In Jay Francis’ interview for CEO of the year by Utah Business, he was asked, “If you weren’t working right now, what would you be doing?” He listed off hobbies including boating, golfing and traveling, “But,” he said, “the first thing I would be looking for are some ways to give back to the community and serve others.”

The irony wasn’t lost as he told me of his work helping local businesses thrive and his accomplishments in his 40-plus year career. He spent more than 30 years with Larry H. Miller Group of Companies where he worked as CMO and senior vice president for the Jazz and eventually entered the philanthropic side of the company.

In 2020, Francis started at the South Valley Chamber of Commerce. 

South Valley Chamber of Commerce serves and helps local businesses grow their business by connecting, advocating and educating them and by working with government and community leaders in five different cities including South Jordan, Cottonwood Heights, Draper, Sandy and Riverton. Herriman will soon join the ranks, too.

While still holding his current position as president and CEO of the chamber, he serves on several different boards including the anti-bullying group, “Stand 4 Kind,” and the larger community and its businesses in a big and authentic way. 

Here are four life lessons he’s learned and is passing onto his community.

1.  Find a role model and work hard

Francis said that he has taken pages out of the books of several people throughout his life and career— the value of hard work from his dad, the desire to be a businessman from a previous religious leader, and that giving back is the biggest accomplishment from Larry and Gail Miller.

“I think it’s important that we have role models, rather than trying to blaze a trail by ourselves,” Francis said.

He speaks from experience from a time when he started transitioning from a career in construction to business. 

While his father wasn’t a businessman, he worked hard during his career, often working on weekends and into the night, Francis said. So Francis started as a construction worker and followed his father’s example by working hard. But his outlook of what he wanted to do with his life changed when he saw men in suits and carrying briefcases in Salt Lake City.

“I just knew I didn’t want to have slivers in my fingers and mud or concrete on my boots,” he said.

From that point he worked to make the transition from construction to business by knocking on doors to network and asking CEOs and vice presidents of major corporations how they became what they were.

“Don’t worry about the time you clock,” he said, “just work hard.”

2. Give more than expected and serve

When someone goes above and beyond what’s expected of them, it leads to service. Francis said that it can be boiled down to, “Grow to give back and be better.”

Francis spoke of multiple times when he was asked while in his position as president and CEO why he attends almost every ribbon cutting and is up and at the stadium with bagels for early morning ticket sales, regardless of if he could work the ticket computer or not. 

His response was simple. 

“If I can be there to support them as the president of that chamber, then maybe, then maybe it lifts their day,” he said. “If people can count on you and depend on you, then you’ve got their trust,” he said. 

Part of doing more than expected is wanting to do something that doesn’t benefit you, it’s to serve. 

Before Larry H. Miller coined his renowned phrase, “Go out into the world and do good until there is too much good in the world,” he told Francis about it and emphasized the importance of it being the foundation of the company.

It’s something that Francis took with him. 

3. Relationships aren’t something to hoard in a bank and withdraw for a favor

The more modern phrase “social capital,” Francis said, makes relationships sound like something you stuff away in a safe until you need to withdraw. 

“I’m not building them to put them in a bank,” he said, adding that he prefers the term “genuine,” and his approach focuses on being authentic in every relationship he makes. 

Rob Brough, EVP of Marketing and Communications at Zions Bank and chair of the South Valley Chamber, has known and worked with Francis for more than 25 years.

“Jay’s influence as president and CEO of the Chamber has been foundational to the growth and success of the Chamber,” he said. “The relationships he has nurtured over his more than 40-year career have been critical to elevating the Chamber to its current position of prominence within Utah’s business ecosystem.”

Francis said himself that previous relationships that he’s made and kept can be invaluable to help his chamber members connect with people who can give direction and guidance.

4. Live what you teach

Through all of the other tidbits of advice he gave, I asked Francis how he has mentored and taught others what he’s learned. 

“I think you teach it [and] you have to talk about things, but then you have to live them,” Francis said. 

He said that living what you teach is always the best form of teaching—it’s being an example. 

“Everyone who has ever associated with or done business with Jay admires and respects him,” Brough said. “In my role as Chair of the South Valley Chamber, I have seen example after example of Jay’s brilliance, which he exhibits in a most humble and welcoming manner. He is a collaborator, a mentor, a builder and a true leader.”

Francis said that growth for the sake of growth “doesn’t have a purpose.”

“[You can] grow to grow just to maintain, or you can grow to be able to give back and to be better,” he said. 

“I could be golfing, I could be doing more boating—which is probably my first love—but I really feel like what we’re building here with the South Valley Chamber is doing service.”  λ