Latest stories

Who Is My Neighbor?

By J Bonner Ritchie
In Culture, LDS Topics, Organizational Behavior & Leadership, Politics
16 Min Read
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(appeared in BYU’s Kennedy Center Bridges Alumni Magazine) A MIDDLE EAST ODYSSEY by J. Bonner Ritchie, emeritus professor of organizational behavior, Brigham Young University Ancient and modern prophets have repeatedly reminded us of the sacred responsibility we have toward each other. The opportunity and obligation to serve our neighbors is codified in the great commandment, second only to...

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Leadership in a Global Context

By J Bonner Ritchie
In Business, Organizational Behavior & Leadership
2 Min Read
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Appeared here: Scholars and organizational participants have regarded leadership as the most important, most studied, and least understood variable in the complex world of organizational dynamics in business, government, religion, military, education, family, or voluntary organizations. Considering the pervasive role of leadership, the increasing visibility and public scrutiny of leaders, the...

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Leveraging Travel as a Tool for Global Leadership Development

By J Bonner Ritchie
In Organizational Behavior & Leadership
1 Min Read
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written with Gary Oddou, Mark E. Mendenhall First published: 25 August 2000 Short-term business travel is an underutilized method for developing some of the skills that are necessary to be a global leader. International business travel can place executives in situations where they can develop global mindsets; however, most executives cocoon themselves during international trips and wind up...

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Mainland Manufacturing: Bridging the Cultural Gap

By J Bonner Ritchie
In Business, Organizational Behavior & Leadership, Politics
2 Min Read
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Appeared in EXCHANGE, The Journal of The Marriott School of Management, Brigham Young University, Spring 1990 Written with John C. Beck, Martha Nibley Beck & Fannie Tsui In the late 1970s and early 1980s,when China began to loosen the xenophobic economic policies of the Cultural Revolution, most businessmen in the developed world responded ecstatically. Here was the biggest nation in the...

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Taking Sweet Counsel

By J Bonner Ritchie
In LDS Topics
2 Min Read
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I appreciate the opportunity to share some ideas with you and would like to invite you to explore with me some ways of applying gospel truth. I prefer to define this process as exploring avenues of application rather than as a mere erudite academic inquiry. The kingdom of God is not a spectator sport. It is an action process requiring learning, commitment, and a special kind of understanding in...

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Let Contention Cease: The Limits of Dissent in the Church

By J Bonner Ritchie
In Culture, LDS Topics
3 Min Read
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Sunstone, August 1992. The limits of contention ought to be tight; the limits of difference ought to be wide. IT IS A COMMON AND USUALLY CONSTRUCTIVE reality that there is tension between an organization and its intellectuals. Regardless of the institution–governments, trade unions, churches–there will always be tension. It is part of the larger world of conflict between...

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The Soul of Faith: Why I Like Being a Mormon

By J Bonner Ritchie
In Biography, LDS Topics
2 Min Read
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(Sunstone, June 1996, written with Dave Ulrich) WHY ASK WHY: Most Mormons focus on doing more, not thinking more. A FRIEND RECENTLY OVERHEARD US CASUALLY discussing some observations about the Church — the lack of the Spirit in many meetings, the tendency of some leaders to “exercise unrighteous dominion” by imposing their personal political, social, or theological bias on others...

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On Organizations, Individuals, and Pillars of Thoughtful Faith

By J Bonner Ritchie
In Culture, LDS Topics
2 Min Read
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From the podcaster: “A few weeks ago, a very close friend of mine named Russell mailed me a CD full of his favorite Sunstone Symposium MP3s. While several of struck me as profound, one presentation in particular was groundbreaking, and almost breathtaking to me. It was a presentation delivered in a 1992 “Pillars of my Faith” session by J. Bonner Ritchie — a former BYU Professor of...

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For the Power Is in Them: Leading Through Shared Leadership

By J Bonner Ritchie
In LDS Topics, Organizational Behavior & Leadership
4 Min Read
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written with Mark E. Mendenhall as a chapter in the book Joseph & Hyrum: Leading as One The Prophet Joseph Smith held up Zion to the Latter-day Saints as a perfected and celestial organization marked by the unity of its members. We each covenant to build up Zion, that individual and communal condition where everyone is of “one heart and one mind” (Moses 7:18), but often we are unsure how to...

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