December Newsletter

Dinner Event (LaDon Linde Class of 2009)

Thursday night we had the annual dinner with 40 alumni and strategy professors. It was great to catch up with everyone and then hear from Greg Robinson. Jeff Dyer and Greg started working at Bain & Co. at the same time, and it was great to hear about their connection and see how lifelong friendships can be developed early in our careers. That was a major take away from the evening. 

Greg was a terrific speaker. He has had a varied career working with several different companies. He was a strategy consultant for Bain, worked as an assistant to the Staples co-founder, attended HBS, worked for McKinsey, then built PWC’s media practice in Los Angeles working with several of the studios, and started a consulting business in which all fees were contingent on improving the bottom line of the companies they worked with. He is also the nephew of Mitt Romney. Mitt was like a dad to Greg, as his dad left the church (and it sounded like the family) when he was on his mission and Mitt stepped in as a father figure. Greg gave several great thoughts. Here’s a few that stuck out to me:

Balance – Mitt’s advice to him was that there was always too much to do with family, work, and church. Therefore, if Mitt ever felt like he was completely caught up with one part of his life, it meant he was spending too much time there. It was important for him to feel stretched/behind in all 3 parts of his life or he was focusing too much on one of them.

Talented people outside consulting – He realized when he left consulting that there are very talented people working in industry that had never worked for consulting firms. It was very good to get that perspective.

Following less “prestigious" routes – He left McKinsey to go work for PWC, and that was a great move for him and his family. At face value, some would say moving from McKinsey to PWC would be unwise because PWC’s consulting practice doesn’t have the prestige of McKinsey. However, PWC made him partner, he got to focus on the type of work he wanted, he didn’t travel, and he was able to be a Bishop. It worked out great for him and his family. After that he started his own consulting firm, which was also quite successful. Don’t just follow the route most people would think is the clear winner.

Breakfast Panel Part 1 (Michael Alemany Class of 2010)

I thought this was one of the best parts of the reunion and unfortunately I won’t be able to do it complete justice in a brief recap but here goes –

Panelists:

Scott Schurtlif – Accretive Health

Travis Everton – Peterson Partners

Jon Jay – Real Estate Investment

Jeron Paul – Scalar Partners

Discussion Topics:

Why/How/When did you move from your first job post college to your second?

·         Personal Network – this was critical in finding the next role and in deciding whether to make the jump.  The value of building and maintaining your network cannot be overstated.

·         Interest in industry/company – many of the panelists started in consulting roles so they used their next role to move into an industry that interested them and into a company that was a good cultural fit.  When evaluating their fit at a potential new firm they relied heavily on the individuals in their respective networks at those firms.

Why get an MBA?

·         Don’t simply use an ROI evaluation – If you simply examine the opportunity cost of attending against the salary you expect when you graduate there are a host of variables that are being completely ignored or undervalued.

·         Getting an MBA provides an excellent time to reflect on your career path and examine what you’re truly passionate about and where you’ll find the greatest fulfillment.

·         The network you develop, especially at a top tier school, is invaluable and will pay significant dividends for the rest of your career.

·         It can open doors or provide a pivot point into a total different field that wouldn’t be possible otherwise.

Unlike many of us thought, the opportunities post graduation often don’t narrow but become broader.  

How do you handle the gray and determine your next career steps early on?

·         You have to identify what you love.  The only way you’re going to be able to put in the time and produce your best work is if you love what you do.

·         Be willing to take risks.  Culturally, we tend to be very conservative; hence, we produce great accountants and general managers.  The greatest limitation on our success is typically ourselves.  We assume we can’t do something because that’s not the typical path or we might fail.  Be willing to step out into the dark or blaze a slightly different trail and you may be surprised to discover that the insurmountable barriers you had imagined are not actually that insurmountable.

·         It's important to reevaluate from time to time whether your career priorities are indeed in line with all the other priorities in your life.  What you may find is that your career is a means to an end and that you have other areas of your life that you want to give greater time and attention to (family, church, etc).  This may mean you need to make changes to better allocate your time against your highest priorities.

Breakfast Panel Part 2 (Andrew Woo Class of 2011)

The second part of the breakfast panel was a breakout session during which Scott, Travis, Jon, and Jeron led separate small group discussions with alumni. It was a great opportunity to interact more closely with the panelists, and I felt like they said a lot of things that were deeply personal and very insightful.

