IBC monopolizes creativity
- posted: 16 Oct. 2007
- scrollopinion@byui.edu
I may get beat up for what I’m about to recount:
Last week I packed up a change of socks, a fistful of bandannas and a grip of mini Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups in preparation for a blood-pounding adventure at Badger Creek. After signing the waiver indicating I understood that I may suffer “serious injuries,” I affectionately kissed my iPod and cell phone goodbye and prepared to embark with my team of fellow business majors on a three-day excursion.
Little did I know that this trip was going to be more than just camping — heretofore dormant creativity among the business student population was about to be unleashed.
Business majors comprise about 95 percent of the BYU-I student body. For those freshmen who haven’t yet experienced the quesadilla-flipping salesmen and women who generally hound people passing through the Manwaring Center the second half of every semester, the Integrated Business Core (IBC) is a semester-long program for which junior-level business majors must organize and run an actual business on campus. (For example, selling quesadillas to people who don’t necessarily want them.)
The purpose of the Badger Creek retreat was to allow roughly 100 IBC students to build fires, jump off giant poles and fight each other to the death in a place where they wouldn’t get blood on the Smith Building carpet ... er ... linoleum. Activities included lifting each other through rope webs, pulling handcarts and learning to throw around buzzwords like “consensus,” “synergy” and “vision” whenever you are called upon to answer a question or make a difficult decision, like what color marker to use on the company banner.
On day two, one of the counselors asked the group, “Why do you want to do business?”
My reply of, “Actually, I don’t!” was lost among shouts of, “To make tons of money!” and, “To be CEO of a Fortune 500 company!” I think I was the only one laughing along with the counselor when she said, “Lots of money, huh? Maybe you guys should have picked dentistry or something.”
Seriously.
After three days of team-building activities, we had gone from skeptical acquaintances, to dedicated comrades, to, “I don’t care if you helped me up the rope swing, I’ll punch you in the face if you say the word ‘synergy’ again.”
But we had great instructors, and we put the lessons we learned to work and finally came together deciding on company products to sell to our fellow students back in Rexburg.
I think it’s safe to say that we business majors have a definite monopoly on creativity. With dozens of future Fortune 500 bosses in the room to collaborate, how could we not come up with something incredibly innovative, refreshing and appealing to students?
Three of the four companies ultimately decided to sell hot cocoa. 
