BYU–Idaho holds fourth Power to Become conference

REXBURG — Brigham Young University–Idaho’s fourth Power to Become conference Friday brought a variety of speakers to the Hart Auditorium stage.

The guest list included Al Fox Carraway, a blogger well-known among members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; Brian Haynie, the CEO of Topo Financial in Rexburg; Richie Norton, a bestselling author and the CEO and founder of Global Consulting Circle; Suzette Steward Coates, the founder of Camp Journey, executive director of Everyday Opportunities and winner of “Live with Kelly and Michael’s” Top Teacher award; and Tim Ng, an administrative business partner in Google’s Research and Machine Intelligence division. Clark Gilbert, president of the university, also spoke. Like Gilbert, several other speakers had ties to BYU–Idaho — both Coates and Ng are alumni of the university, and Haynie works as adjunct faculty in BYU–Idaho’s business department.

The conference opened with a prayer and performances by a drumline and dance group, and was punctuated by games, giveaways and other events between speakers. Nate Eaton, news director of EastIdahoNews.com and a graduate of BYU–Idaho, emceed the event.

“Here we are at the best event you could be to tonight in East Idaho or in the world, Power to Become,” he told the audience.

Messages from the speakers focused on discovering your passion, networking and telling your story.

Richie Norton

Norton was the first speaker and spoke about taking advantage of your time while you have it and so-called “stupid ideas.”

He spoke about his son, Gavin (named after his late brother-in-law, Gavin), who contracted pertussis, also known as whooping cough. After living for only 76 days, Gavin passed away in his parents’ arms in a hospital as they held him and sang him lullabies.

After that experience, Norton said, a friend and mentor asked him what he learned. He thought about it and wondered what he could learn from seeing people around him pass away. He said he learned the idea, “Live to start, start to live.”

“Here’s what I mean: So many people are like The Walking Dead — they don’t know what they’re doing with their life, why they’re here,” he said. “But when they have an inspired idea come to them and they do something about it, everything changes. Live to start that idea that’s pressing on your mind right now. Don’t wait until later because you never know if later is too late.”

Norton then spoke about ideas that others perceive as stupid, and why they can be valuable.

“The computer was a stupid idea. You see that? ‘No one wants a computer in their home,’” he said, referring to a quote from 1977. “The telephone was a stupid idea. Did you know that Alexander Graham Bell’s father-in-law … he told him that his idea was just a toy.”

He also quoted Ben Horowitz, co-founder of Silicon Valley venture firm Andreessen Horowitz, who said, “By definition a breakthrough idea looks like a stupid idea. If everyone recognized the idea as a breakthrough idea, it wouldn’t be a breakthrough idea at all.”

“So I’m here to tell you that stupid is the new smart. Tell your professors,” Norton joked.

Norton ended his talk by encouraging people to download a free copy of his 76 Day Challenge Action Guide, meant to help turn someone’s “stupid idea” into their “smart reality.” The guide can be downloaded at richienorton.com/76daychallenge.

Suzette Steward Coates

Norton was followed by Coates, an alumna who began her higher education studying graphic design at BYU–Idaho but ended up getting a degree in recreation leadership and health science. In 2004 she began working in special education, and now she has been recognized on national television for her teaching accomplishments and runs both a camp and a day program to help kids and adults with special needs.

Her journey from graphic design student to where she is now is not what she expected. She said after she graduated and while she was doing an internship her dad kept telling her she needed to be a special education teacher. She eventually agreed and asked to work in special education in her school district. She was told she could, but she would have to work with a boy named Marcus, one of the most difficult young men to work with in that district. She accepted, and feels richly blessed as a result.

“Never be afraid of a challenge. You never know what door will open,” she said. “My life has changed completely because of this young man.”

She said when Marcus moved up to junior high school, she followed him and saw some needs that needed to be filled and started an after-school program. The program grew from three kids initially to 35 kids, which is where it stands today.

Coates still felt she needed to do more, and during her last year as a teacher, her husband started their day program, Everyday Opportunities, which now serves 25 kids. They also started a day camp in 2011 that 60 campers will be attending this year.

“Stay focused and motivated on what you want. Because I kept self-reflecting on all my businesses and everything I was doing, I kept thinking, ‘All right. What’s next? What’s the next thing we can do?’”

In her final year of teaching, Coates started a snow cone business for her clients, giving them another thing to do for work besides doing things like folding pizza boxes and delivering newspapers.

“There are no written laws on how many dreams you can have, OK? You can do anything you want,” she said.

Brian Haynie

Brian Haynie, the CEO and co-founder of Topo Financial and an adjunct instructor at BYU–Idaho, spoke about the value of relationships.

“There’s nothing in your life that you’ll find more joy from than building the relationships that are most important to you,” he said.

Haynie emphasized the importance of building real relationships; he once visited Alaska and found himself in weather equivalent to -90 degrees Fahrenheit. He had prepared for the trip, buying himself an expensive pair of gloves, but the gloves were crinkling and freezing. He showed them to the man he was with, who tossed the gloves in the fire, gave him a pair of elbow-length fur mittens and told him, “Synthetic can never take the place of real.”

