Creating a Risk-Taking Culture of Humor: A Podcast Chat with Betabrand’s Chris Lindland
New Ideas, Nonstop
Yesterday, I got to have my second chat with one of my favorite podcast guests, Chris Lindland. The CEO of Betabrand, Chris has brought innovation, humor and a risk-taking culture to the company. And that has paid dividends. In less than two years’ time, Chris transformed this “clothing meets Kickstarter” startup from a predominantly menswear company to one where women’s workwear (pants!) rules the day. Imagine a campaign where the models are women with PhDs?
How does Chris and his team do it? They take lots of risks. They bring over 400 products to market each year and 40% fail. That actually beats the category average. From product ideas to novel marketing approaches filled with humor, Chris has built a risk-taking culture that is reaping returns. I met Chris two years ago when we were both speakers at FunnyBizz Conference. And in this podcast, he tells me Betabrand does and offers some great lessons about finding ideas, empowering employees and being willing to fail.
Chris even calls me out for using jargon “fail fast” so I have to rephrase. I love that. Those are the podcast rules.
