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SALT LAKE CITY — Never announce big news the same week the LDS Church calls a new prophet and someone lights a tanker on fire on I-15, said former presidential candidate Mitt Romney.
Besides, you only announce bad news on a Friday, he added, when asked whether he may hypothetically be making a major announcement during his keynote at the Silicon Slopes Tech Summit Friday.
While rumors have flown for months that Romney is running for Sen. Orrin Hatch’s place in the U.S. Senate, the former Massachusetts governor has remained mum on the subject.
There was no doubt, however, whether he had the support of the tech summit crowd as his remarks were met with several cheers of applause, a standing ovation and punctured with the occasional loud suggestion to “Run for president!”
“I tried that once, twice, actually,” Romney said, laughing.
When asked what advice he’d give to those afraid of failure, Romney laughed and said, “You all may not know this, but I actually ran for President and lost, so the fear of failing was actually realized. … Failure’s not the end, you learn from it and move on.”
Instead, Romney encouraged those starting out in the business world to have a clear vision of what they want, then to take risks and act boldly. While he’s been scared of failure many times, that sense of nervousness let him know real success was possible, he said.
"If you want to get something done, you have to recognize that not everybody agrees with you. … You’ve got to find ways to see if you can find common ground.” - Mitt Romney, on his time as governor pic.twitter.com/Hje7q1lUnQ — Liesl Nielsen (@liesl_nielsen) January 19, 2018
Early in his career, Romney joined Bain & Company, then left to form Bain Capital. When Bain & Company ended up on a downward trajectory, Romney was asked to come back and turn the company around. Now, Bain is a global management consultancy.
The former governor is also known for doing something similar when the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City were exposed in disarray.
To revive any failing organization, Romney suggests a three-point battle plan:
1. Invest in a strategic audit to find out where the organization is failing and where the problems exist.
2. Build the right team for the identified needs of the organization.
3. Maintain a focused vision on what the organization should become.
But a battle plan is only as good as the people involved, he said. Romney told young entrepreneurs he looks first at the quality of character and capability of the person leading an enterprise before investing.
And despite his reticence on a potential Senate campaign, Romney waxed eloquent on the future of the nation.
“I think our economy is going to continue to do well. We’re probably going to have a recession at some point, I don’t know when,” he said. “But I think that the elements are in place to have a continuing, growing economy with growth in wages and salary.”
Romney believes the tax plan passed by Republicans in Washington is beneficial for starting and growing businesses and believes it will keep those same businesses here in the U.S.
Romney tells Silicon Slopes attendees that he decided to live the law of the Sabbath during his time at Harvard and decided to never study on Sunday. pic.twitter.com/vAa5ICrKXH — Liesl Nielsen (@liesl_nielsen) January 19, 2018
“One of the great failings I have and my party has is that we talk about business and business dealings without making the connection to why we care so deeply about that,” he said.
“We care about business formation and business growth, not so that wealthy people can make more money — no, the wealthy people are doing fine. What we care about is how do we get wages up for the average American. And the only way I know how to get real wages up is to have more businesses and more growth so people have to compete to hire people.”
Romney also believes the world economy will continue to grow, but notes that China is playing “the long game” to become the dominant economic force in the world — and possibly more than just economic. He believes the U.S. needs to take that into consideration for the future and plan ahead.
Russia, he added, continues to be a geopolitical enemy that “backs the world’s worst actors,” while North Korea offers the most immediate military threat.
“However, I don’t think Kim Jong Un is crazy enough to launch an attack against the U.S. because it would be suicidal for him and his entire country,” he said.
And ultimately, Romney is optimistic about the future, especially the rise of artificial intelligence.
“In an innovative world where innovation drives the future. … America wins. Because America is an innovative nation,” he said. “And America winning is the key to the preservation of liberty across the globe.”
