The most influential business thinker on earth right now is Clayton Christensen, according to Thinkers 50, a just-released ranking done every two years by the consulting team Crainer Dearlove.

Christensen, a professor at Harvard Business School and the author of best-sellers including The Innovator’s Dilemma, is a name familiar to manyForbes readers. He has written often for the magazine and was profiled in a recent cover story.... Click here for more

Order here 

We wanted to thank Joseph Grenny for taking the time out of his busy schedule to speak to the students of Brigham Young University-Idaho. Your message was uplifting and inspiring to all those who heard it and it means so much to each of us to have the privilege of listening to your counsel. So again, THANK YOU for everything!!

With that, we would like to encourage those who are interested in learning more to check out the following resources:

Follow on Twitter @josephgrenny
"Like" on facebook
Order his books here 
Take their change anything assessment here or just learn more about their research.
You can also learn more about Joseph Grenny here.

Thank you again Brother Grenny! It was an honor to have you speak to our students. We look forward to having you again sometime.

© Joseph Grenny 

Joseph Grenny is Co-Author of Four-time New York Times Bestsellers: Influencer, Crucial Conversations, Crucial Confrontations, and The Power to Change Anything. Brother Grenny will be addressing the student body at BYU-Idaho at 2pm on Nov 3, 2011. 

An expert in topics ranging from influence and leadership, to organizational change and effectiveness. Please join us for this wonderful event and opportunity to hear from a leading expert in his field! This will be a live satellite broadcast. Click here to RSVP.

This semesters Idea Pitch Competition will be held on November 15, 2012 @ 2pm in Smith Bldg, room 440. 

If you are interest in signing up, please click here to enter your chance to win $100 to the top 10 winners! 
Also why you are at it, "Like" us on Facebook and follow us on twitter! 

© Brooks Brothers

So you  might be asking yourself, "Why is a packet square an essential when wearing a suit"? Well I will tell you, at least in my opinion it is one of those little details that transforms a man. It is the small details that make all the difference. A pocket square SCREAMS class!

I have decided to post this because I believe to many of us are missing this essential element of a suit and because their are a few things you should know before you go jumping into adding a pocket square to your arsenal of fashion treasures! First, how to fold them! That is addressed here and is a great guide on how-to fold for different events. One thing to keep in mind is that the pre-folded packet squares look pre-folded and in turn look pretty bad! Avoid them at all costs!

Second, is matching / coloring. This is so important. Many companies today sell matching ties, pocket squares, and cufflings. This is a horrible fashion no-no! A white pocket square is always safe. It is conservative, clean,  and classy and you can't ever go wrong! If you choose to go with a colored pocket square, it should match in the sense that it coordinates.

For Example:
A red tie with a blue accent color could be matched with a pocket square that compliments the blue in the tie. It should have a different pattern and not look like it was made to match the tie. Here is an example in photo. You can see how the red pocket square is a great compliment to the tie. Patterns are similar but not the same. Remember if you want to be safe, white is always a great choice. You can't ever go wrong!

Welcome back! We are excited for the upcoming semester and we have been busy trying to make this semester better then ever! We have a lot in store for you this semester!

From the National C.E.O Conference in October to Joseph Grenny, a four time New York Times Bestseller, this semester is going to be great!

We have a number of great opportunities for leadership and experience! If you are interested in getting more out of CEO then please join us on September 15, 2011 at 2pm in Smith Bldg Room 286 for more information. We hope you can join us!

Also, check back often for updates throughout the semester! We wish you best semester and we hope to see you at our meetings each week in Smith Room 286 at 2pm each Thursday!

Sincerely,

Ian Lindsey
C.E.O. Chapter President

 Illustrations by Brandon Bird via BusinessWeek

Many of the men who trained to be Mormon Missionaries have gone on to become among the most distinguished persons in America business and civic life.

