The sounds of soft clicking filled the air of a large room at the Heber J. Grant Building as students buried in their computers typed notes and patiently waited for what the speaker was going to say next. Steve McBride, founder and CEO of action sports company Kahuna Creations, stood at the podium and explained the importance of decision making in business and finding a target market.
The Lecture Series took place on Oct. 25. Greying at the temples, the grinning middle aged man bestowed his personal experience about decision making in a business. According to McBride, the purpose of his lecture was to have the students remember something about the presentation one year from now. “It would be a success if that happened.”
McBride specifically discussed the importance of decisions, one of the main points of his presentation. He said, “Decisions are beautiful. I believe decisions are living, breathing organisms that grow, develop, and shape lives. There is a beauty inherent in decisions. Decisions you make affect your career, relationships, your beliefs and contribute to success and failure.”
He mentioned finding a business’s target market. “Defining this problem is the single most important business decision you can make as an entrepreneur,” McBride stated. His target markets are board sports such as surfing, snowboarding, and even skateboarding.
Providing an example, the concept of Kahuna Creations came to McBride while on a business trip to Australia. He went surfing with his wife, and it occurred to him he had an idea that could allow him to leave his corporate job. McBridge wanted to establish a company focusing on paying tribute to the ancient Hawaiians who started all board sports. McBride said, “It was a big risk but it is paying off and now I’m a middle aged guy who likes to skate and surf.”
Following his story, McBride told the students, “Your life is like a golf ball. What are you going to do to move forward?” After asking this question, he asked two students majoring in accounting to explain the “sunk cost fallacy.” After their attempts, McBride told the students, “Don’t cling to a mistake just because you spent a long time making a decision about it beforehand.”
According Kiana Crane, a freshman from Nevada studying biology, she felt she had a deeper understanding of what decisions are. She said, “It was very eye opening because the decisions we make everyday affect us. We should be more careful and put more thought into our decisions everyday.”
Lina Han, a senior from Taiwan majoring in psychology said she appreciated McBride’s teaching style. She said, “I really like the lecture because he talked slower and interacted with us. We could learn and listen easier.
“I liked his stories because they are funny and easy to listen to. I felt it was relaxing. I also enjoyed the fallacies he talked about. I felt it connected with the gospel because our decisions affect our lives.”
Writer: Bruno Maynez