Maclaren’s CEO on Learning from a Recall

by Farzad Rastegar

Farzad Rastegar is the CEO of Maclaren USA.

The Idea

Though Maclaren USA had spent months carefully planning a recall, when the news leaked a day early, the company was unprepared. What followed taught its CEO some valuable lessons.

Like many CEOs, I subscribe to a daily e-mail service that notifies me when my company is mentioned in the news. On the morning of November 9, 2009, a Monday, the first headline I saw was “Maclaren Stroller Recall.”

The story, from the New York Daily News, went on to explain that Maclaren USA, a business I’ve run since 2001, was recalling one million strollers following finger injuries to 12 children. The information about the recall was true. But I hadn’t ...

Get How I Did It: Lessons from the Front Lines of Business now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.