Sharon Price John’s CEO Journey: Rebuilding Build-A-Bear

Sharon Price John, CEO of Build-A-Bear Workshop, shares her journey from a small-town Tennessee childhood to leading one of America’s most nostalgic brands. She opens up about lessons from Mars, Mattel, and Hasbro, the creative drive that shaped her leadership, and how she transformed Build-A-Bear into a modern, multi-generational company rooted in emotion, innovation, and purpose. Under her leadership, Build-A-Bear has achieved remarkable financial growth and brand revitalization, expanding beyond its traditional retail roots into digital entertainment, licensing, and e-commerce. Her strategic vision not only restored profitability but also positioned Build-A-Bear as a thriving lifestyle brand, proving her to be one of the most dynamic and successful leaders in the consumer and retail industry today.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi guys, it's your friend Kate Max and welcome back
to post ran High. I think we all remember our
first Buildbear moment or moments. Maybe you had a few,
but I remember so clearly walking into the Build a
Bear store, standing at that little station, picking out my bear,

(00:21):
choosing its outfit, giving it a name. And it wasn't
just about the stuffed animal. It was about that feeling
of creating something that was completely yours. And what's really
special is that the woman leading Bildebert today has carried
that same sense of creativity and joy into everything she's
done throughout her career. Today's episode is with Sharon Price John,

(00:42):
the CEO of Bhildebear. Before sitting down for this conversation,
we went for a long walk in the Brooklyn Bridge Park,
so we had a post walk high going and we
were feeling good heading into this chat. Sharon has spent
decades in the toy in kids brand world, from working
on Barbie fashion at Mattel to leading major divisions at
Hasbro and then running stride Right before becoming the CEO

(01:04):
of Buildebear back in twenty thirteen. She's led through high
pressure moments, creative pivots, and cultural shifts. In today's episode,
you'll learn what it means to lead with purpose, navigate
change with confidence, and stay grounded in who you are
no matter how big the job gets. This is Sharon
Price John, the CEO of Bildebear, on Post Run High.

(01:35):
Sharon John, Welcome to Post Run High.

Speaker 2 (01:37):
Thank you so excited to be here.

Speaker 1 (01:39):
I'm so excited to have you.

Speaker 3 (01:40):
So.

Speaker 1 (01:41):
Sharon and I are currently in my studio in Brooklyn.
We just went for a little over a mile walk
here in the Brooklyn Bridge Park. It was beautiful fall
weather finally here in New York.

Speaker 3 (01:51):
Chilly this morning. But take it up every morning and
walk about a mile.

Speaker 1 (01:54):
So, I mean, I love knowing that I've actually been
leaning into walks in the morning too. I know before
we started filming, you mentioned that you used to be
a runner. Yes, now you're transitioning into walking. Yes, let's
talk about fitness in your life, Like, how does it
play a role into everything you do? Well.

Speaker 3 (02:10):
I think it's really important for people, first of all,
obviously to find some sort of routine that helps them.
And it's not just for the physical aspect of that,
it's for the mental aspect. But I was an athlete
as a kid, and I do sort of believe that's
in your DNA. If you did a lot when you
were young, there's a certain feeling that you have about

(02:33):
fitness that sticks with you. So I did transition to
running mostly because I just didn't want to walking from running,
I didn't want the pounding. And I log quite a
few miles through the week, a mile every day, and
then on the weekends I'll probably get six in on
both six miles on the Saturday and the Sunday. But

(02:57):
I also do strength training and sit ups, push ups, yoga.

Speaker 2 (03:02):
Yeah. Good to know.

Speaker 1 (03:03):
I mean so for context, guys, Sharon is the CEO
of Builds Bear. So I love knowing when CEOs and
people that are running massive organizations find time for fitness
in their life because for me, I found that when
I am on top of my fitness, everything else comes
easier in my life, Like I feel like I'm more
productive and all the things that they say about being

(03:24):
physically fit. So I love knowing that you weave it
into your life on a weekly basis. What sports did
you play growing up?

Speaker 3 (03:31):
I was a gymnast, cheerleader, and dancer.

Speaker 2 (03:34):
Wow yeah, okay, yeah.

Speaker 1 (03:36):
It's so funny. I so I grew up in North Jersey.
I played lacrosse, I did cross country, volleyball, basketball, But
I love meeting people that did like the more dancy
kind of sports.

Speaker 2 (03:46):
Yeah right, it's a Southeastern thing.

Speaker 1 (03:49):
Yeah, because Okay, Sharon grew up in Tennessee. Yeah, all right,
what was your life like growing up in Tennessee?

Speaker 2 (03:54):
It was awesome.

Speaker 3 (03:55):
I mean, you know, being in a from a small
town and full generations in this small town so people
know you. And and my grandmother had this fabulous house
a little you know, about ten miles away from my home,
and it's a big wrap around porch, and you know,

(04:16):
all sorts of places to explore. And we had even
close to my home something was called the Pine.

Speaker 2 (04:23):
Woods and at a big park.

Speaker 3 (04:25):
And it's just, you know, everything they say about growing
up in the seventies, it's true. You're just out roaming
around getting in trouble all day. Yeah, it's like, oh
it's dark, I should go home, you know, in the
creek or climbing a tree, or you know, playing with
friends or riding your bike.

Speaker 2 (04:43):
It was really really open ended.

Speaker 1 (04:45):
Yeah, in the creek, climbing a tree, I mean it's
so true. I feel like now it's like we're sitting
on our iPhones iPads, different childhood. No, but it is.
It is so true. And I love knowing that you're
from Tennessee. I'm actually going to Nashville the first for
the first time in a few weeks our friend's wedding.

Speaker 3 (05:00):
Oh you're going to have a blast. And it's nothing
like it was when I was a kid. But but
it's still is a great town.

Speaker 1 (05:06):
No, it's a great town. And I've been interviewing a
lot of country music artists.

Speaker 2 (05:11):
Oh wow, so that's super cool. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (05:14):
Yeah, Now I'm like, okay, I'm finally going to see
and be able to like understand where they all are
building their careers. And you know monkey tonks and are
you a country music fan? Like did you grow up
listening to that genre of music?

Speaker 3 (05:25):
Well, I mean you can't escape it. We had two
radio stations, one AM and one FM, and the AM
played country all day long after doing the Farm Report,
but the FM played country until noon and then it
would play pop and I couldn't wait until it would start.

Speaker 1 (05:44):
I was like, come on, you're like enough of this
country music to.

Speaker 3 (05:47):
Hear the countdown, you know, that's fair.

Speaker 1 (05:52):
I'm definitely a pop country girl when I'm listening to
country music.

Speaker 3 (05:55):
And then yeah, but I appreciate it, and I love
a lot of the artists and and and you know,
it's just a part of the culture as well as bluegrass.

Speaker 2 (06:05):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (06:05):
Well, we learned on our walk that you have had
quite the impressive career from working at Mars before going
to Columbia for business school to working at Mattel has
Bro and you know now you're the CEO of Build
a Bear. Growing up in Nashville, Like, were there any
early signs that you may be wanted to go into

(06:25):
this industry of children's toys also adults toys. We'll get
to that, but.

Speaker 2 (06:29):
That's a whole different thing. Yeah, we don't make adult toys.

Speaker 1 (06:33):
Okay, well, sorry.

Speaker 2 (06:36):
To clarify. Carry on, okay, I.

Speaker 1 (06:39):
Know you're right, that's the wrong that's the wrong terminology. Okay, well, children's.

Speaker 2 (06:43):
Toys, yes that sometimes adults will buy.

Speaker 1 (06:46):
That, sometimes adults wile buy Oh no, okay, sorry that okay,
to clarify, Build a Bear is not making adults toys.
We're keeping this bege.

Speaker 2 (07:00):
What was the question.

Speaker 3 (07:07):
When I was a good Okay, right there, okay, okay.
When I was yes, at first, I wasn't an artist,
and and my mom taught me to sew, and you know,
my grandma and we did all sorts of arts and
crafts and stuff. And I loved, you know, I loved

(07:27):
my barbies and my stuffed animals and my toys and
things like that. So also, really, and I hope that
I've held onto this kind of just I really enjoy
just having a fun like I'd rather not be serious
most of the time, so a little bit gregarious. And
I never wanted to work somewhere. I used to say this,

(07:48):
I don't want to work anywhere where I can't ride
a skateboard down the hallway and that just knocks out,
you know, banks and stuff. So I had to find
a place that would put up with me, or an
industry that would put up with me. So it worked
out advertising and the toy industry and even children's footwear
where I worked for a while with Stride Right. You know,

(08:09):
they tolerated my craziness, so it helped.

