We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Peggy Brown a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Peggy, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?
Setting the way-back machine to the elementary school playground, it was fulla bullies. I remember one day in maybe third grade, coming home crushed over being harassed by somebody at school. My mom said, “just ignore ’em.” I thought, hmm. Okay. And that was that. Turned out that sound advice has been remarkably disarming and has served me well over time. There is almost always somebody or something impeding the path forward, and there’s almost always a way to get through.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I am a creative in many different aspects, but professionally I’m best known as an inventor. I’ve always been interested in consumer product design and while I’ve planted squarely in the game and toy industry, I dabble in housewares and publishing, and whatever else captures my attention. My background in industrial design has served me well over years of constant problem-solving and spinning blue sky into saleable goods. Earlier in my career, I spent a few years inside other people’s companies, running the product development and creative departments, but most of my working life I have owned my own businesses, making products for game and toy companies all over the world.
There are aspects of my work that are wisps of thin air, but more often I’m looking for opportunities within my customers’ product lines and marketing plans… searching for new turf where a clever idea can become an evergreen seller. While it’s fun to create random things, I think it’s maybe even more fun to find little slivers of space in the marketplace where I can tuck some new item loaded with fresh whimsy.
Beyond working in a fun-centric business, the global toy industry is a tight-knit community where your competitors are also your friends. I’ve been lucky to make friends all over the world with weirdos like me who are passionate about engineering play for kids and families. I don’t think there are many other industries where there is such a camaraderie. The earlier generation pulled me along, and I try to help foster the next. The kinds of products are more sophisticated these days, but the machine of the business for inventors remains much the same as it’s been for decades. It’s all about relationships, and it still feels good to be a part of a community that is so generous and welcoming.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Curiosity. Persistence. Patience.
Curiosity is bedrock – you have to want to know how things work, what materials exist, what manufacturing processes are appropriate and cost effective, what the market will bear. You have to wonder what makes a kid focus, what brings families together, and what makes them happy.
Persistence is key because this all sounds like sunshine and lollipops, but it’s a cutthroat high-stakes business with billions of dollars at stake. You basically have to convince billionaires to invest millions in your ideas. It’s not for the faint of heart.
Patience is the only way you will be able to manage the years it takes to get even one product to market. This is a very long game, with nothing but long shots and long lead times. Every invention is like a baby turtle trying to make it to the ocean. For a million different reasons and because of a million obstacles, very few of them ever see the water.
Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?
The China tariffs have caused quite a bit of destruction of late, and it’s been horrible watching so many of my colleagues suffer for no real reason. Companies are going broke daily, people are losing their jobs. In this moment, I have decided to pivot and work on projects I’ve stuck on the back burner. They’re like visiting old friends, and are a welcome distraction from watching it all roil… well, as much as distraction as possible. Going back to the bedrock of curiosity, it’s lovely to be able to get lost in a project, lose track of time, make the world go away. Curiosity is my happy place.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.peggybrown.com
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