What brought me to San Francisco? What started my fascination with gadgets? What seduced me into the perfect marriage of traditional retailing and online business? What put me on the forefront of e-commerce? It's many things, sure, but it comes down to one man.Richard Thalheimer.
If you have not yet heard, Richard, the founder and CEO of The Sharper Image, was ousted this week, after a serious decline in the company's fortunes. He remains on the board, but the company he has been, and always will be identified with, is no longer his to run. This happened earlier this week, and yes, I knew the minute it happened. You would have had to be blind, deaf and dumb not to know it was coming. I've been busy, sure, but I also was thinking about how I felt about it, before I wrote it. It's complicated. So, bear with me.
If you don’t know, I spent a decade working for TSI. I started at the bottom rung, literally: a stock boy, in a retail store in Boston, in the 1980's. Sharper Image was at the peak of the zeitgeist: the perfect example of a company focused on the very expression of the consumerism of the Reagan Era. Even years before that, just as Richard started the company, I was literally one of the first customers: in the late 1970's, when the company started, it was just an ad for a watch, followed by a direct marketing piece. One was for a sound-activated light switch; I scraped together my money, and purchased one, even before I could even understand wiring. It was the zeal for the cutting edge gadget the founder exuded in the copy: I was hooked.
Richard had taken the direct marketing mailers, and turned them into a catalog that no one had ever seen: glossy, sexy, and lustful. It was gadget porn. Remember, there was no Internet, no ubiquitous e-commerce. Catalogs were the slow version, and he mastered the art. When he opened stores, they were not stores: they were events. Years later, when I started in the store, it was a genuine phenomenon. People waited in line to get in, from the time the doors opened, and frequently demanded the store stay open after it was supposed to close. Richard introduced a new approach to retail for high-end gadgets: he insisted the products could be touched, used, fondled. It was expensive, but it was unprecedented, and products soared off the shelves.
He knew exactly what would motivate the consumer to spend ungodly amounts of money to purchase the gadgets, and it became the model of modern gadget commerce. Back then, the only electronics and gadgets were in the special sections of the department stores, carefully guarded by aggressive salespeople who would never let you near the product. Richard was said to model the stores after a famous San Francisco attraction, the Exploratorium, and that's exactly what they became. He hired great people (and not so great ones) to help expand the vision, and there was no better place to be.
Years later, after I had ascended to run the store that I started as a stock boy, I saw the nascent Web, and I knew TSI had to be on the forefront. I also knew there was only one way to make it happen: Richard. You have to understand, running a great store is one thing, and I had met Richard a few times on store visits or trips to the corporate offices, but Richard was…Richard. A combination of visionary, royalty, and distracted god. Sure, he could appear comically on another plane of existence at times, but there was no denying the brilliance. And when it hit…man, you just marveled.
I spent months perfecting my pitch. I ran it through key people in the company, to get their feedback. Finally, on a trip to San Francisco, I pitched Richard, then Craig Womack (the then-president) at early breakfasts. To my chagrin, Richard appeared to politely hear me out briefly, then had me talk with Craig repeatedly. Craig assured me the idea was sound, but it would be years. And when they were ready, they'd call on me. I went back to Boston, thought about it, and decided I was going to be in the right place at the right time, and I decided to move to San Francisco for that time to come.
Two months later, I was running my other dream store, in Ghirardelli Square. Sure, it had so much less volume than my old store, but it had that same sense of amazement that brought me to TSI: the tourists streamed in and out, looking at all the great stuff, posing for pictures by the famous neon sign (and the Predator sculpture), and I settled in for what I expected to be a couple more years. I focused on transitioning to living in San Francisco, moving Amy out here, and getting ready for another great Holiday season, with a great staff.It was early December. The store was not yet open, and we were spending time cleaning and getting the store ready. There was a rattle of the front doors, and I paid no attention; early tourists always were looking to see if we were open. Another insistent rattling, and I looked up, annoyed.
It was Richard.