Speaker 1 (08:13):
Well, it's fun that when you're able to combine your
business acumen with being creative and keeping your job lighthearted
and fun. And I feel like, that's exactly the type
of career that you have built.

Speaker 2 (08:23):
Yeah, I think it was the magic sauce.

Speaker 3 (08:25):
Actually, I started out on the creative side, even in advertising.
I didn't start out on the business side. And I
then had an opportunity to go to work at DDB
Needham in their training program, and it's an account executive
training program, So I had already had all of this
creative background and that was extremely beneficial for me because

(08:51):
I can speak to both sides of the industry. Like
I can speak to the client about their business, and
I can speak to the creative about why the logo
does need to be bigger, right or whatever, or I
guess beak to the client about why it doesn't need
to be bigger, you know. And that two sided kind
of left brain right your brain approach has been a

(09:12):
big unlock. That's a bit of my magic sauce.

Speaker 1 (09:15):
I think, I mean absolutely like to be able to
have that creative eye and then that strategic kind of
thought process is such a secret sauce. And you know,
because a lot of people kind of have either or
and it's so fun, you know, I can relate to
that in a big way, Like I love working both
creatively but then also kind of business y and on
the strategy side of things. So I can definitely relate

(09:37):
to that. And I love knowing that that's how your
brain works and it makes so much sense.

Speaker 3 (09:40):
Yes, And it was a big discovery for me when
I went to Columbia, because that's in business school.

Speaker 2 (09:47):
You know.

Speaker 3 (09:48):
You sometimes you pick more of a marketing business school,
but Colombia is a very finance driven business school, very
quantitative business school, and I wanted to do that because
I wanted to get a more rounded out background.

Speaker 4 (10:02):
Right.

Speaker 3 (10:03):
I wasn't even sure that I wanted to even leave
the advertising industry or leave a creative industry at all.
But what I found out inside of Columbia is that
that skill set.

Speaker 2 (10:15):
Is really valued.

Speaker 3 (10:17):
And so when we would do case studies or we
had to do group projects, I ended up being like
the hot commodity because most everyone else could do the spreadstreet,
do the business side, get to the financial plan, but
the angle on this edge of the strategy, or this
consumer inside, or the person that had to get up
and present it was always me.

Speaker 2 (10:39):
And it was good to know that that's not that's
not the norm.

Speaker 3 (10:47):
And if I could mash these things up because I
am quantitative as well. Maybe there is an unlock here
for a really fun career.

Speaker 1 (10:57):
You went from the University of Tennessee to then working
at advertising agency and supporting Mars specifically on the Snickers account, right,
which is iconic because when you think of Mars totally,
that was.

Speaker 3 (11:06):
A great experience and learned so much. And some of
the things that I learned was to think about your
competitive realm in different ways. Snickers thought of their competitive
realm as share of stomach, Like just think about that,
because in how you define who you are. This is
in person, personal life as well as in business. Sometimes

(11:30):
creates limitations on what you can be because you don't
think outside the box. When Snickers thought about that as
share of stomach, that led to development of Snickers Minis
or Snickers ice cream bars or Snikers peanut butter bar,
and all of a sudden, you're thinking about the different
reasons why or the evolution of the positioning of the
brand to be an alternative like a snack like when

(11:53):
you were really hungry, Snickers really satisfies, not a candy.
And that is exactly what I took to even Barbie
fashions because When I went in, I said, so what's
the deal and they're like, well, we're ninety eight percent
of eleven and a half inch doll fashion, so there's
really not anywhere to grow. And I'm like, well, you

(12:15):
have the wrong competitive realm. What are you of discretionary
income for little girls of products under five dollars?

Speaker 2 (12:24):
Nothing?

Speaker 3 (12:25):
So we ended up creating Barbie Fashion, greeting cards and
you know, and different kinds of like takeaway, like a
whole different approach to it. But it's the asking of
the question, the pushing of the envelope. And I encourage
you to think about it in business, but I mostly
encourage you to think about it in life because your
own self definition is the key, and you have to

(12:49):
unlock that definition because you really don't know what you
can become until you think about it in a broader sense.

Speaker 2 (12:55):
Be careful about your.

Speaker 3 (12:56):
Ims, like I am this or I am that, as
you might be limiting your opportunities.

Speaker 1 (13:11):
When you went from working on that agency and supporting Mars,
what ultimately drove you to saying, Okay, I want to
go to Columbia, I want to get this higher degree,
and what do you think about going to Columbia helped
you kind of later on in your career.

Speaker 2 (13:25):
Well, this might be disappointing for people. That's fine, She's.

Speaker 1 (13:28):
Like, you don't need to go to business school.

Speaker 3 (13:31):
I had no intention of ever going to business school. Okay,
so that was not a part. I mean, I really
thought I was going to be a creative, you know,
and I think for a long long time, if you'd
asked anybody in high.

Speaker 2 (13:41):
School, what is likely Sharon doing.

Speaker 3 (13:44):
Right now, she's probably an art or architecture or something
like that.

Speaker 1 (13:48):
So literally designing.

Speaker 2 (13:49):
Oh yeah, okay, yeah, yeah, I'm literally an artist. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (13:53):
So, and I had in it Emmin in Mars and
we were it was just such a great ride. It
was the I believe I'm going to get this year right,
nineteen ninety four Olympics maybe so Snickers was a sponsor
and so we got to do so many cool things
that year.

Speaker 2 (14:09):
It was awesome.

Speaker 1 (14:10):
And what was the coolest thing you guys got to do?
I went to the Olympic trials, I mean, like, where
were where were the Olympics.

Speaker 2 (14:16):
Now in Barcelona? Yeah.

Speaker 3 (14:18):
So, but at the end of all of that, one
of the guys that ran the brand at Emine Mars said, hey,
you know, have you ever thought about getting an NBA.

Speaker 2 (14:29):
And I'm like, I'm not sure what that is. So
I was like no, and then you know, and He's like,
you really should. I don't think you realize.

Speaker 3 (14:41):
You know that you have, you know, these two sides
of your brain that you can you're not going to optimize.
And I think it would be an amazing experience for
you and it could open up so many doors. And
I'm like, okay, so you're telling me to move back
to Tennessee. He goes, no, I'm telling you to go
anywhere you want. You can get into any school. I'm like,

(15:03):
that's crazy. He goes, just apply to Columbia. Just apply
you live in New York. I'm like, I can't.

Speaker 2 (15:10):
See this, you know.

Speaker 3 (15:11):
And I was defining myself back to that story, right,
And it was a process of what's the worst thing
that can happen, right, I mean, I don't get in.
But I sat on that application for months. I waited
to the last day of the last round to apply
because I was scared to death. And I finally had

(15:34):
it walked down there right said it, gave it to them,
and I got in on the last day of the
last round. I've looked back on that many times because
somebody said to me once, Oh, you were just so
confident you were going to get in. I'm like, Oh,
that's the pole or opposite, and it made me think,
why did I do that, because that was not the reason.

Speaker 2 (15:57):
I think I was preparing for an excuse.

Speaker 3 (16:01):
So oh, of course I didn't get in because I
applied on the last day of the last round, like
I was creating in advance.

Speaker 2 (16:07):
My own excuse for failure. Is that terrible? And so
all these people that are listened, don't do that, don't
do that.

Speaker 1 (16:16):
But I think it's so human and it's kind of
like you protecting yourself, and I think it's something that
a lot of young people do. How do you think
going to Columbia and getting your MBA changed your career trajectory?

Speaker 2 (16:28):
Do you think there's no doubt?

Speaker 3 (16:30):
Yeah, it was not only was it important because I
learned the language of business and how to do things
that you know are actually fundamental to running a company
or running a brand or running a business unit. You know,
some of the things you just don't do in marketing
and advertising.

Speaker 2 (16:51):
That's just a slice of this bigger pie.

Speaker 3 (16:53):
Of business, and you learn all about the pieces of
the pie, not just these couple of slices, and not
only that though, but that piece that was telling you
about earlier of Oh, I can hang with these people.
You know, you again this whole self definition of I'm
in this kind of person, but I create so much
value that they don't have. See, I connect dots that

(17:16):
they're not connecting. I can do things they can't do,
and I can learn how to do what they're doing.
And that has been a really big game changer for me.

Speaker 2 (17:30):
And you.

Speaker 3 (17:31):
Finally, and I think it was important, and I want
to say this with a lot of caution in that
I mean this in the most humble way, that it
was valuable for me to know that I was still
smart in a smart environment, because although I've never not
thought of myself as smart, I was smart enough to

(17:54):
know that I wasn't in the smartest environment. Sometimes so
being the smartest kid and you know your small town
and I wasn't the smartest kid, mind you, but you
know smart in this small town. You're like, that's great,
but does that really matter in the whole big scheme
of things. By the time you get to New York
and you're at a top you know, school, and you're

(18:15):
still doing all right. You're like, I got this, I
can try, I can go for things, I can apply
for that.