During my interaction with Jon, he emphasized the importance of taking risks and being willing to fail. He reiterated that “if we haven’t failed, it means that we haven’t taken enough risks.” After talking to so many alumni over the past day and learning more about their different career paths, I noticed that some of them have really taken a leap of faith and tried something risky, and I am impressed and inspired by them. Definitely easier said than done, but is still significant at this stage of our careers.

Also, speaking with other alumni afterward, I found that one point that stood out to many was Scott’s comment about reflecting on our careers being a means towards an end. During the breakout session, he elaborated about how he had discovered that he was on a path where he allocated more time than he wanted to the office. Scott decided to make changes to reflect his higher priorities, even if it meant that he wasn’t going to be the CEO of XYZ corp. one day. This was an amazingly honest comment, and something that each of us will have to wrestle with throughout our careers.

Overall, I felt that the panel discussion was a great opportunity to take a step back, learn from the panelists, and evaluate the path we are on. I’m already looking forward to next year’s discussion! 

Presentation from Dr. Hatch and Dr. Dyer on ‘Competing with Free’ (Nathan Lawler Class of 2009)

Listening to Dr. Hatch talk about the research that the strategy professors have done in this space was very fascinating. For me, they were talking about products I use on a daily basis (e.g., Mint.com, Spotify, Zynga, etc). Not only was it great to be in a classroom type environment again, but it was great to hear all of the alumni comment throughout the presentation and see how much we have all progressed in our careers from when we were in school.

For me and perhaps a few others, this particular topic may not directly apply to the firm I currently work for, but it was a great refresher on how to approach thinking about a firm’s future strategy at a high level. The professors have done a great job scoping out the competitive landscape in the ‘free’ market and it was great to learn about it.

Lunch with the Current Students (Nathan Lawler Class of 2009)

I was able to chat with 4 or 5 current students during lunch, all of whom were in the process of going through full-time interviews and contemplating job offers. Hopefully, something I said was beneficial to them, but it was a great opportunity to give back in some small way. I came away thinking that the program is in great shape and has a bright future. The students I spoke with were extremely bright and I just was grateful to be a part of the program in the early years, as I probably would not have gotten in competing with the current crop of students. J

September 2012 Newsletter

Alumni Update from Tommy Smith (class of 2010)

I completed an internship at an investment bank called Piper Jaffray in San Francisco during my junior year summer, and subsequently accepted a job in investment banking at Greenhill & Co. in New York City. Greenhill has a great culture and I have enjoyed my time. I apply concepts from the strategy program virtually every day at my job. I recently accepted an associate position at a tech-focused private equity fund in San Francisco called Vector Capital which I will start in August 2013 after finishing my second year at Greenhill.

Finance is a very interesting field, and as a strategy student, I feel I have an advantage over my colleagues, since strategy is so critical to finance. Examples of the strategy-related work I do are:

1. Creating financial models in excel that analyze the merger of two companies, including estimating the dollar-value of annual synergies

2. Creating ~100-page informational memos used to “market” a company we are selling, which involves defining the corporate strategy

3. Holding daily calls and working personally with the executives of our clients, discussing corporate planning and acquisition strategies

After a few years in their careers, several BYU students have approached me, wondering how they can get into finance. They often say “I wish I would not have been hesitant to work long hours at the beginning of my career because I could now be where I want to be, but I’m not.”

The main piece of advice I would give to strategy students is to not make your career decision based on the number of hours you will work in the first two to four years of your career. Make your career decision about where you want to end up in several years, and then take the path to arrive there, even if it requires some sacrifice in the beginning years.

Once on the job, I would reiterate advice one of my Managing Directors at Greenhill gave me: Act like the level above you. In other words, as an analyst, I should act like the level above me, which is an associate. This concept has led me to do more than just my own responsibilities, but also consider what my associate or vice president would do with my work when I hand it off to them, and try to do it myself (e.g., meticulously checking my work). This attitude will earn you the trust of your superiors, and you will be given more responsibility than may be normal for your position.

I would be happy to talk to any alumni or current students about investment banking and/or private equity and how it fits in with the strategy program. Contact me at thomasm.smith@yahoo.com.

Spiritual Thoughts from LaDon Linde (class of 2009): Asking Questions

In Dr. Dyer's class we talked about questions and how critical it is to become good at asking the right ones. I've found that this is important in work but also super helpful when trying to understand the scriptures better and gain a deeper testimony. This quote from Clayton Christensen sums it up perfectly, “Questions are places in your mind where answers fit. If you haven’t asked the question, the answer has nowhere to go.”

