Wow! Stuff’s President, Richard North, on his changing role, amazing team, selling… And life-changing diagnosis

Richard! I can’t tell you how pleased I am to have you join me. We’ve been saying we should do this for a couple of years. So… First things first: congratulations on your Wow! Stuff sale/investment deal.
Thanks Deej! And thanks for having me.

You’re still involved, presumably?
Yes. We’d term this as a substantial investment in the business; one that allows us to expand and create jobs regardless of any other plans. We can open more offices, expand across different territories, invest in people, utilize a world-class manufacturing platform out of Asia… And have an amazing seat at the table with licensors when they’re considering which toy company is right for certain projects. We can now put our best foot forward to compete. And because Wow! Stuff is known for innovation, I think that’s the difference we can bring once we’re at the table.

So tell me, how is your role changing?
So… About five years ago, I wanted to start building a succession team for Wow! Stuff so that I could feel confident it would continue beyond me… Just in case I got run over by a bus or what have you. I just wanted to know it would still provide for my family and the people that worked in the business. I also knew that my skills aren’t in the operational, day-to-day running of the business…

Before you go on, what are your skills in?
My skills are marketing, creativity and a passion for delivering ‘wow’ in a product. That’s something I’ve carried forward from business to business over all the companies I’ve built over the last 30-plus years. So acknowledging that, meant – to a large degree – that I should be working to make myself expendable… I want to know the business is able to thrive without me.

Had you come to feel that some people might perceive the company – from the outside – as being The Richard North show?
Ha! From the outside, it might’ve looked that way, yes. And that’s unhelpful when you then need to gain a big investment. But as you know, Deej, it never was that in reality because the rest of the team is amazing, it really is. They might not be as active on things like LinkedIn – but only because I’ve always loved doing that sort of thing; talking about what we’ve done and sharing what I’ve learned that would help others. So I naturally took to being the guy on the PR and awards entries – something I’ve always done with previous businesses.

And which you still do, of course – you’re often on LinkedIn with an interesting insight or some advice…
Yes… But that probably did give the impression that I was in the weeds and running the business and potentially the main reason the business was growing. Well, that was never the case: if I can take any credit, it’s only for installing our ‘why’ and attracting a great team. I think I also still bring something special to the brand because that DNA, that passion for ‘wow’ probably came from my two cofounders and me – and striving for that ‘wow’ in product has always been in me.

So! My role in the business probably changed around six years ago when I brought Dawn LaValletta in – originally as Commercial Director, then – three years ago – as Managing Director. At that time, I moved a lot of the authority in the business to her. But the way we’ve always run Wow! Stuff is that while one person makes the day-to-day decisions, it’s dangerous to have all the power rest with one person in an innovation-driven business like ours.

Because?
Because you don’t want to rely solely on one person for the product direction and have everyone else follow them over the cliff like lemmings! Ha! So we would always, always be consensual with the strategic direction, and we’ve always found this leads to the best results. So even though I’ve always had the overall power to say ‘no’ to something, I have never – not once in 20 years – ever had to overrule my leadership team on product and brand strategy. There’s never been a need to because the team is solid – and that’s going to continue. Our DNA is set and it’s vital. We maintain it as custodians.

And for the uninitiated, who are the other people making those decisions?
My two cofounders, Graeme Taylor and Kenny McAndrew – who have always been as important as myself in the leadership team. NGraeme and Kenny are scientists by background, inventors by nature. Then we’ve got Ewan Gibb, our amazing Finance Director. We wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for Ewan. Dawn is the Managing Director; a real professional manager! And now we’ve got Dr. Jim Wyatt in the leadership team. Jim was always there, but he’s taken a bigger role in the business in the last few years along with our colleague, Dr. Mark Gasson. You don’t really see him, but – my God! He’s one of the biggest experts in AI

I literally don’t see him – I can’t find his caricature on your website! Ha! But he would’ve been instrumental in creating Hot Wheels AI for Mattel a few years ago?
Right.

So it’s a formidable team! Scientists and doctors with almost legendary status…
Well! I suppose it’s easier for people on the outside to have a view on Wow! Stuff than it is for us to comment on ourselves… I think legendary probably goes too far, though. There are a lot of amazing people in the industry and I wouldn’t put us above any of them. And we are so much bigger than the leadership team, of course: our design and development team is outstanding.

Well, maybe I’ve got it wrong. Sounds like you’re sitting there thinking the management team’s a bunch of clowns! Ha!
Ha! Well, we’d be all the better for it! Ha! Clowns are funny and creative, Deej! So it’s probably a cliché to say this, but we don’t take ourselves seriously – we take what we do seriously. No one on our team is up their own backside; we’re no more important than anybody else in our company. But I do think Wow! Stuff thinks differently – and it always will as we carry a responsibility of maintaining that DNA.

