The second annual International Business Conference, held in Laie from November 6-10, presented participants with a compelling mixture of professional advice, spiritual instruction and stimulating activities.
Many of the participants attended the BYU-Hawaii/Polynesian Cultural Center Presidents' Leadership Council (PLC) meeting on November 5 and President Steven C. Wheelwright's inauguration on November 6 before the conference began.
PCC President Von D. Orgill welcomed the participants to the opening session on November 7 in the Hale Aloha theater. "I hope as you entered the facility today and walk these grounds here at the PCC as well as BYU-Hawaii that you have already been able to feel a little bit of the special spirit here. There are a few places on the earth that have been hallowed by the work of the Lord, and this is one of those places," he said.
Three keynote speakers then started the instructional portion of the conference:
Referring to the conference's theme, "Creating Wealth in a Changing World" with a special emphasis on China, BYU-Hawaii President Steven C. Wheelwright [pictured at left] recalled he spent his last three years at Harvard Business School training faculty members in the top-twenty Chinese universities.
He also explained BYU-Hawaii's two-part mission, and invited the participants "to consider what you can do to help our students" develop the characteristics of integrity...to know how to integrate both spiritual and secular truths, so that they can be successful in all that the Lord would have them be successful at."
"What's closest to my heart is the students. They are sons and daughters of our Father in Heaven, and He loves them, and we love them. We know that you have many of those same feelings, and I would hope those feelings grow as you are here."
Mark H. Willes [pictured on the right], former CEO of Times Mirror, chairman of the PCC Board of Directors and PLC co-chair, explained why the conference was organized around a China theme. "You will see we have a lot of sessions designed to make you more successful at what you do," he said. "China has everything to do with you: You can't understand the price of gasoline unless you understand China. You can't understand the level of industry unless you understand China."
With 400 million middle-class Chinese and 600 million middle-class people in India projected over the next 20 years, he continued, "we cannot think about our lives and about our businesses unless we understand what's happening in that part of the world."
Willes pointed out the conference was designed "to help us learn and grow spiritually... You'll feel like you've been in the best Gospel doctrine class of your life"; and, he continued, the event would also introduce the participants to BYU-Hawaii and the PCC. He encouraged them to accept President Wheelwright's invitation to donate, quickly, "because he will ask less of you than the Spirit will ask."
Former Dell computer CEO Kevin Rollins [pictured at top left] entitled his remarks, "Prepare to Win. A lot of people don't necessarily prepare to win, they prepare to not fail. That's very, very different."
Rollins cited Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who said, ...mortals must make significant changes in their ways of doing things when they move from worldly occupations to the performance of Church callings. "He also said that some professionals expect that the practices and procedures of the Church will conform to the practices and procedures of their professions."
"We have responsibilities beyond being good at what we do, whether it's China or Asia in business, and I think we all understand that responsibility," he said.
Rollins noted that having a good business plan is important, "but what I've also found is that superior execution is good strategy — watching the details and managing effectively every day, refining the business model, teaching the employees what to do every day... It is impossible to maintain 50 initiatives, so the focus on simple sets, communicating with employees and shareholders, is very critical and important... I've found that superior execution of an average strategy will beat poor execution of an elegant strategy every day."
In the final session of the conference, Sheri Dew [pictured at right], a former member of the General Relief Society presidency, CEO of Deseret Book Co. and author of biographies on Presidents Ezra Taft Benson and Gordon B. Hinckley, urged the participants to be leaders: "Leaders do things. They take action," she said. "Talk isn't enough."
"With everything you've learned, with everything you've thought about, with everything you've been taught, with every bit of knowledge you've gained and with the resources you had when you walked in here — and that now have been amplified because you've learned more, I'd like you to think about your circle and sphere of influence," she said. "I'm inviting you to think about how much broader that circle can be."
At the conclusion, conference organizer Dal Zemp — a philanthropic entrepreneur from Canada who attended BYU-Hawaii — pointed out the majority of the presenters paid their own expenses "to come here and give service. There's almost no way we could do this type of conference, had it not been for the consecrated efforts of so many people."
Aaron Bluemel, a participant who operates his own real estate business in Lyman, Wyoming, described the conference as "very uplifting and enlightening." His wife, Charlyn, added, "It was awesome to rub shoulders with so many wonderful people — leaders from all over the world, really."
"We came primarily for the business, but it's nice to have the spiritual aspects, too," he said, adding they came to the first International Business Conference and will likely come to the next one.
In addition to the variety of sessions, the conference included a special musical concert by Reunion, which consists of two of the original Lettermen, activities for spouses and children, a golf tournament, and a special screening of the large-format movie, Journey of Faith: The New World, in the PCC's IMAX Theater. The film presented a deeply researched look at Book of Mormon geography and related aspects of Meso-American culture, following by a question-and-answer session with the film's director, Peter Johnson.
— Photos by Mike Foley