Malls, Makeup and Meme Stocks with Gary Kusin

Gary Kusin, co-founder of GameStop and Laura Mercier Cosmetics, joins Natalie on the podcast to discuss: 

• GameStop’s origins: what inspired Gary and James McCurry to launch the world’s first video game store in the early 80s?
• Successes and missed opportunities: what would Gary have done differently?
• The pivot to makeup: Gary discusses how a conversation with former Macy’s Chairman Terry Lundgren sparked the idea for Laura Mercier.
• Continuous improvement versus continuous change.
• Customer centricity: why so many brands today fail to get this right.
• Kinko’s: Gary shares how, as Kinko’s CEO, he turned the loss-making business into to a highly profitable enterprise that was later acquired by FedEx.
• Meme stocks: Gary shares his views on the GameStop stock market frenzy.

Gary’s bio:

Gary Kusin is a mentor, investor, entrepreneur, business advisor, and author of the forthcoming book Always Learning: Lessons on Leveling Up from GameStop to Laura Mercier and Beyond [April 2024]. He today advises an array of public and private companies, large and small, on strategy, management and growth issues. In addition, Kusin continues his full schedule of mentoring and has mentored well over 1000 individuals during the course of his career. Kusin co-founded two companies, Babbage’s, operating today as GameStop (NYSE: GME), and Laura Mercier Cosmetics, both of which are well-known global brands. Gary spent 13 years as a senior advisor to the global private equity firm TPG, including a large amount of his time mentoring CEOs of TPG portfolio companies. He served from 2001-2006 as President and Chief Executive Officer of Kinko’s, today operating as FedEx Office. Kusin was responsible for the turnaround, strategic growth and transformation of Kinko’s and oversaw the ultimate sale to FedEx, directly reporting to Fred Smith, founder of FedEx, for the 2 years required to integrate Kinko’s into FedEx and be renamed FedEx Office. Kusin is an Inc. Magazine “Entrepreneur of the Year” award winner and has served on the boards of many public and private firms both in America and abroad including names such as Electronic Arts, Petco, Sabre, and Myer Department Stores in Australia. Kusin has been very involved in Dallas community activities throughout his career. A representative sample of organizations and positions include the St. Mark’s School of Texas Board of Trustees, Dallas Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO) chairman, Dallas Citizen’s Council Board of Directors and the Southwestern Medical School Foundation. A member of the University of Texas McComb’s School of Business Hall of Fame, Kusin earned a BA from the University of Texas at Austin and an MBA from Harvard Business School.