RedBalloon
Founder,
Naomi Simson Interview
RedBalloon, Founding Director, Naomi Simson, discusses all things Women in Business with Maryanne Ullman.
Leaving behind a successful corporate marketing career and with a clear vision to change gifting forever, Naomi Simson founded RedBalloon in 2001.
Originally operating out of a small home office with little more than a second hand computer, RedBalloon has grown extraordinarily fast, attracting many awards since its inception and is now one of Australia and New Zealand's most successful online businesses.
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Naomi Simson's Influences & Inspirations
Maryanne Ullman: Which female figures inspired you as a young woman?
Naomi Simson: There were not a lot of female figures to look up to when I was a child, however, my mother always worked and my grandmother before her. Both of them were career women. I know that mum was quite alone in that.
She was a systems analyst and worked on the first computer in Australia and she worked in a very male oriented world. But, she would get dressed up in fabulous suits and go off to work and I would think, “Ooh that looks fun.”
Maryanne Ullman: Would you describe yourself as an academically gifted student at school or, like many entrepreneurs, did you excel later?
Naomi Simson: No, my sister is very clever, but I was never as good as my sister. And I was also never sporty. I was never picked for any of the teams. I was very average. A middle of the road kid. I used to paint, so I did things on my own.
Maryanne Ullman: Do you still paint?
Naomi Simson: Yes, I do. (In fact, many of Naomi's paintings gracefully adorn the walls of the RedBalloon Pyrmont office. -ed.)
Gender – Women in Business – C21 Feminism
Maryanne Ullman: The article that inspired us to arrange this interview was actually a BRW interview with you. In it you talked about how you attended a dinner party for prominent Australian IT Business Leaders and their wives and felt a little disappointed that these women were not taking advantage of their own education and talents.
Do you think contemporary Australian women may perhaps be under-ambitious?
Naomi Simson: Look, it doesn’t matter what age you are, when you have your first child you are very keen to get back to work and normality and childcare is affordable. But, as soon as you have your second child, child care is expensive, and juggling and fiddling and whatever you have to do be a parent is really, really hard.
You know, it’s hard to work in a company with office politics and carry on when you have two beautiful children at home.
It's a shame that so many of our highly educated women find it so hard to get back into the workforce and organisations need to make it easier.
This was one of the main motivations for starting RedBalloon. I wanted a better work/life balance so that I had the time to cherish my own children, and this is a legacy that continues at RedBalloon to this day.
People make choices on so many different levels. But, I do think it is sad and harder for women to engage in the workforce in a way that is stimulating to them.
My argument is really, really trying to keep your hand in whatever your profession is by doing part-time work in that field so when you’re ready you can go full-time again. To be a full-time employee and manage two kids you’ve got to have a lot of support. And I’m only talking two kids, not four or five. You’ve got to have support. That’s why I chose to work from home. I have a supportive husband. That’s why I chose to work from home, so I could have it all.
Maryanne Ullman: Feminism has obviously always been a highly politicized area or concept. Bearing that in mind do you see yourself as or call yourself a ‘feminist’.
Naomi Simson: I think the word feminism is completely divisive. There’s not one bloke I know who thinks a woman should stay home and watch the kids. But I also don’t know any blokes with any clearer answers.
It’s completely politically incorrect to be overtly sexist and I don’t see that much of it anymore. I don’t think of it as a women’s issue, I think of it as a community issue.
Women in Business ... With a Family
Maryanne Ullman: Outwardly you actually seem to have it all - family and a successful business. What’s your formula?
Naomi Simson: The point is we make choices everyday. It’s about being truly present in the moment with whomever you are with. I am happy, very happy. I’ve got nothing to complain about. I have two healthy kids.
Maryanne Ullman: How do you balance it?
Naomi Simson: I don’t balance anything. I just do what I want to do. I’m unbelievably focused and myopic. That’s why I don’t have an operational role at Red Balloon. I’m completely focused and that’s not necessarily the best thing.
I’m a great leader, but not a good manager. I can unite everybody to a single purpose whereas a manager nurtures individuals for the good of the whole. I’m kind of impatient. Don’t come to me and say you’ve got a brand new puppy at home and you have to stay home and babysit for a week. That’s why we have a manager that gives a damn because I probably don’t.
Maryanne Ullman: How do you define success?
Naomi Simson: By the number of times I belly laugh in a day. It’s such a nebulous thing, success. People say, “What’s it like to be successful?” Success is when you fulfil a purpose. Many people start a business because they effectively want a job to have an income. They don’t want to grow something or change something. That’s absolutely valid. Therefore, they are successful. We can’t equate success to revenue.
Maryanne Ullman: Why do you feel that consistency is so important for a leader?
Naomi Simson: In a place that is driven by growth and lots of change there are some underlying things that will never change. Our sense of purpose. Our values. A consistent approach to both of those things gives us a strength and rhythm to keep moving forward.
There have to be mechanisms in place to support consistency. One can’t rush to the urgent for the sake of the important. We need to work on the important things.
Maryanne Ullman: I read that one of the reasons you decided to have your own business was to give you greater flexibility to accommodate family life relative to work. So… how many hours did you work at start up? And how many hours are you doing these days?
Naomi Simson: I didn’t do anything else. I can’t tell the difference between work and not work.
Maryanne Ullman: What are your ideas on child rearing? You’ve mentioned how important it is to be present and enjoy it, any other thoughts?
