Did you know that Converse sells 2 and a half pairs of sneakers per second?
At 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 28th, The Honors in Business Association and Leadership in Action organization hosted Jim Calhoun, son of former UConn men’s basketball coach Jim Calhoun, UConn CLAS Alumni and the CEO of Converse since 2011.
“UConn HIBA and UConn LIA met toward the end of Spring semester in April 2014. We identified him as a potential speaker for the alumni speaker series that LIA currently does. We then drafted the letter, finalized it and sent it to Converse shortly before the semester ended,” said Quian Callender, President of the UConn Honors in Business Association.
Early on in this presentation, he showed an old-school picture of his father wearing a pair of Chuck Taylor’s while playing basketball. Many people did not even know Jim Calhoun had a son, especially one that was the CEO of Converse. “I originally went to this event because I thought it was the Jim Calhoun,” said Brandon Lisi, junior honors student at UConn. “He really kind of pulled himself up by his shoelaces and worked his way up through the business world- that to me was the highlight of this.”
He explains in an article in Forbes, that leadership is just like basketball. “The best way to learn how to lead is to play a lot of different roles,” said Jim Calhoun, CEO of Converse.
Calhoun explained his journey to ultimate success to the 80+ people that attended the event by describing all of his roles.. “You’ll see in my story some good forture and good timing,” said Calhoun. “It’ll be a constant theme and I hope that it is a reminder that it’s OK to be lucky and it’s OK to take good luck throughout your careers. We all get it whether we take it or not.”
Calhoun’s journey began right after his graduation from UConn in December of 1989- he has 22 years of marketing experience under his belt. Some highlights include working for Nike, Nautica, Walt Disney, Hurley and Levi and Strauss. He moved his family around between the West Coast, East Coast and Europe for years (he stressed how supportive his wife and kids were through all of the change.) He became the CEO of Converse 3 and a half years ago, the same day the 2011 UConn men’s basketball national champions were at the White House meeting Barack Obama. “I hope you can find a job someday and you can say wow this is the job of my dreams and I could be here for the rest of my career and nothing would have to change,” Calhoun said. “That’s where I found myself.”
The second part of the evening was dedicated to a Q&A section, where first Larry Gramling, Assistant Department Head of Accounting at the UConn Business School, then the audience were able to ask Calhoun any question they had. Below is another Q&A segment that Calhoun did with WWD in the footwear news section.
During this Q&A, Calhoun stressed how much Converse believes in being useful and celebrating their consumers. He talked about Instagram specifically. “More than 13,000 times per day somebody chooses to use our product to help celebrate whatever moment they want to celebrate. That to me, feels pretty powerful,” Calhoun said. “I don’t have the answer for what it should be tomorrow, but I kind of dont want that to end.”
When asked what characteristics needed to succeed, he spoke a lot about how he believes in hard work. “I got a lot of that from my dad. My dad is a very self-made guy,” Calhoun said.
Calhoun took a tour of the new basketball practice facility here at UConn before the event and went into his dad’s office. He found something on his desk that really stuck with him. “I said to my dad the only thing I ever want when you pass away is this little block: it says the secret to success and then you flip it open and it just says hardwork,” Calhoun said. “I think that’s probably the characteristic.”
Towards the end of this informative event, Calhoun gave his opinion on networking, and how to ultimately land your dream job. One of his most powerful quotes of the night stated, “Don’t be attracted by a big brand. Be attracted to the culture and the people that work there.”
He then specifically told students what Converse looks for in their applicants when asked my an audience member. “For people freshly graduated or early in their careers, the one thing that is shared and the thing for young people who dont have a ton of experience can stand out is to do your homework on the brand, where were going, our values, find out as much aboout or culture and less about trying to prove the acounting 210 class you took makes you ready to be the controller,” said Calhoun.
He advised students to not feel trapped in their major as well. Calhoun said, “Don’t feel trapped in your major. I was a psychology major and now I run a sneaker company.” He then encouraged the audience to be prepared to talk about failure if they ever interview at Converse.
Calhoun also got a chance to speak with UConn honors students before the event began- something that was not open to all students. “As honors students we got a chance to speak with him individually in the business lounge. He came by around 6:15 p.m. and we were all able to sit down and chat with him,” said Brandon Lisi, UConn junior and honors student. “It’s funny, he has the exact same mannerisms as his dad- he’s just a young Jim Calhoun.”
“This presentation could apply to any job that I am going to have for the rest of my life,” said sophmore honors student Kaitlin Dennison, who plans for a career in mechanical engineering.
Callender said, “This event is beneficial to any major. Every undergraduate here has at least one thing in common with Jim Calhoun and that is UConn. Converse focuses on youth culture and that is who we are. From those aspects alone, students will be able to take something away from the event.”
Converse has a big change coming their way. According to Boston Common Magazine, “For the past decade Converse has been headquartered in North Andover, but in the spring of 2015 it will move its 400-plus employees to Boston, into a refurbished nine-story brick building on Lovejoy Wharf in the Bulfinch Triangle, fittingly located close to that mecca of basketball, the TD Garden.”