;34;02 – 00;24;48;25
Marty
Look, you make an interesting point about your board, and I’d love to get your take on how you go about this, because it’s interesting in a chamber. Unlike other businesses, the board at a for profit business is how do we make sure that we’re heading in the right direction, but also that we’re running well and a lot of oversight.

00;24;49;00 – 00;25;05;20
Marty
A chamber board is certainly doing that. They’re making sure that your organization and they’re working with you to make sure that happens. But together, you’re sort of collectively focused on what’s good for the business community and the community at large. I wonder why is it so important to have a really good board, and what’s been the key to building a good board, in your opinion?

00;25;05;20 – 00;25;11;24
Marty
And then B, I would say, how do you how do you best work with the board to go accomplish those things?

00;25;11;25 – 00;25;24;11
Curtis Blair
I have a really good mentor at several of them, but one I’ll quote right now is at the United Way in Utah County. He says, always put a volunteer between you in a really big problem, you know, and I thought about.

00;25;24;11 – 00;25;25;08
Marty
It as a human being.

00;25;25;14 – 00;25;43;16
Curtis Blair
Yeah. Like like, what is that? And where he’s coming at that is saying, look, you cannot solve the problems by yourself. You need to lean in on your community. You need to get the input and the advice of those that are on your board and include them in, in, in a thoughtful solution to some of the county’s biggest problems.

00;25;43;16 – 00;26;14;26
Curtis Blair
And I I’m so glad to have gotten that advice, because it has served me very well to bring the community in to take a look at, all right, what are our needs in higher education? How is that transforming? What about energy? How do we how do we look at our problems with water and work in the private sector, contribute in that, and then you pull these wonderful people, you know, from the C-suite in their companies who really do care about not only their, you know, their organization, but they know that their organization will only thrive, provided the environment around them is also thriving.

00;26;14;28 – 00;26;36;27
Curtis Blair
Right. We need to be a very business friendly place to to start and run a business. And those leaders get that. And so they’re looking at ways to make sure that their people are feeling educated and they have a good place to recreate, and that they can worship and raise a family and all the things that that create community.

00;26;37;00 – 00;26;57;15
Curtis Blair
It’s really easy to find individuals that have both a passion for, for, for turning a profit and hiring good people and retaining good talent, but also making sure that the community has that culture that enables businesses to thrive. And I just couldn’t think of a better place in America than than Utah County to do that.

00;26;57;16 – 00;27;17;22
Marty
Chambers are also really interesting because it’s a place where competitors come together to work together. Yes, they can go out and compete in a different arena, but when they come to a chamber, it’s, hey, let’s go tackle this problem that we have shared pain on. To go accomplish that, I wonder if you’ve just maybe have either an example or just like your general impressions on watching that happen?

00;27;17;24 – 00;27;38;08
Curtis Blair
Absolutely I do. In fact, we I think it was Ray Nora that coined the phrase co-op petition. We find cooperation in a lot of arenas, and it kind of depends on what the what the target is and who you find out who your friends are based on some sort of goal or target that you’re shooting for. One example of this is the Freedom Festival project.

00;27;38;09 – 00;28;04;24
Curtis Blair
I mean, that had its ebbs and flows and ups, ups and downs, and it’s on a great trajectory now. But it took public private partnerships coming together, and we had to kind of take, turn, turn off our egos a little bit and also forget about the badges and say, well, what’s good for this community, right? I mean, we’re dealing with patriotism in its positive and negative forms and how that’s being weaponized.

00;28;04;24 – 00;28;25;06
Curtis Blair
And how do we ensure that that organization continues to just be above the politics. And I’ve seen people come together around that, and that’s chambers coming together. That’s the business community coming together. Seemingly, competitors in a space become allies when when you have a common goal like that.

00;28;25;09 – 00;28;39;00
Marty
Run a little short on time. So let’s move on to a lightning round. You ready for this? Sure. These are just fun questions trying to get you to, you know, get some fun answers out of you as we wrap up. All right. Let’s start with the easy one. Your favorite food or favorite dessert? Something when calories don’t count or no.

00;28;39;05 – 00;28;40;13
Curtis Blair
Chocolate, put it in a.

00;28;40;16 – 00;28;43;07
Marty
Dark chocolate. Yeah. How did you get to be a dark chocolate guy?

00;28;43;08 – 00;28;51;28
Curtis Blair
Well, you don’t really know that until, you know, until it doesn’t. All of a sudden it starts tasting better the older you get. Milk. Chocolate’s too sweet.