Speaker 2 (18:22):
I can do that.

Speaker 3 (18:23):
And that was I'm not sure that would have happened
in some cases. I think it was like a sixty
thousand dollars confidence pill.

Speaker 1 (18:34):
I was literally going to say that it seems like
it boosted confidence in a big way because I can
imagine like when I first graduated college, I was working
in advertising on the creative side, and that is all
I knew. And when I then kind of went on
to venturing off and doing my own thing and having
to learn how to run a business and manage a
team of people, like my eyes opened in such a
big way to how the world works and how brand

(18:57):
deals work, and you know that really relationships or everything whatever.
You just you get a better sense of business acumen.
But yeah, like when you I like how you said,
it's just one small piece of the pie. When you
kind of graduate and you're in this one job and
then yeah, you go to a business school where you're
learning kind of business acumen and you're networking with all
these people and then all of a sudden, you start

(19:18):
seeing things more holistically.

Speaker 3 (19:20):
Yes, an international business, Yeah, just to you know, your
eyes just start to open. And in many ways it
demystified all of that side of business that for no
reason that I had created all sorts of mythology around

(19:40):
about how impossible that must be to learn.

Speaker 1 (19:43):
Well, it's true, not true, No, it's not true, And
it's so funny. It's like I've had I had somebody
say something to me once that things are a lot
easier than you think, like until you try to do them.
I don't know if that I'm not saying it perfectly.

Speaker 2 (19:54):
Right, but it's like break it down in a little
pace exactly like private everything.

Speaker 1 (19:57):
Working in finance, like I feel like for creative people,
all that working guy worked in advertising. My brother's work
in finance, And I used to think to myself, oh,
I could never do that, you know, But then they
would say the same thing to me, like, well what
you do, I could never do?

Speaker 3 (20:08):
That's the thing, you know, And you don't ever think
about the other person saying.

Speaker 2 (20:11):
That this way right, right, that's exactly right.

Speaker 1 (20:14):
So did you graduate from business school and immediately start
working at MATEL?

Speaker 2 (20:17):
Was that at your job, Yeah, I did.

Speaker 1 (20:18):
And what was it about Mattel that you were drawn to?

Speaker 3 (20:21):
Well, I had to pick my own application process. So
I picked about five companies that were very consumer centric,
very brand driven driven, famous famous companies, quite drawn to that,
uh and.

Speaker 2 (20:39):
Mattel was one of them.

Speaker 3 (20:40):
And I used sort of a playbook that I'd already
done to even get the job in market and advertising.
I went ahead and got my flight to New York,
and then I called all these agencies and said, Hey,
I'm going to be in New York and such and
such week.

Speaker 2 (20:58):
Can I come by have a cup of cough?

Speaker 3 (21:00):
Do this. I'm just gonna just want to learn, you know,
like interested in breaking in the New York advertising And
as I would still back in the day, I'm typing
resume wide out.

Speaker 2 (21:11):
You know.

Speaker 1 (21:12):
No, there's no.

Speaker 2 (21:13):
Phones, there's no anything like.

Speaker 3 (21:15):
I've got this big like daytimer with all my addresses
in this.

Speaker 2 (21:20):
To chomping around in fifteen interviews in one week. And
my goal was to get a job in a top.

Speaker 3 (21:27):
Ten global agency in one week, which is crazy, but
that idea of you sometimes you do better when you
don't know better, yep, And that's that's right. A nurse
was totally and I ended up getting a job on Friday,
and so I took that same playbook and got a
flight to Los Angeles. Three of these companies were in

(21:48):
LA that I was looking at of the five, and
I said that to them, and Montel did not call
me back. I'm like, that's crazy, a perfect perfect for Motel.

Speaker 2 (21:59):
And I finally said, you know, I'm just gonna call them.

Speaker 3 (22:01):
I'm just calling them, I mean, and that's again in
that whole genre of what's the worst thing could happen?

Speaker 2 (22:06):
I mean, what's the worst thing that could happen?

Speaker 3 (22:08):
So I'm going to call them, and I'm just going
to ask them why, Like what's wrong with my resume?

Speaker 2 (22:12):
Like what could I do better? Like what am I
missing here?

Speaker 3 (22:15):
And I you know, I'm on the phone and I
can hear them shuffling all these papers around.

Speaker 2 (22:19):
Like oh my god, like what's going on in there?

Speaker 3 (22:22):
They come back and then said we found your resume.
I'm like, okay, well, you know, I was interested in
working on marketing, maybe on the Barbie brand. You know,
I think I'd be really good for that. And they said, oh, well,
your resume was in the finance pile and I'm like, well,
I don't want to work in finance. So once you
went to Columbia, I'm like, I know, I know where
I got that, but I want to work in marketing.

(22:44):
And the person sat there for a second and then
they go, oh, you'd be perfect for that.

Speaker 2 (22:48):
Why don't you come in?

Speaker 3 (22:50):
And it was just the call, and you think about
how many times you may be going through life just
in the wrong pile and you didn't ask, And what
would have been the worst thing that could happen.

Speaker 2 (23:07):
Nothing. They would have said, oh.

Speaker 3 (23:09):
You know, we were looking more for this, or we
would have preferred that, Okay, great, perfect, Or you had
a typo on the third line, you should fix that
because we don't hire people with typos, you know, or whatever.

Speaker 2 (23:22):
And you have to learn to lean in on things
like that.

Speaker 1 (23:26):
Yeah, and also think outside of the box a little
bit sometimes, Like I love knowing that you picked up
the phone and you called them, because you know, when
I'm giving career advice to some of my younger friends
and they're like, oh, I submitted my resume. I'm waiting
to hear back. I'm like, have you reached out to
people that work at the company on LinkedIn, Have you
DM them on Instagram? Because a simple message goes a
long way and people do see the outreach. You know,

(23:48):
if you get a notification like I'm sure you're getting
messages all the time on LinkedIn. Obviously you can't respond
to every single one, but you notice it, yeah, right.

Speaker 2 (23:56):
And it matters as it shows it.

Speaker 3 (23:58):
So she really really want this, you really care, You're
intellectually curious, and there's again that there's nothing wrong.

Speaker 1 (24:06):
With that, absolutely all right. So you worked at Mattel,
You got onto the Barbie fashion account, which is so
iconic guys to be working on any Barbie account at
Mattel in the nineties, and for people that don't know,
Mattel is the brand, it is the business, the company
behind Barbie. I mean, how iconic was it to be
working on Barbie in the nineties.

Speaker 2 (24:25):
It was really awesome, and it was.

Speaker 3 (24:28):
Barbie was in a real resurgence at that time. Barbie
was actually launched in nineteen fifty nine and it was
a huge success, and then it had some struggles and
then this was in its second like it's renaissance, and
it was under the oversight of Jill Barrard who eventually
became the CEO of Mattel and was the one of

(24:52):
the youngest women CEOs of a fortune five hundred company
when she rose to the top. And I still know
Jill to this day special. But it was so impactful
to be on that brand that was growing and an
important like important, you know, like culturally important, and then

(25:14):
be surrounded by these powerful, amazing women. There's also extremely intimidating.

Speaker 1 (25:22):
Yeah, well, you know, I mean the thing about Barbie
that is so cool and it's so culturally significant because
Barbie was a brand that for young women mirrored real life, right,
I mean, you have it.

Speaker 3 (25:33):
Was it was just a conduit of your own stories,
you know, and that's what she was intended to be.
And you know, and they really looked into this and
kind of explored this whole concept with the film, you know,
of what sort of other attributes that we play some Barbie,
but it really is intended to be something for young

(25:57):
you know, young people to be able to kind of
live out things through and see themselves doing going through
things or seeing themselves in this thing in this particular
product or toy.

Speaker 1 (26:06):
What was the hardest part about working on Barbie?

Speaker 2 (26:09):
It was what I'm telling you. It was.

Speaker 3 (26:10):
It was the two sided coin of learning and being
around all these remarkably successful, amazing women that dressed.

Speaker 2 (26:20):
Really, really well. You have to step up.

Speaker 3 (26:23):
And I'm paying student loans and I'm like, okay, I
work it out, you know. And but but I had
to really work through some perfectionist issues in that time period.
And again, if it being a gymnast and a dancer
and a cheerleader, you're going to have some of that
probably stuck in your DNA. And I'm like, I, you know,

(26:45):
I don't know if I can. I don't know if
I can hang in this. I really, you know, you
just kind of like self reflect every day.