He also told a story about his friend Russ, who convinced him to run a marathon with him. They ran the marathon without training beforehand, however, which made things very difficult. At one point Russ stopped at a nurse’s station and took off his shoes to find that his socks were red with blood. But he refused to drop out of the race, which he was running for his mother, who had died of multiple sclerosis. The two of them finished the race, and Haynie felt that spending that kind of quality time with Russ allowed their relationship to develop and helped them come closer to each other.

“To what end are you going to sacrifice relationships that matter to you? Because you can always go get more money. … At what point is enough money enough money?” Haynie asked. “Our social cultures and social pressures today push us to not be really a thinker … when it comes to things that matter most to you, and that’s your time and your relationships. Those two things, if you think about it, right now in your life, are probably the most precious things you have.”

Tim Ng

Ng spoke about how individuals can tell their stories and what that means.

He quoted Jonathan Gottschall, who said, “We are, as a species, addicted to story. Even when the body goes to sleep, the mind stays up all night telling itself stories. … story is for a human as water is for a fish — all-encompassing and not quite palpable.”

Ng told the story of how Idaho came to be known as “the Gem State.”

“The name of the territory … was originally more hype than fact,” he said. “In truth it was actually a neologism taken by those politically interested in getting the new territory established.”

He said this is important to remember when it comes to how we tell our own stories.

“The point is if we take ourselves as an item of value, as a gem, we need to in the professional world and in the real world not be more hype than fact. We need to be more fact than hype,” he said. “You need to maintain that integrity when telling your own story.”

Ng’s story is full of variety. When Eaton introduced him he said Ng considers himself a jack of broad trades. Ng graduated from BYU–Idaho with a degree in international affairs. He then earned a master’s degree in religion and philosophy from Yale, but not before spending a year as a Chaplain Corps officer in the U.S. Air Force Reserves. He now works for Google in the company’s Research and Machine Intelligence Division.

“Remember that your course credits don’t own your story: You do,” he advised those in attendance. “Story enables relationship and connections. It’s inevitable, so plan to tell the right and the best story. Be Genuine, Educate yourself, Enlighten others, and Master the medium — that’s how you tell a GEM of a story. And remember: You’re in control. You can edit your story anytime, so do it.”

Al Fox Carraway

Carraway, a convert to the LDS Church and a popular blogger, spoke about her conversion experience. She said missionaries approached her and a friend and asked her if they could tell her some things about Jesus Christ. She declined, and her friend, who knew who the missionaries were, treated them poorly.

“I thought religion was something people turned to when something was going wrong in their life,” she said.

Still, she thought the missionaries were “precious” and felt bad for the behavior of her friend, so she decided to hear their message and do what they told her to do, but only so she could show them it didn’t work.

“Mostly to prove them wrong was why I listened to them,” she said.

A week before her 21st birthday she was baptized. She said the difference in her life was real.

“I thought I had happiness before, but it was because I didn’t know better,” she said.

Carraway tried to share what she had found with her friends, but said every one of them left her, which surprised her. She tried to share it with her family, and they reacted in a similar way. Her father even told her at one point, “Al, I don’t want you as a daughter anymore. I don’t want you as a daughter anymore. You have to pick.”

Though she wanted to serve a mission for the church, Carraway felt God wanted her to move to Utah, where she experienced other trials, like rejection and persecution because of the way she looked (she has a number of tattoos and has been called “The Tattooed Mormon”).

Even though Carraway has experienced many difficult trials, she said she loves her life, and she wanted those in the audience to know that God is and will be present in their lives.

“If you just try, you will find yourself in places you never would have thought of, doing things you never would have dreamed of. Becoming better,” she said. “Hard times will always be there, but so will Christ. With him, we could overcome and conquer the world.”

Clark Gilbert

President Gilbert concluded the conference by reminding those in attendance about the importance of discovering their passion, networking effectively and telling their stories. He also emphasized that networking is not just about job opportunities.

He showed a photo of some of his dear friends and told the audience, “Neither of these two friends nor their wives ever got me a job. They never got me hired. They never introduced me to someone who got me an interview, and yet these are probably the most important people in my personal network I’ve ever had, because your network isn’t just a place to look to to find a job. It’s a place to learn. It’s a place to get counsel. It’s a place to get feedback. It’s a place to go to when you know you need to do something that’s really hard, and you need strength and encouragement from people who know you, who love you, who believe in you. …

“As you think about your network, don’t just think about, ‘Hey, this person’s going to help me get a job.’ Think about, ‘Is this person going to help me make good decisions? Is this person going to help me have the courage to do what I need to do? Is this person going to be an example?’”

Gilbert also reminded people that when they’re thinking about their stories, they should include God.

“I know the Lord is in your life. I know you’re in the right place. I know He’ll direct you as you seek out and work to have his hand in your life,” he said.

The event was concluded by a performance from BYU a cappella group Vocal Point. To learn more about Power to Become and view presentations from previous years, visit www.byui.edu/p2b.

This story was originally published in the Rexburg Standard Journal. It is used here with permission.