Inside the daily routine of Build-A-Bear’s CEO who led a multi-million turnaround

Fortune

Sharon Price John credits her daily routine for her enduring enthusiasm for the toy retailer, and gave Fortune an exclusive look at her day, which kicks off before sunrise.

Transcript

00:00The best thing about Build-A-Bear, in my opinion, is that every day is completely different.

00:05When you step into a CEO role, you're automatically over all the functional areas,

00:10many of which you may not have ever worked in before.

00:13There's always a learning curve there, and I think it's really important to be

00:17intellectual curious and surround yourself with people that are smarter than you.

00:21Hi, I'm Sharon Price-John, the president and CEO of Build-A-Bear Workshop.

00:26I'm 60 years old, and this is a Day in the Life series.

00:30I wake up around 6 a.m., and even though my phone is right beside me,

00:35I try not to look at it upon that first moment.

00:40I try to get in a good mood and think about what's great about the day,

00:45not be overwhelmed with what's next on the calendar or what emails came in overnight.

00:51Just take five minutes or ten minutes and be appreciative of everything about that day already.

00:58I'm a coffee addict. I drink two or three cups a day, but that's the first thing that I do

01:04before I do anything, and then while I'm having that first couple of cups of coffee,

01:08I do check all my emails.

01:10I don't always eat breakfast. I eat when I'm hungry, but if I do eat,

01:14it's usually going to be granola and fruit, maybe a bagel and cream cheese.

01:20Usually, I walk about a mile in the mornings.

01:23Often, I'm listening to a podcast or maybe I'm meditating, depending on what's going on,

01:29but then I come back, get ready, go into the office.

01:33I live in St. Louis, which is where Build-A-Bear was founded back in 1997.

01:38We have moved the headquarters since it was originally created

01:42from the outer edges of the city to downtown St. Louis.

01:46We have a four-story building there where we also have a Build-A-Bear

01:51in the main floor that people come to, and that's always a lot of fun,

01:55just to be able to go downstairs and remember why you do what you do every day,

02:00but it's a very short commute for me.

02:02It's probably less than 15 minutes on most days,

02:04and I drive in from my home in an area called the Central West End,

02:08which is a really old and special area of St. Louis.

02:12We're adjacent to a beautiful park called Forest Park.

02:16It's the largest municipal park in the United States, actually.

02:19In just a matter of moments, you are in downtown St. Louis.

02:24I see the arch.

02:25Usually, the sun's coming up over the arch most mornings when I'm driving in,

02:29and then once you get back out just a few miles, I have that park very close to my home,

02:34and you can get away from it all really quickly.

02:37If I am in town, I am walking every week in Forest Park, often multiple times per week.

02:43I will go in when the first meeting starts,

02:45so that could be anywhere from 8 to 9 o'clock, generally.

02:49Our meetings last usually an hour, sometimes an hour and a half,

02:54and there are definitely days that are completely back-to-back.

02:58No lunch.

02:59You have to squeeze in a bathroom break.

03:01It's non-stop.

03:03They might be from in-person to combination of in-person,

03:09and on our Teams meetings, sometimes they're just completely a Teams meeting.

03:16They can be anywhere in the world, and then once a week,

03:20we have something called our Bare Quarters meeting,

03:23which is in-person, and everyone comes in,

03:26and I'm often speaking on the stage during that, just giving people updates, really.

03:30It's informal, but it's an important part of what we do.

03:33I will often bring my own lunch because I like to eat healthy food,

03:37and we have a great canteen, but as my husband would say,

03:41I'm kind of a picky eater.

03:43I eat when I have a break, and I eat when I'm hungry.

03:46I'm notorious for forgetting to eat,

03:49which I know sounds crazy to some people and might not even sound healthy,

03:54but trust me, I'm healthy.

03:56You're asking me how I structure my afternoons.

03:59I don't.

04:01I have an admin extraordinaire who understands most of the time what I need,

04:08what are the important meetings, what are not,

04:10what are some of the external needs that we have, what can get pushed off.

04:15It's absolutely critical, in my opinion, for someone in my role or a C-level role

04:23where there are so many people and things tugging on your time and your attention

04:32to have that intelligent, thoughtful filter.

04:36So we look over my schedule, usually Monday mornings and Friday nights,

04:42or Friday evenings, and sometimes Thursday evenings,

04:45to walk through the next few weeks of what's going on,

04:48particularly as it relates to travel.

04:51I try to pack my travel full, so I like to know when I'm going where,

04:57so I can make sure I'm making the best possible use of that travel time.

05:02I try to leave Fridays a little bit open,

05:05so I can collect my thoughts for the day, or the week, rather.

05:12In the traditional sense, probably around 6, 630,

05:16but as CEO in a town like St. Louis, and probably anywhere,

05:23you have a lot of responsibilities.

05:26Perhaps we have people in from out of town,

05:28whether it's a board meeting, or there is someone from one of our partners.

05:34It's occasionally important for me to come in and shake hands with those individuals,

05:39and sometimes have dinner, depending on what's going on,

05:42so I have a job to do in those circumstances.

05:46Now, I'm also a mom of three kids, and they're now older.

05:53They're 25, 22, and 19, so it's a much different environment now

05:59than it was when they were much younger.

06:02There's always things going on, but then we work hard to have that downtime,

06:07and I think that it's important to put your family first,

06:13but the Build-A-Bear is also a part of my family.

06:17So this is turning out to be a sad thematic.

06:20I don't cook dinner, because I'm not that good at cooking,

06:26but my husband is.

06:29In fact, he's a very good cook.

06:31We actually own restaurants and a hard cider company,

06:35and he generally has some food ready for us.

06:38When the weather's good, we eat outside.

06:40We have a kind of a really nice back patio,

06:44and it's just great to be outside and enjoy sometimes,

06:48so even with a glass of wine in the evening,

06:50and whatever he's put together for us.

06:52Sometimes there might be some things that I'll need to circle back on

06:56that I didn't get to after dinner.

06:58I do, you know, some personal work,

07:00or I'll think about what I want to wear in the morning,

07:03and try to like map out,

07:05make sure I know I really am understanding

07:07what my next day is going to look like.

07:09Sometimes I have to, you know, think about the whole day,

07:13like if I have an event that next day,

07:15like what I'm going to wear, what I'm going to take,

07:17so I can transition.

07:19And I'll go to bed a little bit early, you know, 9, 10-ish.

07:24I'm probably down by 10 o'clock.

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