Uploaded December 2024 | Updated September 2026, 3 days ago
If only the toy business was child's play. Instead, it's one of the most unforgiving of industries. Even if you're Mattel, a well known company that delights children with toys everybody knows, among them Barbie, Hot Wheels and American Girl.
And yet, when Ynon Kreiz took over as CEO in 2018 as the company's fourth CEO in four years, the 80-year-old company wasn't doing very well. But Kreiz was already on the board, a perch which gave him enough exposure to Mattel's problems for him to reach a game-changing conclusion: Customers don't just buy this toy or that. They're not even customers. They're fans. They're … an audience.
In this edition of This is Working, Kreiz talks about how the Barbie movie, directed by Greta Gerwig, came together, how he hires, fires and reassigns, and his three chief management principles.
To keep up with these conversations and be inspired by the world’s top leaders, subscribe to This is Working:bit.ly/ThisIsWorkingNewsletterSubs
00:00 - Introduction
01:09 - What made you think this is the right opportunity for you?
02:24 - Was there any part of you that said, I've got a lot of other opportunities I could go after?
03:53 - How do you find the right people, the right talent within your company?
06:46 - How do you make sure that a mission and purpose become part of the culture?
08:07 - How involved were you in the process of the Barbie movie?
11:56 - What's the career advice you give to someone who wants to work in Mattel one day and work their way up?
13:21 - Conclusion
#linkedinnews #thisisworking #mattel #barbie
If only the toy business was child's play. Instead, it's one of the most unforgiving of industries. Even if you're Mattel, a well known company that delights children with toys everybody knows, among them Barbie, Hot Wheels and American Girl.
And yet, when Ynon Kreiz took over as CEO in 2018 as the company's fourth CEO in four years, the 80-year-old company wasn't doing very well. But Kreiz was already on the board, a perch which gave him enough exposure to Mattel's problems for him to reach a game-changing conclusion: Customers don't just buy this toy or that. They're not even customers. They're fans. They're … an audience.
In this edition of This is Working, Kreiz talks about how the Barbie movie, directed by Greta Gerwig, came together, how he hires, fires and reassigns, and his three chief management principles.
To keep up with these conversations and be inspired by the world’s top leaders, subscribe to This is Working:bit.ly/ThisIsWorkingNewsletterSubs
00:00 - Introduction
01:09 - What made you think this is the right opportunity for you?
02:24 - Was there any part of you that said, I've got a lot of other opportunities I could go after?
03:53 - How do you find the right people, the right talent within your company?
06:46 - How do you make sure that a mission and purpose become part of the culture?
08:07 - How involved were you in the process of the Barbie movie?
11:56 - What's the career advice you give to someone who wants to work in Mattel one day and work their way up?
13:21 - Conclusion
#linkedinnews #thisisworking #mattel #barbie
