Geek Squad Founder Stephens Urges UCF Business
Students to Find Way to Differentiate Themselves
“If you can keep Ozzy Osbourne happy, you can make anyone happy,” said Geek Squad founder and former Best Buy Chief Technology Officer Robert Stephens telling nearly 2,000 UCF business students at CFE Arena on Friday morning about the time he fixed a computer problem for the Prince of Darkness.
Then there was the time he helped Mick Jagger connect to the internet before a show, and Jagger was so thrilled he invited Stephens on tour. Married with young children at the time, Stephens declined but asked Jagger to ship his computer to him whenever he had an issue. And just like that, Stephens’ Geek Squad became the Official Tech Support of the Rolling Stones.
Stephens shared stories about how he built the Geek Squad brand with its iconic logo, uniforms and recognizable vehicles and revolutionized tech support in the ‘90s with hundreds of new business students at Welcome to the Majors, the UCF College of Business event that each semester introduces students to the culture of the college. Welcome to the Majors is the single largest face-to-face class at UCF each semester. It is designed to help students understand the culture of the College of Business and learn how they can use their time in school to differentiate themselves in a competitive job market upon graduation.
Before introducing Stephens to the stage, Dean Paul Jarley encouraged students to get engaged with the college, seize the opportunities provided and do things to stand out in order to “get to the one” when they graduate.
While Stephens never graduated—he had to withdraw from the University of Minnesota when his Geek Squad business took off—he credited his former professor Dr. Peter Hancock for allowing him to work and study in his lab, because it was there the idea for Geek Squad was born. Student and mentor had a chance to reunite for the first time in 20 years before the event Friday, and Dr. Hancock, now a member of the UCF Psychology Department, was in the audience for Stephens’ speech.
Pointing to the TV show Chuck whose main character works as a member of the Nerd Herd at a Buy More store, Stephens urged students to differentiate themselves in a way that is so unique that when people try to copy them, it is obvious they are being copied.