00;28;52;02 – 00;28;54;18
Marty
Not not the idea that it’s the healthy chocolate. Yeah, okay.

00;28;54;19 – 00;28;58;01
Curtis Blair
I think I think that it’s. Yeah, it’s healthy, but great tasting.

00;28;58;02 – 00;29;06;23
Marty
Leads us to our next question. You’ve done triathlons, and I understand you’re a pretty good golfer. Which one do you actually enjoy more and which one keeps you more humble?

00;29;06;25 – 00;29;32;23
Curtis Blair
Well, I wish I trained like I was for triathlons because it did humble me. I do not like running. I don’t mind biking and swimming. Golfing is more therapeutic. It’s cheaper than than than than a therapist. I love the challenge between the individual and the course and it’s really funny. As goes my golf game, it’s reflective of kind of the other things, other areas of my life.

00;29;32;23 – 00;29;35;13
Curtis Blair
And you’ve just got to let the game of golf come to you.

00;29;35;13 – 00;29;45;13
Marty
Yeah, yeah, I get that. All right. If you weren’t running the chamber or you’ve been in marketing in the past. So if not a profession you’ve had so far, what profession other than your own would you like to try?

00;29;45;14 – 00;30;03;07
Curtis Blair
Oh, I’ve always dreamed of architecting golf courses. That’s what I would do. In fact, the first URL that I purchased was Frog Hair, with the intention of being a golf course architect. If I if money were no object and I could choose anything that I could do any day of the week. Could be designing golf courses.

00;30;03;08 – 00;30;12;05
Marty
Plenty of years ahead of you, so maybe you’ll get it done. All right, we mentioned you have five kids. What’s the best piece of parenting advice that’s accidentally made you a better business leader?

00;30;12;08 – 00;30;33;24
Curtis Blair
Oh my gosh, I think it’s surrendering. There’s some things you can and cannot control. And as a parent, you know, you think you’ve got a handle on it all. And remember seeing my kids grow up and thinking, oh, we’ve got this. And then realizing we are just lucky that they came to us the way that they did. And then as they make decisions and move on, both in both in our family life and in business is just surrender and trust the process.

00;30;33;26 – 00;30;42;10
Marty
All right. Give us a recommendation. You say you’re a lover of the arts, but give us a book, a podcast, a TV show, a movie, something that you like that everybody else thinks should check out.

00;30;42;11 – 00;30;59;09
Curtis Blair
I would check anything out right now by Richard Rohr. He’s a great author. Of course I do. Of course. Love me a good Arthur Brooks book. So anything that those two individuals have written a podcast.

00;30;59;11 – 00;31;37;03
Curtis Blair
I listen to several, but none religiously. I’d like to dabble in several from relationships to sports. So I listened to some golf podcasts and some marriage strengthening relationship podcasts. So book and then a movie. I’m going to pivot to more of a play I could not recommend enough Les Mis. I know most people have seen it in one form or another, whether it was the Broadway play, you know, the Queen’s Theater, which was my first experience in London, or even the Hollywood version of it.

00;31;37;06 – 00;31;46;15
Curtis Blair
Right now it’s playing at the tuition theater, and I’ll tell you, it will move you, it will change you. It will transform your family to go see Lamesa to a con.

00;31;46;18 – 00;31;53;27
Marty
All right. Last one. What’s the best piece of advice that you would give your younger self right at the moment? You were, say, coming out of high school or out of college?

00;31;53;28 – 00;32;04;00
Curtis Blair
Oh my gosh, don’t sweat another man’s fever. I mean, just worry about the things that you can worry about and focus on making a difference where you stand.

00;32;04;02 – 00;32;09;12
Marty
Perfect. We appreciate your time. Thanks so much and best of luck with all you’re doing down. Thanks, Marty. Little down south of where we are now.

00;32;09;13 – 00;32;20;22
Curtis Blair
Yeah, it’s a lot faster commute going from Utah County to Salt Lake than Salt Lake to Utah County. I don’t know why, but all you Salt Lake people think it’s a super long commute, but it feels shorter coming north.

00;32;20;24 – 00;32;24;22
Marty
Yeah, well, we’ll let you get on the road and get through that commute as it is. So much for your time.

00;32;24;27 – 00;32;27;09
Curtis Blair
Thank you. Bet. Thanks.