Episode #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.”

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.