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