Speaker 2 (26:52):
And I was.

Speaker 3 (26:54):
Unusually quiet for the first few months, and one of
the vps at the time came over and spoke with
me about it, and she said, you know, I know
your your wheels are turning, you know, but you're not
saying anything. We don't pay you to not say anything.
You're going to have to contribute. And I'm like, well,

(27:14):
I don't want to say something's obviously wrong, or I
want to learn all this. And there's there was a
pecking ord, you know. It's like and in the creative realm.
So much of that's opinion, not fact, you know, but
you're learning the brand. And I just just like felt
way out of place, just like blurting something out. And
she's like, Oh, that's why we're paying you to get

(27:37):
your opinion. We hire smart people because we want smart
people to add value.

Speaker 2 (27:42):
You need to add value.

Speaker 3 (27:44):
And I thought about it a lot, and I'm like, gee,
that's not really My persona is not to be quiet.
But she unleashed something, she gave me permission, and yeah,
it was great, and then my career just took off.
I ended up starting as an assistant product manager on

(28:05):
Barbie Fashions, and I actually ended my career at Mattel
as the vice president of international for the Disney business unit.

Speaker 2 (28:14):
What do you think five years later?

Speaker 1 (28:15):
Yeah, you know, it's so important because I've worked in
I worked again, I worked in advertising before doing what
I do now. I've worked for bosses that weren't as supportive,
you know, where maybe I was in a role and
I was also chasing a perfectionist kind of complex and
I couldn't speak up for myself. And I think so
many people can relate to that, And I'm sure there's
so many people listening that are in jobs where they

(28:36):
don't feel like they can use their strong voice. And
as a woman, it's so important to find that strong voice,
whatever it is, and be able to use it. So
when you talk about perfectionism and how you had you
were struggling with it in your early, you know, months
at Mattel, can you, like in detail, describe that to
us and then kind of talk us through how you
broke out of that cycle because it is so common.

Speaker 3 (28:58):
Yeah, I mean, it's everything that you think it's going
to be. You think, you know, oh, well, this outfit
isn't good enough for I'm not this enough, or my
hair's not done the right way, or you know, I
don't have that kind of jewelry or or whatever it is.
I certainly didn't drive the kind of car I should
be driving. I was still driving a car that had
been in storage since I moved to New York, right.

(29:21):
But it was the fact that she came up to
me and said, you're focused on the wrong things. That's
not who we are. And I'm sure I could have
otherwise been in a situation where sometimes it may be
it's who they are. I don't know, but that was
not I was. I was projecting this onto that environment.

(29:44):
They weren't doing that.

Speaker 4 (29:46):
I was.

Speaker 2 (29:47):
I had this.

Speaker 3 (29:48):
This was all twisted up in my mind like like
it is most of the time.

Speaker 2 (29:52):
Mind you, at least what I have found.

Speaker 3 (29:55):
And you know, I believed her and we're still friends
to this day as well. And I so cherish all
of these relationships that I've been able to hold on.

Speaker 2 (30:04):
To through these years. That you are in.

Speaker 3 (30:09):
Every situation that you're in when you have been hired,
they hired you for a reason, and that's on them, right.
They made a decision to hire you out of other people.
You weren't the only person they could have chosen. So
you are expected to create value and.

Speaker 2 (30:31):
They want you to.

Speaker 3 (30:32):
They want you to do that, and they hired you
because guess what, they thought you were perfect for the job.

Speaker 2 (30:40):
So get over it.

Speaker 1 (30:43):
No, it's so true. It's so true. And again I
love knowing that you know, you have such a good
relationship with her, and it's it's so important to have people.
And then it's like, okay, if you are in a
leadership role at your company, it's so important to be
the type of manager that lifts somebody up and maybe
sees what they're going through and says, oh, okay, I've
been there before. Let's figure out a way.

Speaker 3 (30:59):
To actually had that very conversation with people. Yeah, I'm like,
why do you think we hired you? Why do you
think just reason? Don't you tell me? I mean because
we couldn't, like help me, because you were perfect for
the job. That's why of one hundred candidates we picked you.

Speaker 1 (31:16):
So start like it, yeah, start acting like it, start
acting late it. Yeah, no, it's it's incredible. So you
went from Mattel to Hasbro to Stride, right, what did
each chapter teach you about leadership and yourself?

Speaker 2 (31:28):
Oh, that's a big one.

Speaker 3 (31:29):
So you know, at the probably the biggest thing that
I learned at Mattel other than just moving through this
perfectionist thing, is they asked me to UH. When I
went to the Disney Business Unit, they sent me to
Paris for a year and I was the director of
UH European Business for the Disney Business Unit because the

(31:53):
Mattel had a Disney strategic alliance at the time. But
they they wanted me to work out of the Disney offices,
so in Paris, downtown Parish and on a big fashion
Street absolutely gorgeous. But I learned and I had nobody like.
It was about creating relationships and helping all the international

(32:15):
affiliates in each country market, each market uh to work
together to lift the sales of those those co products.
So I learned how to really lift yourself up by
your bootsteps with like no counsel, no guidance. Your boss
is multiple you know, an ocean and multiple time zones away.

(32:36):
You're going to have to figure this out, right, And
I actually had to. I was like, looked at my
calendar one day and I'm like, you know, the thing
that executives hate is nothing on there. Right, I'm like,
what am I going to do? What am I going
to do? Nobody knows who I am, nobody knows why

(32:57):
I'm here. It's something that these two guys at the
very top decided, you know, you should put mantel, should
put somebody over here and help us figure this out.
And I'm they're like you and I go over there,
and they like, fix it. That's that's my that's my goal.

Speaker 2 (33:09):
And it was. Uh.

Speaker 3 (33:12):
I woke up and I was like, well, yay, nobody
knows who I am and nobody knows why I'm here.

Speaker 2 (33:19):
So I just I did like.

Speaker 3 (33:20):
A boss, right, I just like I literally call like
the German affiliate. I'm hello, I'm Sharon John. I'm you know,
I was recently married. I'm the new director of Dah
Dah da Da and I'm coming on this and such
day and I'm going to send you a template for
you to fill out and we're going to have a
meeting about what's going on. And I'm like, they're like, okay,

(33:42):
I'm like, car.

Speaker 1 (33:46):
Tell my god nobody.

Speaker 2 (33:50):
So yeah, So I was just making myself a boss.

Speaker 1 (33:52):
Yeah, make yourself a boss, serve your own path. And
it's that's kind of a perfect situation for you because
you get to create your own role in a way exactly,
and that sets you up perfectly for being a CEO
when you have to run an organization and figure out
what everybody should be working on, right.

Speaker 3 (34:05):
You had to grab it, you know, And that was
my moment to grab it and figure it out. And
then it has bro was a whole different a whole
different animal of things that I learned. But I ended
up starting out as the vice president of Tiger Electronics,
like the famous for Ferby, and then ended up running
the US toy division, which was a crazy trip.

Speaker 1 (34:25):
Why was it so crazy? Like what is crazy about
running the toy division?

Speaker 3 (34:29):
Well, in this case, I kept as I grew, like
my scope. I went from Tiger to like the sports
action business, which is NERF. I got to totally reinvent NERF.
It was it was a waning brand at the time.
And I again we talked a little bit about this
on the run, about learning to be a change agent a.

Speaker 2 (34:51):
Transformer not a transformer. That's a whole different thing.

Speaker 3 (34:54):
I worked on transformers, and I yes, and I was
on Transformers during the film, which was a my blowing
experience as well. But we reinvented NERF and then got
all the girls business, so Littlest Pet Shop, my Little Pony,
all of that stuff. And then we're also able to
run play school with Plato and h and mister Potato Head.

(35:16):
And then the boys business came, which is the Crown Jewels.
So you know that's Hasbro is the company that g I.
Joe built, and it tells the company that Barbie built,
and they still have some remnants of that in their
cultures as well.

Speaker 2 (35:30):
So a whole different cultural thing.

Speaker 1 (35:32):
And one so when a brand like Nerve comes out
within Hasbro. Is that a company, is that like a
game or whatever you want to call it, toy that
Hasbro is inventing or.

Speaker 3 (35:44):
Do you Sometimes not in that particular case, not in
that particular case. So sometimes you buy inventions or buy
companies that are already successful because they've launched a specific product,
but and not not in the case of Nerve, but
a lot of times you are inventing them.

Speaker 1 (36:01):
Yeah, right, because like Mattel, Barbie.

Speaker 2 (36:04):
Was invented, was created by and then I came as everything.

Speaker 1 (36:17):
So one of the things that we talked about around
that I just want to ask again here because we
can kind of elaborate on it, is I've seen you
say that growing up, you were able to watch a
matel commercial or a Hasbro commercial and you'd be able
to tell, Okay, this is a Hasbro toy, this is
a Metel toy. Is there a reason why, like you
were able to tell that, you.