Right now I'm reading the Book of Mormon along with the Gospel Doctrine lessons. It has been terrific. When reading I try to ask myself a couple of questions, often including the following:

- Why did this story make it into the Book of Mormon?

- What is going on right now in the context of the story? How does that affect what is being written, done, or taught?

- How is the message different in this chapter vs. other chapters? Is it due to the context?

Here are a few things I've learned recently as a result of asking questions:

- Captain Moroni was very young when chosen to lead the armies. Why was he chosen? Likely because of how smart and innovative he was. He brought new ideas to their fighting, and that would get you noticed in business, or an organization, or when fighting a war. The Book of Mormon spends a lot of time on his ideas; that's what he was best at - being a good thinker. That actually gives me hope to be successful as I believe God is interested in helping us have good ideas and the Spirit helps sharpen our mind - D.C. 33:17 (Spirit "quickeneth" all things). In fact, it appears that Moroni was terrific at asking questions himself. For instance, consider Alma 49. It sounds like he asked the question, "where are the Nephite dissenters who know our cities well most likely to attack?" Answer = Ammonihah. So they fortified that city. Then he asked, "what will they do when they see the city is fortified?" They will look for places of retreat - so he "altered the management of the affairs of the Nephites". I think that means he moved walls, cut down trees, repositioned part of the city, etc so the Lamanites wouldn't have a place to retreat. Then he asked, "when they find this city protected and no place to retreat, where will they attack next?" Answer = Noah. So they fortified that city. He was so great at asking questions.

- Alma teaches his sons in Alma 36-42. He shares his own wickedness and conversion story with only 2 of his sons, the more righteous two. I find that interesting. It is reasonable to think that sharing his own wickedness with his disobedient son would help that son know that Alma understands him. Alma takes the opposite approach though. Maybe it's unwise to share sins of the now repented one with the sinner as they may put off change but wise to share sins in some circumstances with the righteous as it helps them understand that people can change and not to be harsh judges of those have not yet repented.

Keep asking questions. It helps you think of things you wouldn't otherwise consider.

Book Review by Andrew Woo (class of 2011): A Whole New Mind (Daniel Pink)

I read Daniel Pink's book, A Whole New Mind, last summer, and am still busy applying things I learned from it. According to Pink, "the era of 'left brain' dominance, and the Information Age that it engendered, are giving way to a new world in which 'right brain' qualities - inventiveness, empathy, meaning - predominate." The future belongs to companies like Apple, IDEO, and Nike, that can bring design and fun together in a way that inspires and excites us.

For those of us with a quantitative, analytical background, this book is especially helpful. Pink provides a roadmap for us to develop six specific qualities - inventiveness, empathy, meaning, design, play, and symphony - that will help us succeed in the economy of the future. The book is completely original and very readable, and I recommend it

.

Articles and Websites

Article from NY Times on raising successful children: http://nyti.ms/OIdkls

New asset class from MIT Sloan student, sports gambling (note: I am not promoting doing this, but was 

impressed with the innovative thinking): ow.ly/d5XhF 

What do business schools look for applicants and mistakes to avoid from WSJ: on.wsj.com/xoQRZ6 

10 Tricks to for a fabulous work day: ow.ly/dthbm 

Way too in depth college football statistics: http://knowhuddle.com/

Want to memorize something or sharpen up language skills: www.memrise.com

March Newsletter

Dinner Event (LaDon)

We had a terrific dinner on Thursday night to start the reunion. It began with a mix and mingle hour that was very enjoyable. While reconnecting with classmates, I learned that Jon Benson, a member of my class, is the director of Operations, reporting directly to the CEO, for a company with over 200 employees. It was great to talk to him about his rise in the company. He was an analyst who was aware of a big new product launch that had been stalling for years. He asked if he could try to launch it. When it launched successfully in a few months after Jon took over the project, the company made him the head of operations. It was a great reminder to me to solve try to get involved in problems because those are great opportunities.

After the dinner Paul Allen, the co-founder of ancestry.com, family link, and several other companies spoke to us. He told us a lot of war stories that come with someone who raised $33M at a $330M valuation for ancestry.com and then saw the company burn through the money in 1 year and almost go bankrupt. Now the company is valued at around $2B. Among the several items he mentioned are the following:

1) When he started ancestry.com, there was a competitor who offered 3 items, available through the mail on cd-rom. These brought in $20-30M annually. Ancestry.com decided to offer these three things for free and put the other company out of business.

2) Ancestry couldn’t raise money because the VC’s didn’t understand family history. However, they did understand having a “family-only” social network that individual families could establish among themselves. This family-based social network helped them raise millions of dollars for ancestry.com.