I was paralyzed. See, Richard didn't visit this store. Anyone who actually lives in San Francisco never goes to Ghirardelli, unless you had out of town folks visiting. Hell, the corporate offices were only about a mile away, and we never saw anyone. And yet there was Richard, on a foggy December morning, on the front stoop of the store. I recovered, opened the doors and he came in, genial as he could be. He made some small talk, asked if I was still interested in the "web." I told him I was. He smiled, that photogenic catalog inside-cover smile, and asked if I would come by the offices, the next day. And with my agreement to, he waved, looked around, and departed.
The CEO of a major public company, the man who had really started the gadget craze, and a critical force in retail and direct marketing, just stopped by to talk to me. It…just…doesn't…happen. But it did.
Well, the rest, as they say, is history. I took over the "alternative media" efforts of TSI, and was Forrest Gump-like in the right place, right time. I worked for many people, but Richard and I would strategize on the efforts, at least weekly. Many of his ideas were, to me, out there. But over time, many of his off-the-wall ideas turned out to be prescient. One of my proudest moments was walking from the office to the Yerba Buena Center, to a Steve Jobs keynote for NeXT, with Richard and Sydney Klevatt, as Richard chatted me up about some of the projects we were working on. At that moment, I was smiling: the man who I had been inspired to buy a light switch from as a kid was now consulting with me on what I thought.
Richard can be a challenging one to work with. "Mercurial" is his personal trademark: one day, he could be showering you with praise and glowing admiration; within 24 hours, he's telling you what a disappointment you are, complete with derisive comments. It was always tough not to take him personally, especially with my history. When ex-TSI folks get together, especially ones who have spent much time with Richard, Amy says it's like a survival group: we all share endless tales of astonishment at Richard's antics, and how they affected us. The urban-legend status stories of his feelings and actions towards half-finished coffees, the amusing faux pas', and the laughs on the products and their strange names…it goes on and on. I will say that, overall, he always stayed focused on doing what he did best: looking for the next cool things, and focusing on growing the company, and you cannot ask for better from a CEO.
When I had the opportunity to join a truly exciting new company at the beginning of the dotcom era, it was absolutely the hardest professional thing I ever did to have to go into Richard's office (his sanctum sanctorum) and, with just the two of us there, tell him the time had come for me to move on. You never got the sense that Richard was really on the same plane of existence with you; he was always two or three moves ahead. And yet, just for that one meeting, he seemed genuinely focused on me. He surprised me by remembering my history with the company, and key events we had shared, and I once again was amazed that he was never quite what he seemed. We parted professionally, and, when I found occasion to be back in the office for business or personal reasons, and he saw me, it was always a warm reception.
No magician can keep the tricks coming forever, and Richard is no exception. He pulled the company out of the fire many times before, either with great hit products (motorized tie racks, sound soothers, Ionizers), or business changes with the help of his team (new merchandising strategies, new catalog types, moving into soft-goods during the recession). This one seemed so different: the company's fortunes rose so high on a one-trick pony, and fell just as hard when the tide turned. I really had hoped that Richard would have taken himself out of the company a few years ago, going out on top. I should have known better; that's simply not in his nature. The company continued to suffer, and the inevitable was coming, but he could not do it. And now he has paid the price.
I still have lots of friends at TSI. Many have stayed longer than I ever imagined; many have left and come back, years later. There is something about the cult of Richard that did it. He makes that call to you, or drops by to chat, and the next thing you know…you’re as hooked as a young boy scraping together his money for that amazing new gadget in the 3 page mailer. I was recently asked by someone who was thinking of working there if they should take the job over another one from a much larger retail company. I told them to take the other job, citing the instability of the company and that, in reality, nothing would change if Richard was still there. My friend took the job at TSI. No explaining the appeal; believe me, I understand.
I can only say that I wish the very best for TSI, but they have some hard times ahead. Times have changed, and the magic formula that made TSI works about as well as the Oakland Raiders' approach to modern-day football. And, as coach after coach has paid the price for the Raiders' refusing to change with the times, still looking for that long pass down the field, TSI has had their first major change. Let's hope it's a change for the best.
Richard, congrats on an unprecedented great run. You inspired, literally, millions of people with you drive, products, and ambition. Those that worked with you will always have tales, sometimes admiring, sometimes salacious…but always with respect. My thanks to you, and my best wishes on your next efforts…you know there will be one!
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