Speaker 3 (36:36):
Know, well, I mean the best, the most giveaway thing,
and that is that back in the day they would
talk about their brands like the brand it would always
have like the tag or the bug at the end.
And I can with speaking of it, right, now I
can see the way those logos would come on to
the commercial and Mattel's is still the same. It's the

(36:57):
red gear with the Mattel in the center, and they
would pop on at the very end. And then Hasbro
was this little guy and I don't really use him anymore.

Speaker 2 (37:05):
But I could see that.

Speaker 3 (37:07):
But they also had the same tone and manner like
and just like you could pick that up in maybe
a coke and PEPSI kind of ad.

Speaker 2 (37:14):
You start to see that.

Speaker 3 (37:15):
Tone and manner about the way brands are presented to
consumers and it's important because that consistency matters, right, And
that was an influencer for me. I think sometimes though
kind of sidebar, sometimes I think that I wanted to
be in advertising because of Bewitched.

Speaker 2 (37:35):
Do you know the show Bewitched?

Speaker 1 (37:36):
No, we come on, I know, I'm so bad.

Speaker 2 (37:39):
This is where Elizabeth Montgomery she's like a witch, and
Darren Stevens her husband, he was in the advertising industry,
and I love that. I'm like, what he does is
super cool. I'd rather do what he's doing than be
a witch.

Speaker 1 (37:55):
For me, it was mad men, like, oh see, oh
my god, yes, And I literally wrote it's so funny
because I grew up art and design and I'm not
so much an artist anymore, but I did grow up
like and when I applied to colleges, it was Parsons Pratt,
Yeah yeah, Boston University as a program. I ended up
choosing Fordham just because I really wanted to be in

(38:15):
New City and my parents were like, You're absolutely not
going to art school. But when I saw mad Men,
my eyes like opened up, yes, and I was like, oh, wow,
like to be a creative director is the dream.

Speaker 2 (38:27):
I was with you on that, Oh totally.

Speaker 1 (38:29):
I mean. But then I ended up studying marketing and
I was like, Okay, well it would be cool to
be on the business side anyways.

Speaker 2 (38:35):
But I componed.

Speaker 3 (38:36):
Really, when I started in nineteen eighty nine in the
advertising industry, the last remnants ad of mad Men were
still roaming those.

Speaker 1 (38:46):
Halls really, yes, which kinds.

Speaker 3 (38:48):
Of like for d dB Needham, Keith rein Hart would
still come in and walk around, or at Backer spill
Vogel Baits, Carl Spilvogel would occasionally come in. I've met
these gentlemen, and that was still kind of in the system.
And because we were still on Madison Avenue, and you

(39:09):
know it's not the same anymore, right, but you still
that some of that spirit was still in these companies.

Speaker 1 (39:16):
Yeah, so so good. Well, what I like knowing is
that when we were on our run, we talked about how,
you know, you're obviously now you're now at Built a Bear.
You became the CEO in twenty thirteen, and you were
talking about how you guys have done studies of like
children's bedrooms and how they you know, organize their their
bears and which ones are important to them. Right, you
have to kind of study the psychology of children and anyways,

(39:40):
And there was so much of that in Mad Men.
And there's actually this really famous book called The Power
of Habit. I don't know if you've read it, and
the beginning of the book is it ut really the
whole book is all about advertising, and they talk about
how for Breeze came to be and they would study
like housewives and their houses and how they would clean.

Speaker 2 (39:56):
And that's right.

Speaker 3 (39:57):
Sometimes just those little tweaks in the marketing insight is
such a big unlock. Just like we were talking about
of redefining your competitive realm. One of my favorite stories
on that front is actually a story about Crest, Yeah,
where they shifted their positioning from being all about all

(40:21):
about healthy dental care too beautiful smiles, and that opened
up the whole business for white strips. Oh and they
would not have done that in a strict interpretation of
you know healthy, you know dental hygiene.

Speaker 1 (40:44):
Yeah, I mean, yeah, it makes so much sense. Yeah,
because white trips technically are not that good.

Speaker 3 (40:50):
Like yeah, so, but it's just when you you're thinking
about things in a box, that box will often define
or limit what you think you can become, or what
your brand can become or what it should become. Even
if the consumer has a different idea, you might be

(41:10):
limiting your own potential.

Speaker 1 (41:12):
Absolutely. I mean it's about finding the right fit with
because it's all about habits, right, It's like, how can
I break into this person's daily ritual in a valuable
way to them?

Speaker 3 (41:21):
Also, really, really a handy way to think about opportunities
with brands is kind of go around the clock. And
we've done that with Buildebert, you know, kind of thinking
through where these opportunities where we can engage not necessarily
sell something. I don't mean that way in that particular, say,
but where can we engage. So you know, teddy bears

(41:42):
are certainly an important part of bedtime, but also you
know the daily you know, travel or whatever you're doing
to have that teddy bear with you or playtime. And
we make sure that we have products even for reading,
because there's been so much research on that kids do
better when they read out loud, and they don't want
to read out loud to someone else because they think

(42:03):
they'll they'll mess up and stumble, but they love to
read to their teddy bear, and the teddy bear so
non judgmental. It's one of the best things about a
teddy bear. And so we provide reading bears for people.

Speaker 1 (42:14):
That's so cute, that makes so much sense. Okay, well
let's talk about this. So twenty thirteen, you take over
Build a Bear, and the brand is in an interesting
spot right because there was a lot of brand value.
The brand value is strong with Build a Bear. People
love it, people know it, and it's very nostalgic.

Speaker 2 (42:32):
Ninety six percent aided brand awareness.

Speaker 1 (42:35):
But the workshop was not what it used to be
right when you joined, So paint that moment for us.
What did the company look and feel like when you
became the CEO in twenty fifteen.

Speaker 3 (42:45):
So Build a Bear had been through about eight years
of struggle and contraction after the recession. And it's not
unusual for companies, particularly super successful companies, which Build a
Bear had been. This was launched in nineteen ninety seven,
had an IPO and was like a little bit of
a Wall Street darling there.

Speaker 2 (43:04):
For a little while.

Speaker 3 (43:06):
But when mall traffic started to decline and shopping habits changed,
and the rise of e commerce really took a toll
on the company. And when you don't when you lose
about you know, ten percent, twenty percent of the mall traffic,
that's going to impact every single retailer in the mall.

Speaker 2 (43:25):
And it impacted Build a Bear as well.

Speaker 3 (43:27):
And additionally, the rent structures were based on at the
time what had happened for the last twenty years, which
is a standard increase, you know, because the sales in
the traffic had just kept kept increasing. So that makes sense,
but you're trapped in these lease structures that are not
working in a declining mall traffic environment. You're based on

(43:50):
experiential retail, which Maxine the founder of Build Bear, Maxine Clark,
is credited for being a pioneer in this space as
well as she should be. It's this visionary concept, but
it was hard to see how you were going to
translate that into the digital arena, right, what are you
going to do with eCOM right the hats, if that

(44:11):
make any sense. And so the company was struggling financially.
It was losing money and what's called the four wall profitability,
which is the profit in each one of the stores,
was only about nine percent, which is well below standard,
and about twenty percent of the stores were just totally unprofitable.
So we had to make a lot of business operations

(44:34):
changes and to first to return to profitability. But as
you were stating, the brand was extremely strong, and part
of that was an unlock of there's the difference between
build a bear workshop the place and build a bear.
The brand and the place is one thing, and the
place is important. It's a critical part of creating this

(44:55):
extraordinary memory and emotion and the heart ceremony, the making
of the bear one of a kind type of you know,
curated personal experience that's so.

Speaker 2 (45:10):
Valuable for us. But there was more that we could do.

Speaker 3 (45:13):
We actually called it the more strategy, more people, more places,
more reasons, more purposes, right, So expanded the addressable market.
That helped us unlock e commerce because that helped us
with gifting and collectibles. More places got out of malls.
Still in malls, about thirty five percent of our sources
still in malls.

Speaker 2 (45:32):
But we got down to.

Speaker 3 (45:34):
The core of what Maxine wrote in her business plan,
even though she wrote it as malls, malls were really
just a stand in for places where people go for
fun and entertainment, right, So again, dig, dig, dig, what do.

Speaker 2 (45:51):
We really mean here?

Speaker 3 (45:53):
And when you think about it that way, you're like, well,
where do people go for fun and entertainment now? And
there's certain echelon of malls that still is true all
of America or things like that, but tourist locations.

Speaker 2 (46:06):
You know, and then we would We went to amusement.