Before setting out in orderly pairs to spread their gospel door-to-door, nearly all U.S. Mormon missionaries pass through the Provo Missionary Training Center. Inside the sprawling brown-brick complex, thousands of 19- and 20-year-old men in oversized black suits work alongside women in below-the-knee skirts and brightly colored tops. All of them wear name tags. Click here to read more ==>

 

BRAD GILL | MY STORY - 

My entire life I’ve been surrounded by builders. At every school I have attended, in every home my family has lived in, and just about everywhere I have gone, there has seemed to be major construction going on. It’s never been a bother to me, and in fact, I've always found it very intriguing.


Growing up, my family moved pretty often. My father would design a home, take a couple of years to build it, and then we would live in it for another couple of years. This process repeated several times from elementary school through high school. I would consider my father one of the greatest builders I know, not just for the amazing homes that he’s built, but for the people he has built up.


I think of the great people that have influenced my life including my family, teachers, and friends and I realize that that is what I want to be: a builder. I love making things and being creative, but my education and experiences are just arrows that lead me toward that goal. Building others, that is the greatest thing I can do.

Here is a quick video for all you college students who don't have money to start your business venture but still have the fire in your belly! There is plenty of things you can do that don't cost a dime! Enjoy!

I want you to take a few moments today to think about the "stuff" you have in your business. Because all that "stuff" represents money, and how well you manage the process of getting, ordering, storing and shipping that stuff means a lot to your bottom line. Read More ==>

JOHANA LEAL | MY STORY


A wise woman told me, “Johana, believe and it will be; you should know by now that you can achieve great things.”

These words came from a woman who has worked part-time, nurtured five children, and is now battling the life threatening disease of breast cancer. She is the woman that I turn to when my days are dark, and when I lose the motivation to finish what I have started.

She has been my mentor, my guide, and my hero. On difficult occasions, she has not once neglected an opportunity to
direct me to follow my heart. She knows what I want in life, and believes that I will succeed. Her believing in my future gives me confidence in my life changing decisions that I'll make.

I set high expectations for myself and acquire all the knowledge in preparation to achieve my goals and dreams. As a Communication major, I have a dream to one day report the news on broadcast television. My mother’s love and confidence keeps me moving forward, and reminds me to never forget my passions.

Competition Information Meeting – ALL BYU-Idaho students who are on enrolled in classes for the Spring 2011 semester are invited to participate in the Business Plan / Model, Entrepreneur, and Idea Pitch competitions. For additional information about the competitions, go to http://www.byui.edu/BusandComm/ or see below.


Business Plan Competition – Students are invited to prepare and submit student created business plans. This competition's objective is to give students an opportunity to present their ideas and the top 3 will receive $500 each to start-up a business. Competition will be held on June 7, 2011 @ 6pm in Smith room 220. The Application deadline is June 3 @ 5pm in Smith Room 231.

The Entrepreneur Competition is held to recognize the most outstanding student-owned businesses among current BYU-Idaho students. The top 3 will receive $1,000 each. Competition will be held on June 7th, 2011 @ 6pm in Smith room 442. The Application deadline is June 3 @ 5pm in Smith Room 231.

The IDEA Pitch Competition is a 90 second presentation of an idea, whether that idea is a business or an idea to change the world it matters not, for the chance to win $100 for the top 10 ideas (contingent upon number of entries). Competition will be held on June 2, 2011 @ 2pm in Smith room 220. It could be the easiest $100 you have ever earned! The Application deadline is May 31 @ 5pm in Smith Room 231.

We are excited to have Brother Jason Scott Earl, a professor of Business at Brigham Young University Idaho, as our guest speaker this week. He will be addressing the the topic of Naïve Networking. Please Join us on Thursday, April 28, 2011 in Smith Room 340 at 2pm. Pizza and drinks will be served. We also hope that you will learn how CEO can bless your college experience.

So today we will address the area of shoes. I know there are thousands of different kinds of shoes to choose from. Today we primarily address 'dress shoes'.

First, I need to address this one point. If your shoes can't be polished, and aren't leather, they should not be worn with a suit. With that said, that doesn't mean that just because they meet that criteria, that they are appropriate either. Remember that we are primarily speaking about a business setting.

