Conley is the founder of Joie de Vivre Hospitality, which he began in 1987 at age 26 and held the position of CEO for nearly 24 years. In 2010, after having created and managed 50 boutique hotels mostly in California, Conley sold his company to Geolo Capital. Conley spoke at the annual TED conference in 2010 on creating a business model driven by our need for meaning as outlined in his book Peak: How Great Companies Get their Mojo from Maslow. Conley's other books include The Rebel Rules: Daring to Be Yourself in Business; Marketing that Matters: 10 Practices to Profit Your Business and Change the World;[10] Emotional Equations: Simple Truths for Creating Happiness + Success in Business + in Life; Wisdom@Work: The Making of a Modern Elder. In 2013, Conley became Head of Global Hospitality and Strategy for Airbnb. At Airbnb, he was asked by the three co-founders to help evolve the company into a hospitality company with more than one million hosts in 191 countries. Conley worked closely with CEO Brian Chesky as a mentor and helped to build a bridge to the travel, hotel, and real estate/development/landlord industries. In 2017, he transitioned to the role of Strategic Advisor for Hospitality and Leadership.In 2018, he founded the Modern Elder Academy (MEA) in Baja California Sur, a wisdom school dedicated to helping people navigate midlife. MEA is a mission-driven organization that provides scholarships to 50% of students and graduates receive a certificate in Mindset Management.