Tom Schlegel

Brainstormer, Business leader, Designer, Engineer, Idea generator, Inventor, Parent

Tom Schlegel is the Chief Innovation Officer at Radio Flyer. Since 2003, he has built a talented team of designers and engineers in Chicago that has transformed the 100-year-old company’s product line. Tom now leads Sales, Marketing and Product Development and his team at Radio Flyer have developed over 200 new products and won over 70 awards including two Outdoor Toy of the Year Awards and three Chicago Innovation Awards. For most of his 30 year career, Tom has worked in the toy industry developing products for companies like McDonald’s (Happy Meal Toys), General Mills, Hasbro, Toys ‘R Us, Ohio Art, and now Radio Flyer. His education is a unique combination of a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and a B.A. in Industrial Design from the University of Notre Dame. Tom speaks frequently at universities and conferences about product design and innovation - including his 2010 talk at TED University about "Why Failure Should Always Be An Option" Tom lives with his four teenage boys in Wheaton, IL. He enjoys coaching and watching his boys play a wide variety of sports including baseball, basketball, football and soccer (mostly soccer).

Understanding how people interact with products. Seeing problems that others don't see. Creating "new to the world products" that improve people's lives.

Go Out and Play

Consumer Products, Marketing, Product Development, Retail

My first TED was in Aspen in 2008. In 2010, I gave a 3 min talk on "Why Failure Should Always Be An Option" at TED University.

Fixing Broken Stuff