3) Companies often talk about the need to focus on their core products. However, that’s often not ideal. For instance, Walt Disney started Disneyland while also creating movies, and Disneyland has turned into a genius way to reinforce the entire Disney brand (and it brings in $10B in revenue per year now). It’s ideal to have disparate products that help and reinforce each other.

4) Relationships with key people are critical. Not having good enough relationships with members of the ancestry.com board and with people at Facebook have been two major mistakes in his career.

To say the least, it was a great discussion in which we learned a lot from a seasoned entrepreneur. I know the many who attended enjoyed the evening. I look forward to next year’s dinner with another great speaker and the chance to catch up with more successful classmates like Jon.

Dr. Dyer Presentation (Nate)

For the alumni that were fortunate enough to attend this event, it was awesome to be able to hear from Dr. Dyer about The Innovator’s DNA. For me, it brought me back to the first semester in the strategy program and reminded me of how lucky we were to have Dr. Dyer as a professor.

Instead of giving a review of what he discussed, I thought I would share some of the more memorable quotes from Dr. Dyer’s presentation.

1) Leaders make a difference. It is important to understand your role as a leader

2) Average CEOs spend about 12% of time on innovation. Innovative CEOs spend about 25% on innovation

3) "If you don't make mistakes, then you aren’t swinging for the fences." Jeff Bezos (CEO, Amazon)

4) P&G has over 35% of their innovative ideas from outside sources

5) How to create a creative culture? 3 P framework: People, Processes, and Philosophies

6) Discovery Competencies are the key to distinguishing yourself in your company

7) Most innovative companies: Salesforce.com; Amazon; Intuitive Surgical; Tencent; Apple

8) Steve Jobs said ‘Think Different, Jeff Dyer says ‘Act Different’

9) 80% of IQ is genetics but creativity is only 33% genetics. Creativity can be learned

10) Four key behaviors: Questioning, Experimenting, Observing, Networking

The biggest takeaways for me were ‘acting differently’ and the innovation premium. It was clear to me that innovative leaders truly do act differently. At this stage of our careers, it seems clear that we have to act differently, in a positive way, to stand out and create opportunities for ourselves. The innovation premium is a fascinating way to look at the value of a firm. I know Dr. Dyer’s story of trading is quite memorable but I now own 3 of the 5 stock of his most innovative companies list.

Lunch Event (Daniel Fudge)

As the final event of the BYU Strategy Reunion 2011 the Friday session ended with a lunch for the Strategy alums (class of 2009, 2010, & 2011) to meet with the current Strategy students (class of 2012). Lunch was held in the Hinckley Alumni Center.

The lunch was a great opportunity for current students to meet with alumni to build their own networks and get a better understanding of all the different opportunities that are available to them with a Strategy degree. It gave everyone the chance to see where all the different alumni are currently working and where the program has had the most success. Each Strategy Program alum was asked to introduce themselves and tell where they are currently working and in what city. The program currently has students working in companies such as: Bain, McKinsey, Aon, Goldman Sachs, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Sears, Skywest Airlines, Qualtrics, and several start-up companies. Students were able to ask the alumni questions to get a better understanding of the type of work they do, what types of projects they work on, and how they enjoy their jobs.

The lunch was a perfect way to end the reunion. It really provided everyone who attended a good view on the current state of the program, and what the future holds with the highly qualified students. The program is in good hands with the professors and alumni leading the way. The current students continue to build the BYU Strategy brand getting internships and full time offers from some of the most prestigious companies in the world. Strategy alums are beginning to make a name for themselves in the workplace and our brand is being recognized more and more by recruiters. Hopefully we can look forward to another great reunion in 2012.

Websites and Apps (Nate)

My favorite iPad/iPhone apps: USA Today, Politico, Foursquare, Award Wallet, Mint.com, TripIt, Bible Videos (from the church. The church has really come out with some fantastic applications)

www.danoah.com A blog post of this author recently went pretty viral on being a good dad. This guy has some really interesting opinions and suggestions on parenting.

www.pinterest.com You may think this is only for females but it is actually an awesome idea to share and store ideas.

timehop.com If you are into social media, this is a great way to reflect on what you were doing a year ago. It is fantastic.

www.thepointsguy.com This has been on my radar for a while and was meant to be shared a while back. This is a great resource for maximizing and leveraging frequent flyer, hotel, and credit card points. I recently started guest blogging for the site on expat travel.

www.mittromney.com Just kidding