Naomi Simson: I think one of the greatest challenges is how we treat our children responsibility and respect when they have everything available to them. I remember once I was asked to buy something and I said, “Dear, that is quite expensive.” And he said, “Well, you can afford it.” So, how do we teach children the value of things? And that they must be responsible for themselves.
Maryanne Ullman: How do you do it?
Naomi Simson: We’ve had some structures in our family life like a Sunday night family meeting which had an agenda and we would rotate the chair. We’d talk through what was great during the week and what was not great. Every kid had a voice.
I can’t make my children’s choices for them. I can only set their parameters and what we stand for. They are going to make their own choices.
Image, Beauty & Health and Women in Business
Maryanne Ullman: I’m in the Beauty and Wellness Business here in Sydney and I work with many high profile women on both their health and beauty needs. I am curious about your beliefs around ‘image’ and what it might mean for the empowerment of women in business.
Naomi Simson: Well, I’d rather be getting around in an old track suit, quite frankly. It’s far more comfortable. But, we don’t dress for ourselves. We dress for others. I don’t actually have to look at myself. Somebody else does that. Taking care of one’s self is actually a gift to others.
Maryanne Ullman: That’s more of a European idea than an Australian one.
Naomi Simson: I do dress for others and I dress for the brand because I am the representative for this organization. How anybody here talks, Tweets or dresses, it all impacts on people’s recognition of the Red Balloon brand and its employees. It’s all part of the brand experience.
I don’t have a clothing stylist but I will tell you how it works. I walk into a store, I look around, is there anything red? No, I get out of there. If there is something red I have a look at it. I have a very straight style.
Maryanne Ullman: What do you think about medical interventions in the beauty context such as Botox, Cosmetic Surgery and so on?
Naomi Simson: I intend to grow old gracefully. I’m proud of these wrinkles. I’ve worked really hard for them. The grey hairs. I would like to go completely white all of a sudden instead of little bit by little bit. But it’s just not my thing. I have a teenage daughter and I want to be a role model for her too about what is beauty. Beauty comes from inside. What you contribute to others. Your gratitude.
I am having my teeth fixed but that’s not cosmetic that’s because my jaw is out of alignment and I’m getting headaches. And I think that is different. There are things you might need to do structurally. But, everyone is different. I am very satisfied with who I am and what I was given and I’ve made the most of it.
Maryanne Ullman: Do you think that’ll stay the same as you age “gracefully”?
Naomi Simson: I don’t know. Happiness comes from within. I don’t know that anything about my appearance is going to change that.
Maryanne Ullman: Do you have a beauty regime?
Naomi Simson: No. (Laughing) I do have my hair done every week but I don’t do anything for my skin. It’s only because I’m in the public eye and I can’t be stuffed trying to do it myself because I’m lazy. And it takes how many minutes? 12? It takes 12 minutes to have my hair done every week. And the hairdresser is not allowed any more than 12 minutes or I’ll walk out.
Maryanne Ullman: And what about health. What’s your health regime like these days?
Naomi Simson: You are what you eat. I do yoga. I see a naturopath regularly. I take fish oil. We have to look after for ourselves. I know that if I drink alcohol and coffee and eat chocolate I know that I won’t sleep properly. Sleep is important to me.
Red Balloon CEO on HR
RedBalloon was nominated by BRW as being in the top ten Best Places to Work in Australia. And as an employer RedBalloon was accredited in 2009 as one of the best places to work.
Maryanne Ullman: You have been quoted as saying “we keep investing in our people and making sure that we know what makes them tick. To be effective, recognition should be positive, immediate, presented in the employee’s work environment among peers, it acknowledges specific behaviours, and it comes from the top down or from peers.”
Do you find that verbal recognition, from management, is all that is necessary to achieve your work place success with staff? Or do you have any other incentives for staff that help you to stand out as an ideal employer?
Naomi Simson: What staff? We don’t have any staff. I’ve got fabulous employees. At Red Balloon we never refer to anyone as staff. “Hey, staff, come in here!”
Maryanne Ullman: What is wrong with “staff”?
Naomi Simson: It’s just kind of a subservient term. “I just do what I’m told.” Everybody is an individual at RedBalloon.
Maryanne Ullman: What about incentives?
Naomi Simson: I also do not use the word incentives. It implies carrot and stick. It doesn’t inspire long term behavioural change. Incentive is not a word we use at Red Balloon. You can do something short term with incentives but not long term. If you provide a short term sales incentive they can go out and do that but when the next time comes they ask where the incentive is. You’re teaching behaviour. That’s not what we are about.
We invest greatly in 5 areas of well-being. The first is about people connection. That people are part of something, the purpose, our values. Secondly, we invest in people’s learning and growth. Thirdly, we invest in their health. Everything from joining the Global Corporate Challenge, to health checks, we have people come in and talk about food, yoga classes, and a whole world of programs.
The fourth is we know our people. We even know their dog’s name. We know their aspirations in life, why they work here and we recognize what they are worth.
The fifth one is about giving. We thank people generously, that's a given. And we have a volunteering program so people can give their time to the community.
So, incentive is such a naive statement when we talk about people’s well-being. Our job is to make sure everyone has an amazing journey while they are at RedBalloon. We’re not their destination; we’re part of their journey. If we look after their well being what they give back to us is an unbelievable connection.
Work is such a big part of people’s life, we spend more time here at work than we do with our partners, so we better make sure it’s going to be alright. Life is short.
Maryanne Ullman: Thank you very much.
Naomi Simson: It’s been my pleasure.
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