Speaker 3 (46:11):
Parks, we went to hospitality locations that deals with Great
Wolf flage, deals with carnival cruise lines, and all of
a sudden you're starting to unlock The truth is people
aren't tired of Build a Bear.

Speaker 2 (46:23):
Build a Bear is no less relevant than it was
in nineteen ninety seven. We're just in the wrong.

Speaker 3 (46:27):
Place, right, and we're not We're not expanding to the
consumer where we have become multi generational. So those all
of those things, those puzzle pieces almost not even I'd
say it's more like a tetris, you know of how
it all like started locking together, maybe in the jingle

(46:47):
blocks since we're staying in the toy industry here, so
it started unlocking value and that also started to unlow. Well,
well we should go back internationally, and so all of
a sudden we start openings and with partnerships and all
of those things started working together while correcting the operational

(47:09):
challenges with every link of the value chain. You take
all of that work that we were doing, which has
been the team has been remarkable through that, even though
we went through the retail apocalypse, Brexit, COVID, and now tariffs.

Speaker 2 (47:26):
We're just really good.

Speaker 3 (47:28):
At evolving right at this point. But then combine that
with this rise of the nostalgic economy, the condulting, which
is a big trend DIY customization and personalization and things
that people want to do where it's social media leans

(47:51):
into social media like experiences, the return of experiences all
post COVID. That's like magic right now and very exciting time.

Speaker 1 (48:02):
Definitely. I mean, there just seems like there are so
many touch points that just make so much sense for Bildebear.
And you're credited really with going from like a lot
of people when they talk about you know what Sharon
came in and did, is like you went from this
mall centric approach to an omni channel approach, right, that's
the word. Yes, Were there any tough decisions that you
had to make early on because you came in for
the founder, right, like you became the CEO as the founder. Correct,

(48:25):
So that's those are big shoes to fill us.

Speaker 2 (48:27):
So she has tiny little she's a tiny little person,
tiny shoes, and I have a big, big personality to
fill for.

Speaker 1 (48:34):
I mean, what is that like stepping into a CEO
role when you're taking over for the founder of the brand.

Speaker 3 (48:40):
Look, any founder, any takeover from a founder led organization
is going to be difficult. And Maxine is a big personality,
force of nature, brilliant visionary.

Speaker 1 (48:51):
You know, I need to see how tiny she is.

Speaker 3 (48:53):
She's about four to eleven. Yeah, So I'm not that
big of a person and I feel like a big
person around around the vaccine and she had but she
houses you know, like a lot of energy and I
mean she's a visionary with and she was so supportive

(49:13):
of me and was a big part of the reason
I chose to come And uh, but that but that's
hard because she she houses the culture of the company,
and I needed to find a way to bring that
culture along for the ride, or I would have met

(49:38):
with a lot of resistance. And rightly so, there's nothing
wrong with the culture of Build a Bear, other than
we had to learn to operate more efficiently and and
we managed to find that path.

Speaker 1 (49:51):
How do you decide when to stay true to the
heart of a brand, like you're talking about, versus when
to reinvent it?

Speaker 3 (49:58):
Well, I wouldn't reinvent a brand that wasn't broken, and
Build a Bear wasn't broken, It wasn't optimizing itself. It
had more equity than it was monetizing, and we had
to go through a very systematic process first to return

(50:20):
to profitability, but then to pivot the brand from its
narrow self of a vertical mall based kid's toy company,
right that almost accidentally built a brand one heart ceremony
at a time, to a branded intellectual property company that

(50:42):
if we could run profitable vertical retail. It's one of
the biggest cash machines that exist. A sype buys retailers
all the time, and then take that money and invest
it in other revenue streams to optimize the brand. Then
you would have a really successful organization.

Speaker 2 (51:04):
And that's what we did.

Speaker 1 (51:05):
Yeah, I mean it's incredible. Were you guys, were you
surprised by the rise of kid alting?

Speaker 2 (51:11):
No, it had been happening for years.

Speaker 1 (51:13):
It had been happening for years.

Speaker 3 (51:14):
Yeah yeah, yeah, in fact, it happened. It had started
happening all the way back to my time. It has
broke for sure. That's what Transformers was all about.

Speaker 2 (51:24):
Just think about it. The Transformers first Transformers film, record
breaking film, extraordinary film, you know, Michael Bay amazing. That
was not for kids.

Speaker 3 (51:35):
That was for kids adults that played with Transformers when
they were little, and it reignited the entire business.

Speaker 1 (51:42):
Can you break down what kid alting is and guys,
that's kid alting like kids and adulting combine.

Speaker 3 (51:49):
Just to be clear, it's grown ups, teens and grown
ups that buy toys and games and are engaged in
buying things that remind them of their childhood or collecting
things that remind them of their childhood, or even some
things that don't like the collecting, you know, miniature vinyls,
or they still play with Lego, or they want to

(52:11):
come back to Build a Bear, or they like the
mashup brands. So maybe they loved Pokemon when they were
a kid and now and they love Build a Bear
where they were a kid, and now they can come
in and get their Pokemon build a Bear.

Speaker 1 (52:22):
You know, that's like the best well I and I do.
I love seeing all the collaborations that you guys do.
Like as you go to the Build a Bear website
and there's just so many different you can There's Harry
Potter Build a Bear, right, There's the If movie that
came out a couple of years ago, the Big Purple Monster. Like,
there's so many different types of collapse that you can
buy in Build a Bear form. What I would love
to see is have you seen La Boo boos? Yes,

(52:43):
of course I would love to see a build a
Bear La Boo Boo. Well, you know, like maybe a
collaboration between some sort of like Japanese artists times times
Build a Bear and that, and to have a build
a Bear that can hang on your bag.

Speaker 2 (52:59):
Well that you may get to do that.

Speaker 1 (53:01):
Really are we choosing something.

Speaker 3 (53:05):
On the hanging part possibly you guys, are are you
going to do that surprise?

Speaker 1 (53:08):
Oh my god, Okay, that would go crazy.

Speaker 2 (53:11):
Yeah, hopefully.

Speaker 3 (53:13):
But we also brought out many beans just recently, like
in uh February of last year, millions tiny little beanie guys,
many beans that look like build a Bear's. Oh my god,
I love them. I love them.

Speaker 1 (53:28):
Yeah, yes, well I think they're such a fun with
the lububus. There such a fun like so there's such
an easy virality thing to it because everybody gets surprised
with what they get when they open up the pal.

Speaker 3 (53:37):
Oh yeah, sure, well there's that that whole like, you know,
that whole surprise element. But that's a perfect example of
a adulting trend that that's really not an nostalgic thing.

Speaker 2 (53:51):
You know, that's a new thing.

Speaker 3 (53:52):
But but not so long ago, that would have been
something that you would think only kids would buy, right, yeah, right, no.

Speaker 1 (54:00):
It's so true because yeah, it's it's these those are
new designs, right of these little creatures or whatever you
want to call them. So it is interesting to see
kind of the consumer trends right now. And then I
always love throwing it back to those nostalgic pieces. We
have to talk about Bearville because I was on Reddit
this morning reading through threads and threads about Bearville, and

(54:20):
I know that you guys have kind of made a
new game called Bildebert Tycoon right on roadblocks. So let's
talk about like all of the ways that Bill de
Bearer has transformed into the digital space.

Speaker 3 (54:33):
Yes, oh well, well, first of all, that's we had
a number of tenants that we were working on to
be able to evolve the brand. The first was the
evolution of the of the entire real estate and store
portfolio experience portfolio, which we talked a lot about. The
second was the digital transformation, and the third was investment

(54:55):
in things to grow the business outside of its core
business while returning capital to shareholders. But that entire digital
transformation had to start from the bottom up, Like we
had to rebuild everything so we wouldn't be able to
run the website that we run today if we didn't.

Speaker 2 (55:10):
We literally called.

Speaker 3 (55:11):
It Project Bedrock, and it's across everything from an accounting
system to a warehouse management system, to a new website
to digital you know, all of our digital efforts and
as well as becoming much more focused from a media
perspective in social media, because the evolution even of marketing

(55:33):
in the last ten years has been dramatic. Like when
I started in advertising and then when I was at
Mattel or even at Hasbro, the whole business model was
about commercials fifteen second thirty second commercials that gin you
would buy you know, media time in the upfronts for
you know, on about three or four channels, and that

(55:55):
was it. But you could really you've had the right
algorithm to know, if I have this must reach in
this most frequency during this time of the year, I'll
probably cell about this many products.

Speaker 2 (56:07):
Right, that's just gone, it doesn't exist.

