Brian White Troublemaker at Herschel Supply
Courage. It’s an overarching theme of this podcast. Brian White radiates it, so naturally he’s always been drawn to companies who have it. The courage to keep the consumers as the focus. The courage to reinvent their businesses. The courage to reinvent himself.
Brian is Herschel Supply’s new Senior Vice President of Global Sales. Our first contact was a lengthy note he wrote me through LinkedIn after I invited him to be on the Troublemakers podcast. As I sat down to write up this blog post, I remembered it and realized I can never top what he wrote in that note. So, here’s Brian’s recounting of some amazing career exploits, and especially why Herschel Supply is the perfect scenario for him.
________________________________
Steve, the idea of “troublemakers” in business resonates. I’ve been a troublemaker all my life.
I am fortunate to have partnered with great brands over the years: most were renegades. I started The Unlimited Sales Agency in 1997 fresh out of school, and it was a time of change. I used a laptop and urged brands to modernize (The old guard didn’t like it). My first big brands granted me the power to change the business and provided much-needed ground cover considering I was just a young punk living in my Mom’s basement. The brands below were perfect for me. They helped define who I was by representing them.
- Ride Snowboards – A powerful brand played by its own rules and took pride in chilling for #1 spot in every market.
Arnette – A new eyewear brand that much larger competition didn’t see coming. The early days were certifiably insane. The personalities were out of this world and the sales matched. - Globe – Australian powerhouse footwear brand that partied as hard as they worked.
- Hurley clothing – Surf, Skate and Music rolled up into a cutting-edge apparel brand. Founded by Bob Hurley, who had run the Billabong USA licenses until the deal didn’t work and he radically shifted to his name’s sake.
- Nixon – Action sports answer to the premium teen market. A watch brand that didn’t sell to watch stores, powered my athletes like Danny way, Tony Hawk and two of the best founders in the business.
- Unlimited Sales was an Entrepreneur’s Dream, freedom, support from great brands, and the wind at our back. We won every rep award, national awards from major trade magazines, and even won Toronto Entrepreneur of the year in 2012.