The 2006 International Business Conference got underway on October 30 in the Polynesian Cultural Center's Hale Aloha amphitheater with a breakfast, Promo Team performance, welcoming chant by BYUH Hawaiian Studies Director "Uncle Bill" Wallace, and opening speeches by two prominent Latter-day Saint business leaders: Mark Willes, who spoke about being "taught from on high" and having a greater desire to give; and Sheri Dew, who delivered the keynote address on the leadership characteristics of prophets.
Willes is the retired Chairman, President & CEO of Times Mirror, Vice Chairman of General Mills, Inc. and the first Vice President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. He currently serves on the Executive Committee of the BYU-Hawaii/PCC Presidents' Leadership Council, the PCC Board of Directors and in other positions. Dew, President & CEO of Deseret Book Company, is a former Second Counselor in the general Relief Society Presidency and is the author of several books, including biographies on Presidents Gordon B. Hinckley and Ezra Taft Benson.
The International Business Conference is co-sponsored by the BYU-Hawaii Willes Center for International Entrepreneurship, the BYU-Hawaii Center for Instructional Technology & Outreach (CITO), and the Polynesian Cultural Center.
In his remarks, Willes, who recently returned from serving as president of the Hawaii Honolulu Mission, used the Hawaiian greeting aloha to remind the attendees, "You need to remember that you are loved by our Father in Heaven and His Son and our Savior, Jesus Christ."
Citing Doctrine and Covenants Section 43, Willes encouraged the attendees to "take advantage of this week" by instructing and edifying each other for the benefit of the Church, "and, I will insert, my business, my family and any other righteous endeavor in which you're engaged. If we come to a session such as the ones this week and are responsive to the Spirit, we will be taught from on high, and we will know what to do...and as we do those things, we will be sanctified. We will be blessed, and we will be prospered. I can't think of a greater set of promises."
Willes told of being a young member of a stake presidency years ago who went to General Conference and took "copious notes on everything that was said. At the end of that conference, President Kimball, who was the Prophet at that time, got up and said he had made a long list of things to do. Notice the difference," he continued. "He had written down impressions that came to him as to what he should DO."
"We hope you will leave this conference determined to be an even more effective leader, not only in your business, not only in your family, but in those other areas where the Lord has expectations for you to make a contribution and a difference," Willes said. He also encouraged the participants to have "a greater desire to give."
"Some of you will have the Spirit whisper to you, 'You need to help.' May I suggest, as the Spirit whispers that to you, that you listen and write it down, and then bind yourself to act — to do it."
In her speech on developing leadership, Dew said, "There are certain principles and conducts the Lord needs each of us to learn...to be more effective servants in his Kingdom."
Referring to the Polynesian Cultural Center and BYU-Hawaii, she added, "We're raising leaders to go back to Samoa, Tonga, New Zealand and throughout the world; and isn't that what's happening at BYU Provo, BYU Idaho and, for that matter really, throughout the Kingdom."
Dew said as CEO of Deseret Book, a position she never sought, she has learned some important things, citing a prevailing lesson: "It is impossible — I'll say it that adamantly — to see any organization succeed long-term if there aren't leaders throughout the organization." She added "organization" in this sense could also refer to the family and the Church.
"Who is a more dynamic leader than President Gordon B. Hinckley? It would not be possible if we expected him to do everything," she continued. "If you want an organization, a family, a humanitarian organization, a company, any kind of community endeavor to work, you need leaders all the way through; and it may mean the paramount responsibility of the person where the buck stops is to develop the leaders."
Dew encouraged the conference participants to look to the ancient and modern prophets of God to exemplify key traits of pure leadership. "Number one, a true, pure leader is humble...and understands three things very clearly: The leadership is not about them — it's about the people they lead. It's about lifting others, not exalting themselves. They understand where their talent, skills and abilities come from; and it's not from them. [And] Leadership is not about having power: It's about using the influence you have to help others."
Dew also said prophet-leaders were "fiercely devoted to a righteous cause," had great faith and integrity, could be trusted, were never afraid to work, "set examples worth following," and were optimistic.
"If we will look to prophets, ancient and modern, we will see in the lives of these magnificent men and women, and we can learn, how to be better leaders by developing the characteristics they have demonstrated for us."