Heroes in Business - Robert Pasin CEO Radio Flyer is interviewed by David Cogan of Eliances

Episode Date: December 27, 2024

Robert Pasin CEO Radio Flyer is interviewed by David Cogan of Eliances Heroes show amfm, iHeart radio. Pasin is the Chief Wagon Officer who promotes a fun work environment and brings pre-launch ride on toys home regularly to see how kids interact with them. Innovation is key to staying current as the oldest wagon manufacturer in America and most loved. Cogan talks with Pasin about being born into the familly with a silver wagon handle as Pasin is the grandson of the Radio Flyer founder an Italian immigrant.

Welcome back to Alliances Heroes, where heroes in business align. To be part of our super community and find out more about Alliances, visit www.alliances.com. Now, back to our super host, David Kogan, founder of Alliances. Unbelievable. We just had the chief editor of Entrepreneur Magazine on. In our office, we had the founder of Lawyer.com, who also created a billion-dollar company, Mail.com. Later on, we're going to have the co-founder of Jackson Hewitt, also the founder of Liberty Tax Services. But let me talk to you about our next hero. You see, life and your job should be fun. And our next hero demonstrates that as he is the CWO.

You may not have heard what CWO is. That's Chief Wagon Officer. You see, he heads a company that was started by his grandfather over a hundred years ago. And our hero is Robert Payson. He is the chief wagon officer for the iconic brand Radio Flyer. And you could reach him at radioflyer.com. Now, Robert, when you were young, RadioFlyer.com. Now, Robert, when you were young, did you ever think that you would take over your grandfather's business and grow it? Well, you know, when I first really got interested in the company and the brand was when I was in sixth grade, and my social studies teacher gave us an assignment to write something interesting about the history of Chicago. So when I went home and asked my mom what I should do the paper on, she said, well, why don't you do it on what your grandfather did at the Chicago World's Fair? And being only,

you know, 11 years old, I really didn't have that much awareness of what my grandfather had done. And through the process of writing this report, I learned about his story, which is this wonderful immigrant story where my grandfather came from this small town in northern Italy. He had no money, but he had a skill. He was a cabinet maker. And he came to Chicago at the young age of 16 and started making wagons out of wood. And that's really what got the company going. And at the World's Fair in Chicago, he built this giant 45-foot tall boy on a wagon where he introduced Radio Flyer to the world. And everyone always asks me, why did he name it Radio Flyer? And it's because radio was the cool high-tech invention of the time, and Lindbergh

had just crossed the Atlantic. So the two words, Radio Flyer, were just super exciting, high-tech, futuristic words that he put on his product. Unbelievable. And I mean, everybody's seen the little red wagon. I've got one in my garage. So does our producer, Glue. I mean, it's just, it's incredible. What, how did you know, though, at the point that you were going to go work and work for the company? Yeah, well, I mean, I, you know, I fell in love with my grandfather's story, and I really fell in love with what Radio Flyer means to people when I was growing up. And, you know, anytime you say Radio Flyer to someone, the first thing they do is smile,

and the second thing they do is tell a story. And there are always these wonderful stories about childhood, about playing outside, about using their imagination, about being with people they love. So, you know, I felt like that was such a special thing and that Radio Flyer holds such a special place in people's hearts that I definitely wanted to be part of it. So in college and then growing up, I worked in the company and during summers and started to learn more about the business. And I was hooked. Now, Robert, you're the CEO of Radio Flyer. Can I come work for you? Why? Well, because your company has been recognized as the best place to work and as the Wall Street Journal quotes, top small place

to work. I hear you have special names for your employees. What are they called and how many are there? Yeah, well, we call our employees flyers, of course, and we've got about 100 employees. And we are, we're really proud of the fact that we have a wonderful, creative, passionate, committed team. Recently, we were named the number one best workplace by Fortune Magazine. So we were number one for the smaller companies and Google was number one for the big companies. And I think it's just because of the quality of the people we have here is what makes it such a great place to work. And you've also, too, personally been recognized as Entrepreneur of the Year and 40 Under 40 by Crane Chicago Business.