Speaker 3 (56:10):
So we had to learn to create short form content
and talk to those teens and adults and find other
ways to communicate, you know, and like very creative approach
to what we do. One of those ways is to
get engaged. Is I was talking about where all of
these points of engagement content is a point of engagement, right,

(56:31):
and that includes things like roadblocks for you know, so
you know, if you like build a bear, you come
to build a bear roadblocks and you get to run
your little bears around and that is a way of
increasing brand awareness but also top of mind awareness, right,
remind you about build a Bear that's a good thing.

Speaker 1 (56:51):
And also meeting people where they are. It's like if
a lot of these young younger kids are like from
a all ages, really a lot of us are on
our phones where a lot of people play roadblocks. Like
I always think about the game Dress to Impress when
I rum with my nieces or nephews. I'm like, let's
play Dress to Impress because I have so much fun
with it. Yeah, but it makes so much sense to
me that builds a Bear is a game now that's
on roadblocks because I could imagine people have so much

(57:13):
fun playing it.

Speaker 3 (57:14):
Oh totally, and it is fun. I had to learn
how to do it. I'd never done it before, but
now I know how. My son particularly, they want to
watch me play it because I'm so bad. They roll,
they roll laughing. They're twenty somethings and they just roll.
My mom, Oh my god, just push that fun and

(57:35):
I'm like running into a.

Speaker 2 (57:36):
Wall like seven days, but I try anyway.

Speaker 3 (57:39):
The other thing that we wanted to do is create
our own intellectual property, which we did did do with
like Honey Girls and Mary Mission, and then we created
content for the Honey Girls and Mary Mission, and so
the creation of your own intellectual property, sub brands and content, music, content, videos,

(58:00):
and a feature film with Sony was our partner on that.

Speaker 1 (58:04):
And the Build a Bear universe.

Speaker 2 (58:05):
Yeah, it's a hull Bildeberg universe.

Speaker 1 (58:07):
So some of those you were just mentioning someone like
the TV kind of series that you guys did, film
like movies, animated feature What is that?

Speaker 2 (58:15):
Live action?

Speaker 1 (58:16):
Oh? Live action?

Speaker 2 (58:17):
Yes, with a chante.

Speaker 1 (58:18):
I didn't know that.

Speaker 2 (58:19):
Yeah, you gotta watch the film.

Speaker 1 (58:20):
I have to watch it. Wait, what is the vision
for Buildeber? Like, where do you want to see bilde
Beer going in the next I can't even say ten
years because things are moving so qui funny, but like
in the next year, two years, like up to five years, Like,
where where are we going to see bilde Beer Buildebert
being taken?

Speaker 2 (58:36):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (58:36):
Well, I think that we have a lot of the
verticals identified. It's really a matter of optimizing all of
those concepts, right.

Speaker 2 (58:46):
I think we could be much more global.

Speaker 3 (58:47):
I think we have a you know already I've shared
that we have a flagship store coming to Orlando with
Icon in the Icon Park, which is right next to
the new Warners Park. So you know, I think we
have some big footprint next level experienced type of things.
I think we can build out additional sub brands and

(59:09):
intellectual property in that whole content space and we can
be much more global.

Speaker 1 (59:15):
All right, Well, I want to ask you some questions
that came in from our audience. So oh, questions that
people have. Okay, so the first question is you wrote
Stories in Heart and talk about authenticity as strategy. Why
is storytelling such an underrated leadership tool? Wow?

Speaker 2 (59:31):
That's such Are you sure good?

Speaker 1 (59:33):
Question? That? Questions we have? We have some really good questions.

Speaker 2 (59:37):
Yeah, that's fantastic. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (59:39):
I did write the book Stories in Heart, and I
really wanted to write it because well, actually Forbes contacted
me to write a business book and I'm like, I'm
not writing a business book. And then like, we'll write
the story of the brand. Like I'm not writing the
story of the brand. They're like, well, just write whatever
you want. Like, well, I think that the biggest benefit

(59:59):
of something that I could write would be just to
pull a little stories out of my life and more
about not that story, it was just the context. And
then there's a ton of information, data, backstories, you know,
science behind what I did or what I thought that

(01:00:20):
helped me in my career or life. Right, So the
first one is all about the creation of goals, like
what are your goals? And the next is there's a
whole that the whole chapter on Barbie and Mattel is
really about that perfectionism question and how to tackle that

(01:00:40):
for yourself, or how to dream big, redefining your competitive realm.
All of that is in this book. But the storytelling
piece and the sub really the subtitle of the book
is all about that the stories that you're telling yourself
are not only going to define you're defining your past.

(01:01:01):
Be careful how you're defining that past, because we can't
help it. It's human nature to run a narrative, run
an empowering narrative. The danger of a disempowering narrative does
not only misinterpret your past, it creates your future.

Speaker 1 (01:01:19):
You are what you tell yourself.

Speaker 3 (01:01:21):
And then you will make choices and things will happen,
and you will limit yourself. You are literally defining not
your past, but your future by the narrative that you
allowed to run in your head.

Speaker 2 (01:01:32):
And that's why storytelling.

Speaker 1 (01:01:43):
All right, What is your advice to women trying to
balance self belief when they feel behind.

Speaker 3 (01:01:51):
You're probably not as behind as you think. Data will
tell you that for any given position, there's ten different
things that an employer is looking for. Women believe that
they need to have nine or ten of them, and
guys think they need.

Speaker 2 (01:02:08):
To have five or six of them. So apply to
the job.

Speaker 1 (01:02:11):
What's something you wish more women in business stopped apologizing for.

Speaker 3 (01:02:16):
I actually decided this was years ago. I think I
was at Hasbro when I did this. It's like I'm
going to go a year and not say I'm sorry.

Speaker 1 (01:02:25):
It's so easy to say I'm sorry.

Speaker 3 (01:02:26):
Yeah, I'm sorry, And I don't mean to my kids
like you know, like I, you know, accidentally stepped on
their toe or something. I'm not gonna I don't mean that.
I don't mean personal life. I mean just the habit,
the overwhelming habit of saying I'm sorry. Like you walk
into the meeting, Oh God, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Oh
you know you bumped some Oh I'm so sorry, I

(01:02:47):
didn't mean to do that, or or there was a
typo and the oh I'm so.

Speaker 2 (01:02:51):
Sorry, No, no, you know what you again? That I am.
What does sorry mean if you have to say something
to say, I apologize for that, you're defining yourself as
sorry when you say I'm sorry.

Speaker 1 (01:03:09):
Yeah, I think that's a really good perspective. It's so true. Yeah,
just apologize for making a mistake. If you made one,
just apologize.

Speaker 3 (01:03:15):
Do not ruminate on it. Don't ruminate it. Don't let
that go. You have to let it go and give
yourself at least the grace you would give your best friend.

Speaker 1 (01:03:27):
Yeah, I agree. What's a leadership lesson? You had to
learn the hard way.

Speaker 3 (01:03:31):
Oh, that's a good one. Don't assume that you know
everything about, like all all the edges of why a
decision was made. Sometimes it's really easy, from the vantage
point of the future right to say that was the

(01:03:54):
dumbest deal I've ever seen in my life. Why in
the world did they agree to that ridiculous you know,
minimum guarantee on that licensing deal? Oh my god, I
can't and I got it one of my bosses. Still,
I guess this is an ongoing theme. Maybe there's something
you're still a good friend of mine, said Sharon. I
happen to know what happened in that and this was

(01:04:15):
the compromise because of seven other things that were happening.

Speaker 2 (01:04:17):
And I know, now on the.

Speaker 3 (01:04:18):
Surfaces looks bad, but you cannot assume that you understand
all the reasons why decisions are made. And now I
have the respect of at least asking of at least
digging in to understand the context of why certain choices
were made before.

Speaker 2 (01:04:33):
I make a have an opinion about it.

Speaker 1 (01:04:36):
Yeah, it's important to yeah, speak to talk to people
and really form your opinion before you like confidently say something.
And that exactly backtrack. I just want to call out too.
I love knowing that you're still such good friends with
so many of the people that you've worked under and
worked with, because I do think that is a really
important thing to call out in business. Don't burn any bridges.

Speaker 2 (01:04:56):
Do your best. You know it's not always going to
work out, but do you right?

Speaker 1 (01:05:00):
It's so true And I've never.

Speaker 2 (01:05:01):
Burned the bridge. People have thrown a Molotov cocktail on
my bridge.

Speaker 3 (01:05:05):
But yeah, it happens, and I'm like, okay, yeah time,
But it is so true.

Speaker 1 (01:05:14):
It's like there's not like there's so many like cheesy
quotes about it. But your network is your net worth.
And I think it is so true, like it's so
important to they say, you know, be just as kind
to the people on the way up, because you'll see
them on the way down. And I just I think it.

