33: Gordon Thom Ex-CEO Bodum Japan

Originally from the United Kingdom, Gordon Thom graduated from
the University of Aberdeen and started learning Japanese before
his career started in Japan. Mr Thom is the current Director of
Nobasu Consulting, and shares his fascinating career progression
leading Dyson's growth in the Japanese market and turning
declining businesses around through patience and persistence.


 


When Mr. Thom initially joined Dyson, he was entering a
challenging market that was 99% dominated by Japanese products.
He gradually built up his Dyson Japan team starting in 1998 and
took a “hands-on” approach in selling and promoting the product
by meeting up with potential buyers along with the Japanese Sales
Director. Early on, Dyson’s product was seen as “too big, too
heavy and too noisy,” so Mr. Thom became determined to develop
the right product for the Japanese consumers. He explains: “I
think Japan is a fabulous place to be because the customer is
very demanding, in terms of quality, obviously, reliability,
appearance.” Overtime, Dyson developed a powerful, lightweight
vacuum cleaner with a “No Loss of Suction” tagline and had a
successful nationwide launch. The company’s market share grew
from 0.5% in 2004 to 16% in 2005.


 


Mr. Thom moved on to lead the company’s US branch. Even when
dealing with a much larger scale business with thousands of
stores to distribute to and 100+ employees to manage, Mr. Thom
held on to his “hands-on” sales approach and sold directly to
buyers instead of using distributors. After successfully turning
around declining multinational businesses including Electrolux
and Bodum in Japan, Mr. Thom led the launch of Shark Ninja, a
US-based appliance manufacturer in launching their products in
Japan.


 


On leading in Japan, he advises to ensure whatever product or
service is “right enough” for the Japanese consumer and to hire
good people who can build on it. Mr. Thom further emphasizes that
“people are critical” but “be prepared to take risks” and
understand that “one can only change oneself. And the way to get
people to change is, in a sense, to lead by example and behave
the way you want your people to behave.”