Name: How Mattel’s CEO Is Trying to Change the Company’s Culture
Uploaded: 2017-12-20
Duration: 4 min 53 s
Description: Margo Georgiadis comes to Mattel from Google.

Margo, Mattel has changed its CEO almost every year for the last four years. You are number four. What do you have to do as the new CEO that people have confidence in you and your leadership? So I think the most important thing for a leader is to set a bold vision And really talk openly about the culture that's required and the change that's required to achieve it. And in addition, it's all about really being a deep, deep listener and empathetic about the fact that we really need to evolve this company and take it to a new level But I really need to allow them to openly express their fear of that change and how I help give them the psychological safety to speed up and take smart risks to get that company to the future. Well, I understand that when you became CEO in February, you went traveling around the country and the world and talking to employees. What did you learn from them? Well, what I learned from them is that they are so deeply passionate about this company. They love kids. At the same time I learned a lot about what are some of the opportunities that we can make change at the executive level to shift away, we lead the company, shift away we think about our matrix bouncing by the short term and long term As well as providing more safety nets for people to take risks, experiment, and speed up. So you come back from this listening tour, was there any changes that you made immediately because of what you heard from all the people you talked to? Absolutely, the most important thing I did was I really felt it was really important. To set a clear strategy and culture. And we had a new set of values called the Wonder Values. We talk about inspiring the wonder of childhood. How can we do that for our kids if we can't do it for ourselves? So we have our own Wonder Values, and they start with what if and why not? One team, nimble, driven, entrepreneurial, and respectful. We have to embrace all sorts of new ideas. And creating that concept, and I think particularly the what if was so important to an organization that really wanted to break out and do something incredibly different but sometimes was feeling a little bit stuck in the past. Changing behavior is very difficult, so how are you getting People motivated and inspired and to really believe that what you're saying is worth it And you have to lead from the front, they're gonna look at your behavior and what you do as a leader. If we want to reinvent our products [ UNKNOWN ] a senior team meeting where we took one of the Barbie dream houses and we literally unscrew it, took it apart and we talked about How we'd run a feature driven company? How do we evolve to a more consumer driven company and what would that product look like? What would it feel like? What would we do differently? And I believe that's so important and they can telegraph what the change really means. All of this requires a shifting in the culture. Everybody talks about the importance of culture And you're coming from the Google culture which very fast paced company. And you're coming to a company that's been around since 1945. How do you make the switch? It's true with Google. And I believe in any company that culture is at the root of success for any company. And one of the most important things I needed to do was realign our culture with our vision. And I even lived them myself from day one, which is I got rid of having a big huge fancy office by myself. I shared it with somebody else. I took up all the fancy furniture and I wrote on the wall in giant letters, what if, why not, with a huge Whiteboard that anybody could write on. How's that going so far? I think people are really excited. They see a real change. And when they see change start from the top, they really start to believe it. You add that to the culture, and everyone working as one team on the same strategy at the top, focusing on a really clear set of goals and metrics. And I think you unleash a tremendous amount of creativity. Margo, looking back on your career and your life, to your growing up years, what's the best leadership advice that you've ever received? And how has it stuck with you through all the years? So there's something really simple that my parents said to me really early on. They said, major in people, not professors and always think about those people that are around you who really are going to stretch and challenge you and over the years i really realize at the rule of that was a concept really having a personal board of directors, who are those people that deeply know you personally But also are not just in the fields where you are today, but they might be a couple steps beyond that. And how do you leverage those insights and those perspectives to help you continue to reinvent and stretch yourself? And I've found that to be unbelievably helpful throughout my career. [ BLANK_AUDIO ]

Margo Georgiadis comes to Mattel from Google.