Speaker 3 (01:05:26):
Can then help people and you be open and honest.
And one of the things too, the reason why I
wanted to write that book is it's not a scrubbed
up version of the history.

Speaker 2 (01:05:37):
I mean.

Speaker 3 (01:05:37):
And so when I say, you know, the narrative that
you're building, it doesn't mean it has to be filled
with lies. It's what you think things mean. Nothing means
anything until you give it a meaning, right, that's up
to you. But I also don't want it to sound
all like you know all this, you know, steps to
the top, and you know, like the latter thing is
a joke, like there's no there's no corporate ladder. What

(01:06:02):
that implies is that these are equally spaced rungs. I mean,
that's not what's going to happen. It's a hike, it's
up and down. It's a mountain trail, you know, And
I think we have to share that as women, that
it might be on a little further up the mountain

(01:06:22):
than to other folks. Is that it's not all pretty.
And when people write their cvs, I get it. But
if you're not going to be honest about some of
the ups and downs, I think that can be very
disheartening to people who look at you, because I do
not want people to say, oh, well she's gotten that

(01:06:43):
because and then least out all these things about why
it was so easy, because right almost the same thing
that I was talking about with what did I learn
as a leader? Don't assume sometimes they're not sharing it.
But what I'm trying to break down is the wall
between the folks that have quote unquote whatever made it

(01:07:04):
tell the real story, because that gives other people a
better sense about what the journey's going to be. And
then one thing happens, it doesn't go right, or this
episode get turned down for the job.

Speaker 2 (01:07:18):
Just keep going. That's happened to all of us.

Speaker 1 (01:07:21):
Yep, Well that's the ethos of our show is just
keep moving. Seriously. Ah right now, there's going to be highs,
there's going to be lows.

Speaker 2 (01:07:27):
It just keep.

Speaker 1 (01:07:29):
Swimming, Just keep swimming, Just keep moving seriously, it is
it's just keep going. You've been in the room with
so many successful people. You are such a successful person
yourself obviously guys CEO of Fieldbear, what is a common
thread that you've noticed among successful people?

Speaker 2 (01:07:44):
This is maybe an odd answer. Well, this part's not odd.

Speaker 3 (01:07:50):
You do have to have a certain level of expertise
of whatever area, whatever you're doing.

Speaker 2 (01:07:56):
You know that would be helpful.

Speaker 3 (01:07:57):
It's not all luck, and a work ethic that probably
goes hand in hand with that expertise. If you can
combine that work ethic with an area a level of expertise,
oftentimes that's very helpful. You've got to sprinkle in some luck.
Not going to pretend that's not true. But the other

(01:08:19):
piece is a level of self confidence because if you
don't have that, and it doesn't have to be hubris,
but you do have to have a gut feeling about
things because you're going to if you rise up in
the ranks, you're going to be put in more and

(01:08:42):
more precarious situations where you're going to be asked to
make a decision that could affect millions of dollars, thousands
of people, millions of customers right and you're going to
be asked to do that with wildly imperfon information on

(01:09:02):
a very fast timetable and then convince people to come
with you on this decision that if it's bad, it's
on you, and if it's good, everybody else gets to celebrate.
Those are lonely places and if that's not for you,
leadership's not for you. And that's the hard part, right.

Speaker 1 (01:09:24):
You know. I like that you said, you know, sprinkle
in a little bit of luck, and I think they're
and then also have a good gut instinct and gut
intuition on certain things, because I think there's times in
life where there's almost like Matthew McConaughey wrote a book
on it, right where it's like the green lights theory,
What were the green lights in your life if you
could identify them that kind of led you to where
you are now.

Speaker 2 (01:09:44):
Yeah, So.

Speaker 3 (01:09:47):
This is Steve Jobs quote that you can't see the
dots connecting when you're going through them, but you can
see them all so clearly when you look back on it.

Speaker 2 (01:10:00):
I just think about just the sheer odds.

Speaker 3 (01:10:04):
Of small town Tennessee. Go to the university. Oh, I'm
going to get a job in New York and I'm
going to get a job at a week and I
get this job and end up on confection. This guy
who just says, go get an MBA. I'm like, where,
I'm scared to go to Columbia ended up get this.
You know roundabout big, you know the business side and

(01:10:26):
the creative side. Then I spent you know, ten years,
fifteen years, twenty in the toy industry. I get recruited
out of that to go to Strive Right Children's group
to learn vertical retail.

Speaker 1 (01:10:41):
Right.

Speaker 3 (01:10:41):
I didn't know anything about how to run retail till
I went to Strive Right Children's group. That was a turnaround.
The Matt Rebel, famous guy. I love him dearly again
to this day. He's like, I said, why are you
Why are you recruiting me from Hasbro? I don't know
anything about shoes? He goes, because you know about China sourcing.

(01:11:04):
I'm like, well, I don't know anything about retail. He goes, yeah,
you do. You sell stuff to Walmart. I'm like, well,
I don't know anything. I was arguing against him hiring me.
He goes, I need you to stop this right now,
because I am. I want you to come to work
to us with us, because you are an expert.

Speaker 2 (01:11:22):
In kids and moms. You're a consumer expert.

Speaker 3 (01:11:27):
And what is in this was in twenty ten and
what is happening right now in retail is an absolutely
disaster and it's not going to be fixed by somebody
that grew up in retail. I want you to come
in and figure it out from scratch and I will
help you do that. And in three years I was
recruited to build a bear.

Speaker 2 (01:11:50):
What are the odds?

Speaker 1 (01:11:51):
And that changed your life.

Speaker 2 (01:11:52):
One hundred percent.

Speaker 3 (01:11:53):
And without that last little piece, I would not have
been the perfect candidate, right.

Speaker 1 (01:12:02):
So what would be your advice on that? Don't go
against the current.

Speaker 2 (01:12:06):
Sometimes you've got to believe in the universe. Man.

Speaker 1 (01:12:10):
Last question, if you could give one piece of advice
to your twenty five year old self, what would it be?

Speaker 3 (01:12:16):
Oh, do same thing I tell my twenty six year
old daughter, my twenty three year old son, and my
twenty year old daughter. You know, it really is no
learn You have to know yourself. I mean I'm going
with this is ancient wisdom. Ill you know, you got

(01:12:38):
to know yourself and it takes a lot of work
and nobody's going to help you, but you to really
understand what makes you tick, what's going to make you happy,
and then be willing to go for those things, and
that is a frightening journey. It's usual. This is a

(01:13:02):
Nelson Mandela thought. It's not your darkness that's scared that
scares you, it's your light. If you're able to find
that light and go toward it, things just start to unfold.
But you've got to believe. And it's not going to
be that obvious in the moment, but once you start
to see that, it's remarkable, truly, and I I can't

(01:13:27):
I mean, I can't speak about that enough. It doesn't
Sometimes I look back in my life and it just
literally makes no sense.

Speaker 1 (01:13:35):
But at the same time means it's the same time.

Speaker 2 (01:13:39):
That's the dichotomy at all.

Speaker 1 (01:13:40):
All right, Yeah, it's so true. It's like when you
just keep going and you're consistent and you keep showing
up and you keep working hard.

Speaker 2 (01:13:48):
It's gotta give.

Speaker 1 (01:13:49):
Things do pan out. It does, Yeah, and maybe you
don't end up becoming the CEO of a big company, but.

Speaker 3 (01:13:54):
I'm say that's always the thing anybody wants to be.

Speaker 4 (01:13:57):
But I'm sure you're doing something cool. Yeah, So exactly that.
And that's the other piece of advice. And I'm not
sure I want to give this to my kids, but
I'll give it to you. If I was really sitting
down with her, I'd be like, don't worry so much.

Speaker 3 (01:14:15):
You know, you're just you're giving yourself, you know, stomach ulcers,
and you know you're so freaked out about like this
step and that step and this step. You got to
have a longer arc here. It's going to be amazing.
And I do believe now looking back at it, even
if I hadn't left the advertising industry, probably even if
I hadn't gone to Columbia, if I'd done that, if

(01:14:36):
I'd stay to Matel because sometimes you go back and
you ruminate about all these things and the what ifs
and the what ifs, and if it would have been better.
If I did, everything would have been fine. It would
not have mattered what path I took. It was all
gonna be okay.

Speaker 1 (01:14:48):
Well, thank you so much for walking and talking with
me today.

Speaker 2 (01:14:51):
Thank you. It is delightful.

Speaker 1 (01:14:53):
Thank you. Thank you guys so much for listening to
today's conversation with Sharon. If you enjoyed our episode and
you're enjoying post run high, please remember to rate and
review the show. It helps us continue bringing you inspiring conversations.
All right, I'll see you guys next week.