I can't believe, too, from our research that you run marathons, such as the Boston Marathon. You've even done, what, ultra marathons? Is that right? Is it, what, 50-plus miles? Yeah, I did one of those, a 150-miler. I think that one was enough. But, yeah, running is one of the ways that I try to stay fit and try to

stay sane. And it's something that I really, really love to do. Okay. Do you think about work while you're running? Yes, I do. Often I'll be at work during a meeting and say, hey, when I was running on my run today, I thought of this. And then everybody kind of braces themselves. Oh, here comes a crazy idea. Gosh, that's great. And you're listening to Alliance's Heroes. Be a hero. Go to where entrepreneurs align and be part of the community. That's alliances.com, E-L-I-A-N-C-E-S.com.

And we have the CEO of Radio Flyer, Robert Payson, and you're listening to David Kogan, the host. Unbelievable. I'll tell you, the only constant in the world is change. And I know that consumers today seem to be glued to their screens. How do you think with Radio Flyer, what have they done to change this since the days of the little red wagon? And how do you stay abreast of everything going on? Yeah, that's a great question. I mean, I think one of the things that we do really well is stay very close to consumers. And so our product development team and our marketing team, we spend a ton of time with

consumers, a lot of time with moms and little kids. And we have mom panels that we ask feedback from. We also spend a lot of time actually out in the field, so in people's backyards, in their driveways with them, observing how the kids are riding the products, looking for ways to improve their ergonomics or make them more convenient. And even though we're in very basic products, I mean, we focus on anything kids can ride on, so wagons, tricycles, scooters. products. I mean, we focus on anything kids can ride on. So wagons, tricycles, scooters. We have lots of products that have patented innovations that just improve the product a little bit, maybe make it more convenient, maybe it's easier to fold up. And I think the most exciting new product we have is our Tesla Model S for kids. So we partnered with Tesla to create a battery-operated car. So it's a real Model S, but for kids 3 to 8 years old.

And there's tons of innovations in it that have never been done before. It's got flight-speed lithium-ion batteries that charge faster and hold their charge longer. You can customize the car online. You can pick the color. You can put your name on the license plate. And it's just been a huge success. If you ever need anyone to test your products, let me know because we've got a lot. In fact, I'll send my kids out there and stuff like that to test it.

They would love it. I'd be the hero for them. Now, speaking of kids, you've got four children, and my son wanted me to ask when he found out that you were going to be here and stuff, is how many Ziggles and scooters do you have? Do you have any at your home? We do. We have a ton. I have always had a garage full of ride-ons and not just Radio Fire products, but our competitors too. And I bring a lot of products home. My youngest child is eight years old now though, so my kids are starting to age out of our products.

But for many, many years, you know, at our annual block party, I would usually have a couple prototypes that our product development team was working on and get tons of kids riding them and see, you know, do they love it? Do they stay on it? So we definitely have a lot of fun with that. So much fun. You were the student body president, too, at University of Notre Dame. I mean, man, you've really done your homework. Well, you know, that's part of it. Absolutely. And now you sit on other organizations, fun things like the Museum of Science and Industry. I mean, that is absolutely the best. Frank Lloyd Wright Trust and so many more. What do you, though,

hope for your four children and perhaps all children can learn from your experience to take without them into the world? Well, you know, I mean, I was born, I was very blessed and lucky to be born into the family I was born into. I mean, one of the, when I present my story to new employees here, one of the things I joke around about is that I wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth, but I was born with the silver wagon handle in my mouth. So, you know, I have, we have a huge amount of gratitude for the fact that Radio Flyer is our family business. And we always remember that our beginnings were very, very humble. And my parents always taught me that to whom much is given, much is expected. And that's, and my parents always taught me that to whom much is given, much is expected, and

my parents never preached that to me. They just really lived their lives that way by example, and that's something that I hope to pass on to my children as well. Well, I got to tell you, Robert, you employ others, flyers that is. You make it fun. Your company brings joy to children and families and is the go-to brand for ride-on toys. Let us all know when we can come over to your house and play. Robert Payson, CWO for Radio Flyer, the American toy company. You can reach him at RadioFlyer.com

or, of course, Alliances.com. We'll have his information. Thank you again, David Kogan.