PART I OF II
Brad Pedersen is a successful entrepreneur who has learned valuable lessons along the way. He is a longtime ELO supporter, a speaker at ELO Forums, and an ELO Oxford Leadership Program Alumnus. Here is an extract from his recently released book, Startup Santa: A Toymaker’s Tale of 10 Business Lessons Learned from Timeless Toys.
Have you ever wondered how the toys that shaped your childhood could hold the secrets to entrepreneurial success and a life filled with meaning?
Startup Santa: A Toymaker’s Tale of 10 Business Lessons Learned from Timeless Toys (M3 Adventures. November 2023) is my first book, where I share the "wisdom from his wounds" to help other startup founders avoid my mistakes while working towards living a life to the full.
If you are reading this, then it is likely that you are a part of a community of meaning-driven business & entrepreneurial leaders looking to succeed.
So to share with you some background on why I wrote this book. The truth is I actually did not want to write a book. Partly because it seemed too daunting a task but mostly driven by a question of worthiness. I was telling myself a story that the world was already very noisy and did not need yet another voice to add to the clutter.
What I eventually landed on was that I would write a memoir, to ensure that I captured some of the most important memories and lessons from my voyage through the world of toys. That is when something unexpected happened. As I started to unpack the stories and then scribe the words, I discovered new learnings, and this ultimately led to a place of personal healing and forgiveness.
When my inner circle became aware that I was working on a book, a few asked permission to read some of the early chapters. That is when I received the feedback, that the stories that I shared and the resulting lessons were helpful, and I was encouraged to distribute them more broadly.
As a result, the scope of the project changed. No longer was I focused on simply creating a memoir but rather a book dedicated to helping other founders. People in the "mud, blood, and the flood" of building a business and those who could benefit from learning some lessons from my experiences at the school of hard knocks.
Startup Santa is really more of a "what not to do" manual, as I have learned that success is a terrible teacher. The great paradox of life is that for us to experience joy and happiness we must be equally prepared to embrace pain and suffering. Joy and suffering are two sides of the same coin, and we get to choose the narrative of what our experiences ultimately mean. However, we do not learn from what happens, we learn from taking the time to reflect on what happens. Our greatest lessons land when we unpack the purpose of the many pains we are going to experience in our lives.
Toys are a facilitator for experiential learning, providing a medium by which we can youthfully engage in the art of play. Play is an important part of our human development; how we remain young, how we learn to problem-solve, and how we find new inspiration.
My experience with these toys, combined with my lived experience, became the basis for the storytelling that you will find within the pages of Startup Santa. Every chapter features an iconic plaything, explaining the origin story and what we can learn from interacting with the toy. This is followed by stories from my journey as a toy maker that in turn tie together the learnings from the product and the lessons from my life.
There are 10 unique lessons (11 with a bonus chapter) as well as many other principles that can be revealed from interacting with these timeless toys. Startup Santa reminds us that the spirit of play is not just for children—it's a force that can transform the way we approach entrepreneurship, enriching our lives and businesses with boundless wonder and limitless potential.
Get the first chapter & bonus gifts free by visiting StartupSantaBook.com