Why do you suppose you can think differently?
We’re just a bit odd! Ha!

Ha! Agreed! Next question…
Ha! What I mean is – well, by way of example: we were speaking about my ADHD before the interview started. I think that makes me a bit odd – certainly that’s the word I’ve come to use; that’s what I thought I was… A bit odd. And I think we’re a bunch of fabulous oddballs at Wow! Stuff – and it happens that we’re in an industry where that makes us perfect for the job.

You mention your ADHD… The upshot of that conversation, it feels to me, is that your life suddenly makes a lot more sense with that diagnosis. Is that fair to say?
It is, yes. Definitely… It answers a thousand questions that I’ve always had about myself. And they’re questions I’ve always found awkward to ask people externally. For instance, some people who know me – close family and friends – will see me as odd… But they treat that as me being ‘a character’!

Growing up, though, I always thought I was thick with about 80% of things. I felt like my brain was stupid. It’s difficult to describe what I mean by that, but I thought I just wasn’t that clever. Then, occasionally, things would happen and I would get great results or achievements on about 20% of things – and that seemed to contradict the fact that I was thick. So I knew I wasn’t thick, and I ended up thinking I’m just odd.

And that must’ve been quite difficult to process at that age…
Yes, because I couldn’t put my finger on it. At times, I thought it must be down to dyslexia, which I do have and my whole family has. Now I’ve got a clinical diagnosis – ‘Type 2 Inattentive ADHD across all of the nine attributes – it all makes much more sense. And that’s the thing that I’m pleased about more than anything: while it answered loads of questions as to why I was odd, it also helped me understand what I’m best at.

Which is what I was going to ask about, actually – my feeling is that a lot of behaviours that stem from autism and ADHD feel challenging… But some people then find they have a superpower. What’s yours?
Yes, the downsides are that my brain is firing up all the time. I’m easily distracted by other conversations or noises; I go off on tangents when I’m speaking, I may not hear what you say even though you’re talking directly to me… And my short-term memory is terrible!

But to your question: the doctors suggest my type of ADHD has two superpowers! First, the creativity… The neurons in my brain are always firing off in all sorts of different directions. Because of that, they go in really different directions so I find myself randomly thinking about – and connecting – totally unrelated things.

You join unrelated thoughts in a way that generates useful ideas?
Yes, all the time. And the other superpower – and this is counterintuitive – is hyperfocus… The opposite of the inattentiveness that people tend to think of with ADHD. Because when a lot of people with my type of ADHD get into something they really enjoy, or feel motivated about, they can actually be extremely focused.

Which I was pleased to see when you were at the Mojo Pitch this year! You weren’t pitching for Wow! Stuff, though?
That’s right! For the last two years, I’ve been I doing four days a week at Wow! Stuff and one day on other things. Largely, that’s been mentoring and advising my son and daughter, Harry and Josie, on their business, Hot House Games. Wow! Stuff doesn’t do games so I was with them on the pitch day – but standing back! I was the observer. When they came out of a meeting, I might’ve given them a bit of advice but not much. They’re great at pitching. Outside the pitches, I’m also able to help with introductions because, obviously, I’ve come to know a lot of people after all these years.

And on that, there’s something I’ve wanted to ask you about for ages! Billy and I came to see you at Distoy one year. You were showing a buyer your range when we arrived…
When was this, Deej?

Oh, a couple of years ago! I think you were debuting the Wednesday line. Anyway, you obviously knew the customer because – forgive my impression of your Black Country accent – you said something like: “You don’t like dinosaurs, do you?”
“You don’t like dinosaurs?”

Right. And when she said, no, you said: “Well, let me show you something I think you’ll love…” You skipped all the dinosaur stuff completely; went straight to the Hyper Rocket.
Sounds about right.

Well, I think the trap that a lot of salespeople would fall into there would be to say, “Let me show you the dinosaur that’s gonna change your mind…”
That’s exactly right. You see it so often, don’t you? Salespeople that are like a dog with a bone. It’s a waste of time…

And disrespectful! It makes it look like you don’t listen.
Right. I remember seeing it one time in a meeting with Debenhams – years ago, obviously. We were their number-one gift supplier at this point; growing like crazy… I was in a sales meeting – just as an observer – when we had a new sales leader. This person asked Debenhams how they’d got on with our various products…

And not to interrupt, Richard, but for context, how many products did they take off you at that point?
Oh, loads… About 40. So the salesperson was going through the line list… When it came to this particular one, Debenhams said it had been a disaster for them! They had to mark the product down just to get rid of them… Didn’t work for them at all. But our salesperson followed with the question, “How many would you like for this Christmas?”

