Originally published in the Desert News.

Editor’s Note: Natalie Gochnour, David Eccles School of Business associate dean and Deseret News columnist, is traveling this week with a delegation of business and community leaders on a trade mission led by World Trade Center Utah to Jordan and Israel. She joins Gov. Gary Herbert, Utah Senate President Wayne Niederhauser, three other Utah legislators and about 40 other business and community leaders interested in establishing stronger business ties with Jordan and Israel. The Deseret News asked Gochnour to document the trade mission through a series of dispatches that will be featured this week. This first column focuses on why Utah government and business leaders visit the Middle East.

Last week, Gov. Gary Herbert and Utah Senate President Wayne Niederhauser hosted a news conference from Rice Eccles Stadium to announce the formation of an exploratory committee to seek the 2026 or 2030 Olympic Winter Games. This week, Herbert and Niederhauser are in Jordan and Israel securing stronger business ties for the Beehive State.

What do these two events have in common? They demonstrate Utah’s commitment, at the highest levels of government, to grow the Utah economy and share Utah’s economic message with the world.

Continue reading Dispatches from Jordan and Israel, part 1: Making Utah a premier global business destination →

Originally published in the Deseret News.

I’ve never met Joe Arpaio, but I’ve felt his influence. Arpaio, who served 16 years as the sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona, made a career out of terrorizing Latinos in his state and degrading people who ran afoul of the law. This week, President Donald Trump called Arpaio a “great American patriot” and then pardoned him of criminal contempt, a conviction that could have landed the former sheriff six months in prison. Trump’s pardon sends another shocking signal of what’s wrong in our country and exposes the political void that exists in America today.

Continue reading Trump’s pardon adds to the void in America →

Originally published in the Deseret News.

I follow Twitter feeds nearly every day. It’s a great way to learn what opinion leaders have on their minds, keep abreast of politics, follow sports commentary and keep tabs on hundreds of other people and issues of interest. Twitter is the best way I know to get instantaneous and succinct information from a wide variety of people on a wide variety of topics.

While tweeting definitely has its place in our digital lives, I find President Donald Trump’s Twitter behavior completely unacceptable. It’s not his use of Twitter that is problematic. It’s the content of his tweets.

Continue reading Give up your Twitter account Mr President →

Originally published in the Deseret News.

For many Utah families, July and August are filled with goodbyes. Sons and daughters leave for school and military academies, LDS missionaries depart on missions and job seekers start fresh opportunities in new towns. In every case, a great thing is happening, but so is a goodbye.

I’m not very good at goodbyes. When I dropped my daughter off for college in Arizona, I had wet eyes and a pit in my stomach the entire 11-hour drive home. I spent so much time getting her ready for college, I forgot to get ready myself.

Continue reading Goodbyes are hard, but they are also meaningful →

Originally published in the Deseret News.

It’s been a violent summer in our community and country. A disturbed man gunned down a mother, her sons and another child as they returned home from school. A drunken fight turned into a murder in Murray. A drug bust in the basement of a Cottonwood Heights home revealed garbage bags full of cash and hundreds of thousands of fake opioid pills. Road rage incidents seem to be a weekly occurrence. And now members of Congress can’t even practice baseball without being targeted with a gun.

Violence, and the illegal drug use that often fuels it, is becoming all too common. We are left wondering, “What is going on?”

Continue reading Our fight against violent crime begins at home →

Originally published in the Deseret News.

Summer begins this month, and I find it a good time to recharge my spirit and think about how to approach life. A summer reset helps me refocus my energies, recalibrate my expectations and recommit to a happy life.

My mother gave me the gift of optimism. She used to always say, “Land, life is so short I could hang by my fingernails if I had to.” She lived until she was 93 years of age and sang, danced and quoted poetry almost until the end.

Continue reading How to find happiness this summer →