CEO Today - April 2023

bond us together, such as the time we sponsored one of our team’s children, so the entire family could join her at an overseas dance competition she was representing the UK at. Memories like this are worth more than a gym pass or a ping pong table. Lastly, what bindsus together and gives me the most joy, is seeing our projects come together. Watching an idea move from a sketch into a full-steam global IP in terms of toys, books, games, and content, which I know my kids will enjoy, gives me a real sense of delight and accomplishment. I love what I’m doing and think that shows in what we do as a company. You’ve previously held high-level roles at companies such as Mind Candy and NBC Universal. What lessons did you learn from them that you apply to how you run Toikido and is there anything you do wholly differently? Two very different experiences. Mind Candy on reflection was a real rollercoaster but an amazing ride. One key learning from studio – creativity comes from all angles. Our art director Anthony had been a freelance artist for 30 years. Toikido is his first “proper” job but his output (and input) is genius. Four members of the team I worked with previously at Mind Candy - it’s like getting the band together, but this time round, we can just focus on playing the hits and managing ourselves… Jeff, our creative director, has run gaming studios, and as such, has brought many fresh gaming studio principles into the dusty “toy” world – I had never heard of “scrums”, “sprints” and “vision keepers” but agile management methodologies work, and we use them daily at Toikido. Secondly, I want Toikido to not just be a funplace towork, but somewhere our team can really flourish. We don’t have hierarchies; we’re a team and that means working together and supporting each other. As part of that, Toikido as a company will always look to show its support for the team’s hard work in creative ways that large corporates wouldn’t even consider. Little gestures really add up and Moshi that I’ve bedded into Toikido, is that we need to havemore than “one” offering in the mix. Hence at Toikido, we currently have “seven” of our own IP offerings in the works. Also, we always keep in mind our mantra that “Turnover is vanity, profit is sanity”! It’s a sensible yardstick to abide by. Looking back, I’m glad I did the NBC Universal role… I “survived” eight months and scratched my “big corporate” itch, but ultimately it was not for me. Though I did learn a lot about processes and running some big projects like their Minions merch, which was an invaluable experience for launching Toikido. I also met some amazing partners, many that we are now working with. How would you describe your leadership style and how would you say it has changed over the years, if at all? Toikido has a fairly flat structure because our company emphasises a “we’re all in it together” mentality, rather than a hierarchical approach, which can inhibit people from supporting 55 THE DISRUPTORS

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