Strategic Management News 

Jeff Dyer is not only interested in anomalies—he is also one himself. He is an experienced business strategist hardwired for organization, but he also believes serendipity plays a crucial role in his life. And as professor at the BYU Marriott School of Business teaching strategy, he continues to balance calculated plans and happy accidents.

Eight professors joined the faculty at the BYU Marriott School of Business in 2023. “We are excited to welcome these new faculty members,” says Brigitte Madrian, dean of BYU Marriott. “In line with our mission to develop leaders of faith, intellect, and character, these new faculty bring insight and experience that will contribute to the educational experience BYU Marriott offers its students.”

One of 15 children, Trixie Judd spent much of her childhood helping raise her younger siblings. Now at the BYU Marriott School of Business, Judd feels at home in the strategy program, where leadership, hard work, and close bonds are valued—just as they were growing up.

At the 2023 University Conference in August, Brigham Young University recognized a handful of faculty and staff across campus for their efforts in advancing research and experiential learning as well as their exemplary contributions to the university. Among those honored were three faculty members from the BYU Marriott School of Business: Jeff Dyer, Eric Blum, and Isaac Smith.

Strategy continues to capture raw talent; this time, from America’s western planes. “12,000 cows, 200 horses, 1.2 million acres, all controlled via horseback as they did 200 years ago. I was in love with it,” says Mason Dahl, a seventh-generation cattleman and senior in the strategic management program at the BYU Marriott School of Business. Dahl sees himself as the future cowboy strategist of the beef industry.

As he watched his neighboring Nevada mountains disappear under a plume of smoke in the summer of 2021, Danny Dudley felt a new sense of urgency for environmental conservation. This experience helped clear a personal haze about his future and led him to the strategy program in the BYU Marriott School of Business.

New research published this week from BYU Marriott School of Business professors Jeff Dyer and Taeya Howell finds that innovation can be hampered when organizations prioritize “psychological safety” at the expense of intellectual honesty.

As the supply of unsold housing increases in Utah—and across the nation—and as home prices continue to fall, new research has discovered under-the-radar forces that are quietly impacting home pricing and purchasing decisions.

Everywhere you look, something or someone is being rated, and we can all agree that a positive rating is good, and a negative rating is bad. Or can we?

As a child, Bethany Bahr loved riding on towering roller coasters, and her mom would joke that Bethany wasn't scared of anything. Since then, Bahr has enjoyed the twists and turns that come from stepping outside her comfort zone. On one of her most recent adventures, Bahr applied to the strategy major at the BYU Marriott School of Business.

Jared Tate would rather build ties with his family than put on a tie every morning to go to work. So Tate, a 2016 graduate from the strategic management program at the BYU Marriott School of Business, has looked for a career that minimizes travel, protects his weekends from work emails, and allows him to participate in activities with his family all week long. 

Not everyone would take being called “funny guy” as a compliment, but Michael Gibbs isn’t everyone. He took the moniker given to him by a classmate and plastered it on his LinkedIn and résumé. His sense of humor has helped Gibbs, now a senior in the strategic management program at the BYU Marriott School of Business, find connections between the genres of comedy and strategy. 

BYU Marriott School of Business dean Brigitte C. Madrian has announced Paul Godfrey as the next chair of the Department of Management. Godfrey took over for the previous department chair, Curtis LeBaron, on July 1, 2022.

When Isaac Pettit was 14, his uncle gave him an extremely unusual gift—a unicycle. With the promise of $100 from his uncle if he could learn how to ride the one-wheeler gracefully, Pettit took off. Now, as an April 2022 graduate of the strategic management program at the BYU Marriott School of Business, Pettit has extended his ability to balance from riding his unicycle to staying on top of future education and career opportunities.

Wearing Nike shoes, surrounded by BYU sports paraphernalia in his office without a textbook in sight, Bill Keenan works to put the job-seeking students he advises at ease. As a career advisor at the BYU Marriott Business Career Center, Keenan tailors his teaching and advising to help undergraduates find jobs after graduation.

When a teacher disciplines a grade school student, it is usually because the student was caught passing notes or talking in class. Unless that student is Nate Gardner. A young Gardner got in trouble for showing off his E*TRADE account to his classmates during his fifth-grade computer lab class. In elementary school, he dreamed of becoming a stockbroker in New York. Now, as a strategic consultant and a 2014 BYU Marriott School of Business strategy alum, Gardner helps businesses figure out what they want to be when they grow up.

Nine students at the BYU Marriott School of Business were recently honored as 2022 Bateman Award recipients for their excellence both inside and outside the classroom. The annual award, named for Merrill J. Bateman, allows each undergraduate program at BYU Marriott to select a 2021–22 academic year senior for recognition.

Some people may shy away from the challenging and unpredictable, but not Gentry Davies. He has made a career out of solving tricky projections and analyzing future business opportunities. Now a senior director of product at Divvy, Davies credits his problem-solving abilities to his 2012 degree in strategy from the BYU Marriott School of Business.

The potential to achieve lasting and meaningful success in life is within each of us—at least that's what strategy senior David Rawson says. For Rawson, he is following a career path that he believes will help him aid others in finding success and becoming the best version of themselves. Rawson's goals were inspired by his service as a missionary in Brazil and the knowledge he gleaned from a book that TIME magazine called one of the 25 most influential business management books.

After spending most of his time as an undergraduate student preparing for law school, Kurt Herrmann received surprising inspiration to change career paths. This sudden shift in plans started a long road through marketing, entrepreneurship, business consulting, and ultimately to the BYU Marriott School of Business as an adjunct professor of management.