No?! What? Ha!
Right? None, obviously. They’d just said they had to mark it down; it didn’t sell for them. So the Debenhams guys said “None! We did everything properly. We promoted it. We did this. We did that. It didn’t sell for us… We don’t want any.” But then the salesperson tried again… And again. They must’ve asked exactly the same question four or five times in very quick succession before I had to say something. I just very politely suggested we move on.

And I do have a little sympathy when a sales person is representing products, because I think they’re thinking: ‘This product’s great. If I can get the buyer to see it how I see it, they’ll take a truckload!’
Right! But if the customer’s already given you evidence of why it can’t or didn’t work for them, you have to see it through their eyes. And that’s what I would’ve been doing with the dinosaurs when you saw me at Distoy. I would’ve known who the customer was, what they’re responsible for buying and not buying. What I don’t want to do is waste their time – or mine! That’s always going through my mind.

And that seems like really obvious advice as we sit here talking about it! But I think many, many people would’ve pushed the dinosaurs…
Yes, you see people making that same mistake over and over. It’s drilled into some people: sell, sell, sell. That’s very much them thinking of themselves and the company rather than through the eyes of their customer.

Great answer. And then – from that same meeting – I got a fascinating insight into how you work because of a conversation about your Hyper Rocket… You said there was no point doing an air rocket unless you could do it better than anyone else…
Right. We didn’t do anything in outdoor toys before that… But one thing we always bring to a new area, or a new product, is a desire to create something that’s ‘wow’…

And when you say “wow”, you don’t mean the name of the brand? You mean a wow factor?
Yes. That’s what I always ask when we create products: will this elicit the word ‘wow’ from the user? It could be a massive wow, or a medium wow – but it needs to be a wow! So with the Hyper Rocket, if we were to go into that category, we needed to find the white space! Sometimes, we do that by taking something that exists and making it significantly better. Sometimes, you’ll find that brand leaders get complacent. They rely on whatever got them where they are to keep them there.

They stop innovating?
They stop innovating! And that’s when there’s an opportunity for a disruptor to come in. At Wow! Stuff, we looked at that category and asked what we could do to move the play on. We looked at all the other rockets on the market, and we asked what the brand leader had done and why everyone else was lagging behind…

And why was everyone else lagging behind?!
They were all doing the same thing and just offering the same product at cheaper and cheaper prices. There was no innovation in it! So we designed and patented a turbo system that meant our rocket would go about 33% higher than anyone else’s.

I love this! Your rocket went one third higher than anyone else’s? Because of your innovation?
Yes! We tested and tested and tested… And eventually we created this patented system to get the rocket much, much higher. And the technology – such as it is – probably only cost us a few pennies to incorporate into the design. Did I show you what it was?

Yes! And I couldn’t believe how such a simple idea made such a huge difference… What would you call it? A grommet?
A little rubber O-ring, yes. It improves the seal between the body of the rocket and the tube it’s in. That way, when it blasts off, more air goes into the rocket because it can’t escape through the sides. It’s that simple.

It’s that simple… Which is the genius of it! I love stuff like that!
Thanks, Deej! We’ve been granted a patent for that… We have a little switch that lets you choose whether you want to use ‘Turbo’ to get the extra height or not – because you might not want it going quite that high in the backyard! But I’m glad you asked about it, Deej, because that is quite typical of our thinking. That’s a great example of us looking for a way to put ‘wow’ into a product or a category.

It is – I love it, thank you. And do you sometimes have the idea for the technology first? Or do you always start with the vision of a product?
It’s unusual for us to think of the invention ahead of the wow we’re after… That said, we try not to put up walls and ceilings in our thinking. So we never say, “This is how we do it.” We’re more likely to think of a category first, go into the category, and look at what the brand leaders aren’t doing. But it’s not formulaic, because it can’t be… Who would we be to think that we can always improve on someone else’s products?! Like we’re such geniuses… Ha!

But anyway, we do sometimes find ideas that way… At other times, someone just has an idea for a widget that does this or that, and we ask if there’s a product that it could enhance. Very occasionally, we have the vision of the finished product and say: “We have to do that!” But – again – it comes down to that Wow! Stuff DNA: whatever the idea is, does it make someone say, “Wow!”

Fantastic. Well, this has been terrific, Richard – I’m so pleased we finally finished our dance of the diaries and met up! Let’s do it again.

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