In a business setting both brown and black shoes are appropriate. if brown  you should wear darker brown in a formal environment. It is often referred to as 'Cordovan' and is something you should own. Here are a few pointers when thinking about what color shoes to wear with what suit color.

Black Suit - Black Shoes, period!
Navy Suit - Black for for conservative but brown is a great look with a Navy Suit.
Any Other Suit- You Choose. Brown or Cordovan looks great with almost all and it really looks great with a grey suit.

Courtesy of Brooks Brothers

Additionally, I would consider what is called a wingtip, pictures above or a captoe pictured below. Both are great and add a little extra to a plan shoe. Check out brooks brothers® shoes selection to get a better idea of what kinds of things you should be looking for in a dress shoe. Don't be scared by the price, these are reasonable prices for the quality of shoe but you can find similar looking shoes for much less at other places. I believe that seeing this type of quality will make you more aware of the details to look for in a new pair of shoes.

With the souls of your shoes consider this; if it is rubber, as most students dress shoes are, consider how dressy they really are. Rubber souls are fine sometimes. If the thickness of the soul or the design of the soul looks anything like a doc martin or a hiking boot, get a real pair of dress shoes. Echo makes a great looking rubber soul as I am sure many others do as well. Additional if you are still wearing the shoes you bought for your mission, it is time to upgrade before a the job hunting begins. There is no way they are in an appropriate condition for a formal environment, period!

One more thing, make sure your shoes are polished when you go to any kind of interview or meeting with clients. It is a MUST. They probably won't notice your shoes if they look good, but if they look bad they will notice for sure.

FYI: Cordovan also means the type of leather that is being used. it is a unique and special leather.

Great book for Mens Fashion

Okay, so as a way to give you something to think about, I have decided to write about Mens fashion. Ladies, I hope to address your world at a later date but for today and the next few weeks I will address the issues that I believe are important with deciding how to buy a mens suit, what to wear to an interview, how to purchase one suit that will work with almost anything you own and how to present yourself in a professional manner at work and in life.

You might be asking yourself what qualifies me to give such advise. You might be asking yourself, who cares... Well I can tell you that without a doubt, you should care. The way in which you present yourself in an interview or a lunch meeting with possible investors absolutely matters. If you look like a slob, you will be perceived as one and vice versa.

So what qualifies me to address this specific topic? Well, besides over 6 years of experience in the fashion Industry, I specifically worked in Mens Clothing (suiting) for Ralph Lauren. Although most associate Ralph Lauren with polo's and department store items, he has what is referred to as "Full Retail Stores" which means that the items you buy in Macy's are only a very small portion of what Ralph Lauren makes. Suits & dress clothes are just a few of those items. Starting at $1,500 up to around $15,000 per suit means the quality of suit that RL sells is unmatched in many ways in the Mens Clothing Industry.

With that said, I have decided to address the most important part of your wardrobe with regards to an interview. The Suit. So you might be saying, "well I have a suit... Whats next?" A suit should not just be a couple of pieces of cloth hanging in your closet that you wear on Tuesday and Sunday. A suit is an expression of who you are, it says a lot about you and your attention to detail. So the question we need to ask is, "When buying a suit, what should we look for?"

Heres what you need to know. If you can only afford one suit, or you are looking for a suit now that you are entering the working world, there is one suit everyone should have in their closet. A plain charcoal grey or charcoal grey pinstripe, two or three button suit with a notched lapel.

• Charcoal Grey is dark grey (NOT light grey)
• Two or Three buttons because these are very traditional and standard. DO NOT GET MORE THAN 3 BUTTONS FOR ANY REASON!!!!
• Notched Lapel is standard on suits, a "Peak lapel" is the alternative and is nice also but really should only be worn with specific body types. Pictured below are both notch lapels...

Courtesy of Brooks Brothers®

Here is two examples of grey suits that would be appropriate for an interview setting or business. Lucky for us as members of the church we have a lot of white shirts which you will also need for the interview. So here is a breakdown of what accessories you should consider with your grey suit. We will go into additional detail later but to start out here are a few things to know.

