Hey guys, here is an interview that appeared monday in one of the Business papers in Quebec, I translated it from french to english, its not perfect, but I tought it was pretty interesting. Sorry in advance for typos or sentence structures, was in a hurry a bit.
Business, great interview series, Colin Baden, Oakley CEO
Management in the Chaos:
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He does not have a MBA on his desk. He does not surf or ski. He is an architect.
The question is: How did Colin Baden find himself at the head of Oakley ? In the
Chaos - a state of mind that is characteristic as much as the enterprise as its new CEO.
The casual attitude, a hip style, a certain taste for chaos, Colin Baden, 46 years old,
is an original who does not have anything in common with most business leaders who come
out of the business schools.
An architect by formation who was designing buildings until he got the contract
that changed his life; the house of Jim Jannard, Oakley's founder. <<Jim was interviewing
architects one after the other without ever being satisfied of their work, remembers Colin
Baden. He game me a 1h audition. I drew him a train that was passing trough a pyramid and
told him <<Here, this is your house !>>
Of course, Jim Jannard never got himself built a train or a pyramid on his property, but
Oakley's founder was seduced by the audacity and the creativity of the young associate
from an architecture firm of Seattle. To the point where Colin Baden, who never got to finished
that famous house to the Oakley founder, got another mandate: make the plans for the Oakley
head quarters in Orange County, in California. After 3 years as a consultant, he became head of
design in 1996. 3 years later, he sits in the presidents office, number 2 in the enterprise,
with sales of 996 million dollars US in 2008.
When the CEO Scott Olivet, a veteran of Nike and The Gap, who orchestrated the sale of Oakley to
the Italian conglomerate Luxottica for 2,1 billion, decided to go takle new challenges, Colin
Baden got a promotion. He became CEO in July. <<I dont think to much of the title, I dont think
too much like a CEO he told us>>
He intends to lead the company like he got to the top himself: in the chaos.
<<The more you are on the tracks, the more its difficult to find new ideas he said. I dont want
to change our unique structure that permits us to answer the most important question at Oakley:
What is the next step ? All the enterprise progression is in function of that next step.
We can work on a project and abruptly stop it if we believe another idea has more potential>>
A CEO that likes Chaos- pretty unusual and unique to say the least. He defines himself as an
artist, having inherited that side from his father who was an art teacher at the Victoria
University and the rational side from his grand father architect.
Even if he cultivates his anti-CEO image, Colin Baden, who grew up in the Orcas island in the
state of Washington, 2 hours from Victoria and Canada, uses expressions like <<target clientele),
<<growth possibilities>> and <<emerging markets>> as our conversation goes by.
When you think about it, his business plan is probably less chaotic that he wants you to
believe. The sunglasses are still the best selling product for Oakley (50% of the Canadian income)
but the clothing, shoes and accessories are the most promissing sector ( up 10% in 2009).
<<We still have a lot of work as far as the cloting department is concerned said Colin Baden.
We want quality, but not make training, exercise clothing, Anyway, we will not beat Nike at their own game>>
In between 2 brainstorming sessions, this father of 2 teenagers, sometimes pinch himself when he is
in his office: where are the sunglasses worn by his friend Lance Armstrong at the last
Tour De France. Conclusion: he is not dreaming but he has a dream job. << When I talk to my
University friends, I dont tell them what I do he said, they would only become more frustrated>>
Sunglasses at 4500$:
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In the recent recession, oakley had a funny idea, launch a 4500$ (Canadian) pair of sunglasses.
The Elite C6 model is produce in limited quantity, 250 pairs in the world, 5 in Canada (in sale
starting tomorrow). Each pair fabricated from 80 layers of carbon fibre used on F1 cars, spent
96 hours at the factory. A normal pair of Oakley shades takes about 20 seconds to produce.
<<There is no better material with a weight-resistance ration CEO Colin Baden said>>
So why does Oakley launch such a limited edition at 4500$ in this kind of economy, wich is just
getting itself out of a recession ? To sell another high end model at 795$ (PitBoss),
this time to a larger scale.
Before that, the most expensive Oakley were 400. The first batch of 7000 pairs worldwide instantly
sold out. A second batch is in production right now.
With its new Elite collection, Oakley wants a place in the lucrative high end market, next to the
Ray-Ban, Club Monaco, Chanel, Dolce & Cabana, Prada, Versace and other Luxottica brands.
<<Our retailers are telling us that a lot of clients come to the stores looking to buy the most
expensive pair, no matter the price said CEO Colin Baden.
5 things to know about Oakley:
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-Oakley is the name of of one of the dog of Oakley's founder, Jim Jannard. The other one was
named Shady.
-Oakley sold 4.5 million pairs of sunglasses last year, the company has about 60 different
styles of sunglasses. (half of them based on the Gascan, hahaha just kidding.)
-Oakley revenues for 2008 were 996 million dollars, 60 millions wich are in Canada.
-Oakley was bought out at the height of the fusions-acquisitions in 2007 by the Italian company
Luxottica for 2,1 billion dollars.
-Oakley sponsors 1500 athletes in the world.
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