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Build-A-Bear Founder On The Secret To Success: Big Dreams And An Even Bigger Heart

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It’s never too late to do what you love. At the age of 48, Maxine Clark, then president of Payless ShoeSource, had lost the spark—the passion—for her job. Although she was doing well financially, “I realized that money alone didn’t buy happiness if you weren’t doing what you were really passionate about.” Clark dreamed of reinvigorating the category that she loved—retail—but she didn’t know what form the dream would take. A trip to the shopping mall changed everything.

One afternoon Clark had taken her friend's daughter, Katie, to shop for Beanie Babies. The 10-year-old turned to Clark and said, “These are so simple. We can make these.” That was the spark Clark needed. She envisioned a store where children would actually make their own stuffed bears.

Clark withdrew money from her retirement account, opened a line of credit using her home as collateral, and nine months after the experience with Katie opened the first Build-A-Bear Workshop in the Saint Louis Galleria in St. Louis, Missouri. The year was 1997 and today Build-A-Bear Workshop operates more than 400 stores worldwide. Over 140 million ‘furry friends’ are in the hands of children around the world. Clark retired as CEO two years ago, but she still serves on the board of directors and lends her expertise to helping entrepreneurs (especially women and minorities) achieve their dreams.

In a wide-ranging discussion, Clark and I talked about customer service, entrepreneurship, and the most important quality that successful people share—a passion for their work. “There’s no rush to create a business you’re not passionate about just to be rich. It will not work in the long run,” Clark advises young entrepreneurs. “The heart is what’s going to drive you.”

Following her heart played such a key role in Maxine Clark’s success she made ‘the heart’ an iconic part of the Build-A-Bear experience. If you’ve taken kids to a Build-A-Bear Workshop, then you know that one of the most memorable steps of the experience is when they choose a plush heart for their bear or animal, make a wish, and put it inside the bear as its being stuffed. It’s an iconic part of the experience and it’s a metaphor for how Clark built her career. “I believe you have to pour your heart into whatever you do to make your company successful,” says Clark.

Clark, like other successful leaders who have pursued ideas they’re passionate about, faced the naysayers early and often. Her passionate commitment to creating a unique retail experience kept her from being discouraged.

“Did people say your idea was crazy?” I asked Clark.

“Yes. A lot of adults told me it would never work. They would say, ‘Why would anyone want to build their own stuffed animal when they can buy one?’ But no kid said it was a terrible idea. In fact, they had ideas of what they wanted to build…To me it’s more than the profits or sales, it’s the smiles we create and the memories you have with your children and the memories your children will have with their children someday. There’s no ROI on that.”

Today Clark mentors entrepreneurs. And when she speaks to high school and college students, she urges them to turn their passions into ideas for businesses. “I ask students, ‘What would you rather be doing right now?’ They usually have something they love to do. Whether it’s guitar, science, math, gardening, I don’t care what it is. Help them find a dream in that passion and they will have so much more success in their life. They will be rich in their heart and rich in their pocketbook. And we, as consumers of their product and services, will know it, sense it, feel it and we’ll be driven to be their loyal customers.”

Maxine Clark and other visionary leaders of her generation grew up at a time when the impossible seemed possible.  The first heart transplant, the introduction of color television, the polio vaccine, the Civil Rights Act, the opening of Walt Disney World, and the moon landing, all stand out in Clark’s memory. Clark says that the world of possibility she grew up in convinced her that the only limitations are the ones we place on ourselves. “Not dreaming big enough is one of the biggest mistakes entrepreneurs make ,” Clark says.

Clark reminded me that ‘thinking big’ may include inventing a product, but more often it means reinventing an existing product or service.  Walt Disney didn’t invent theme parks. Richard Branson didn’t invent airplanes. Steve Jobs didn’t invent computers, Howard Schultz didn’t invent coffee, and Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick didn’t invent the car service. Instead they reinvented the way consumers experience products and services. Clark didn’t invent the teddy bear, but reimagined the way children experienced the product. That’s thinking big.

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