• A white shirt is always appropriate. Depending on the industry in which you are applying. For instance, if you are applying in the fashion world, wearing a white shirt might be a little to conservative. Consider a colored shirt and with a complimenting tie (not to matchy, meaning no matching tie, pocket square & cuff-links, all that tells the employer is that you don't really know how to match something so you took the easy road)
• A pocket square can be considered a little uppity! If you do decide to wear one, keep it simple and conservative with a white linen folded with what is ofter called "5 Crowns" or a straight line peaking just above the pocket line. DO NOT WEAR A MATCHING TIE & POCKET SQUARE EVER!
• Black or Cordovan (Dark Brown) dress shoes are both great options. Either way, make sure they are polished and in good conditions. Also, although not as important, when you do go to purchase new shoes stay away from rubber souls when at all possible. It will cost you a little more but will totally be worth the cost in style points!
• Wear a watch! A watch shoes that you care about time and that you are dependent. Using your phone to look at the time in an interview just says you are addicted! A watch also adds a nice accessory to your overall look.
• Speaking of phones, leave it in the car. For that matter, leave everything in car that you can. Having bulging pockets looks ridiculous! If you take your car key off and leave the rest of the keys in the car it will save you a lot of bulging. Also it will keep you from playing with them when you are nervous.

Well I think I have bored you enough. Remember this, if you don't have any of these things, it is more important that you look presentable. I would in no way advocate you getting into debt to finance a new wardrobe as that would be stupid! Build your wardrobe piece by piece and you will find that you look great and feel great! There will be more to come soon so come back for more tips and if you have any questions, leave a comment and we will try to answer them for you! 

Ian Lindsey

Courtesy of BYU Idaho Student Media

As many of you know, Jeff Sandefer founder of Acton MBA and Sandefer Capital was on campus this past week! We at CEO would like to express our gratitude for his willingness to come and impart some of his wisdom on the students of BYU-Idaho.

We could write a long write up on what Jeff spoke about but Leslie Gallardo from the BYU-Idaho Student Media did a great job for us! Click here to learn more about what Jeff spoke to the students about. Also, if you missed his speech, it should be available via a video in the library soon. We would highly recommend that you take the time to think about and apply what Jeff taught us about "Creating a Life of Meaning". His insight was fantastic and his advise was very meaningful. Additionally, we will be having a number of other speakers this semester, so come to our weekly meetings on Thursdays at 2pm in Smith 265.

Jeff Sandefer lives a dual life as an entrepreneur and a teacher. Named by Business Week as one of the top Entrepreneurship professors in the United States, he has accomplished much. Please join CEO on Thursday January 20, 2011 @ 2pm in the Kirkham Auditorium on the BYU-Idaho campus. 

As an entrepreneur, Jeff founded his first successful business at age 16.  His third business, Sandefer Offshore, started at age 27, returned $500 million in profits on a million dollar investment -- in less than four years. Recently he sold Sandefer Capital Partners, an oil and gas investment firm that held several billion dollars in assets.

Business may be his day job, but Jeff’s passion is teaching. While at the University of Texas, students awarded Jeff with the school’s Outstanding Teacher five times and he was selected  by BusinessWeek as one the top Entrepreneurship professors in the United States.

Eight years ago Jeff and a group of successful entrepreneur-teachers started the Acton School of Business, named after Lord Acton, the Victorian scholar of freedom. 

The school’s grueling 100-hour a week, one year MBA program has won numerous awards, including having the Princeton Review – the gold standard for business school rankings – name Acton’s students as the “most competitive” MBA’s in the nation and rank its faculty in the top three in the country – above Harvard, Stanford and Wharton.

Jeff is a graduate of the Harvard Business School, where he has served for over a decade on the school’s governing committees; and serves on a number of boards, most targeted in defense of America’s freedoms. 

Welcome to a new semester! We hope you are settling in and gearing up for what we have in store for you this semester. We have a number of service projects, guest speakers, and other great opportunities for you to get involved. Please join us this semester in SMITH room 265 Every Thursday at 2pm!!