Business student Lauren Vandertoolen attended the Career Conference held Saturday at the David Eccles School of Business, featuring a keynote address by Skullcandy CEO Hoby Darling, breakout sessions and networking opportunities with area professionals. Here’s her report from the scene: 

The David Eccles School of Business hosted a Career Conference Saturday for students in all majors other than finance and accounting. The morning was filled with break-out sessions, LinkedIn photographs, and networking, while lunch preceded keynote speaker Hoby Darling, CEO of Skullcandy, and final additional networking with potential employers. I was able to attend Darling’s presentation, and came away feeling both inspired and excited.

What makes Hoby Darling so successful, yet relatable? I will tell you. Besides his relaxed disposition, Darling’s work experience allows people to relate to him and realize that anything is possible if you work hard enough. Darling came from a small town in Washington where, at age 8, he sold concessions at a tennis club. The experience as an employee at such a young age taught him something he would carry on throughout his entire life–the importance of taking risks. Darling emphasized that you can come from anywhere, you just have to be willing to take a risk.

Darling then went to college, graduating with a degree in history. That led him to law school at Northwestern, where he graduated in the top 10% of his class. After spending some of his career in law, Darling learned his next lesson–you have to be passionate about what you do. “Put yourself in a position where you’re surrounded by people who want you to succeed,” he noted. Darling soon found out that he was less than passionate about pursuing a lifestyle as a lawyer. After practicing for more than 5 years, he knew it was time for a change and quickly was given a corporate position at Volcom.

While at Volcom Darling learned that competitors get better every single day, and the importance of keeping up with those competitors. In order to keep up, you have to continuously improve. To improve himself, he pursued an MBA at Cal-Berkeley.

After some time at Volcom, Darling’s career path propelled him to Nike, where he learned how to truly be consumer-obsessed. He talked about the importance of knowing exactly what excites a customer and knowing just who it is you’re talking to. You have to get close to your consumer and know what they do, drive, wear, etc.

While working his dream job at Nike, Darling was presented with an offer to be the next CEO of Skullcandy. Hesitant at first, Darling went into the job focused that the company would run his way, meaning consumer-obsession was key. He had no desire to optimize the company, but rather in putting the consumer first. As a result, Skullcandy’s stock price has seen a 75% increase in the time since he initially stepped in as CEO.

Darling closed his presentation with some key take away points for students to remember:

1. Take a Risk–Be innovative and challenge yourself

2. Get Gritty–hard work, persistence, and resilience will always pay off

3. Be Passionate–make work a calling

4. Better Today than Yesterday–always improve (your competition always will be)

5. People Matter–work in teams, build relationships and care

6. Consumer First–the consumer always decides your product

At the conclusion of his talk, I was able to talk to a few students about their favorite takeaways from the entire conference. BLInc member Scott Thatcher stated that the breakout sessions were his favorite part, saying “The small crowds made the environment easy to learn in, I was able to network, and learn how to get a job.” Hilal Mohamed had similar thoughts, stating that the breakout sessions were also rewarding. “Take risks and ride the biggest wave, look for those new and upcoming companies” was the biggest piece of advice he took away from the conference.