During my conversations with CEOs, it always comes to a point where they say: “I want to leave a legacy.” Any CEO would be satisfied with the business legacy left by Ingvar Kamprad, the IKEA founder who died last weekend. The store he founded, with its iconic blue and yellow logo and functional, minimalist furniture, is the largest furniture retailer in the world. Latest figures show it has 190,000 employees, 411 stores in 49 countries, and a revenue of 36 billion euros. Famous for its Allen wrench-assembled flat-pack furniture, Swedish meatballs, and the maze-like shopping routes through its showrooms, it hit upon a winning formula. It provided a differentiated offering that disrupted the industry at the time: affordable, build-it-yourself home furnishings sold in massive stores built on cheap, out-of-town real estate. But how did it hit on this winning strategy?
IKEA’s Success Can’t Be Attributed to One Charismatic Leader
Hindsight is too tidy.
February 02, 2018
Summary.
Ingvar Kamprad, the late IKEA founder, leaves behind him an impressive legacy. But often business success stories are attributed to a single, charismatic leader, when the truth is much more complicated. Sometimes, strategic leadership is about coming up with a great plan and then executing it seamlessly. But often, it’s about reacting intelligently – to an unanticipated challenge, or to a serendipitous comment. In successful firms like IKEA, focusing heavily on the legacy of a founder can obscure these truths, and result in a story that looks a little too tidy with the benefit of hindsight.
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Accelerate your career with Harvard ManageMentor®. HBR Learning’s online leadership training helps you hone your skills with courses like Leading People. Earn badges to share on LinkedIn and your resume. Access more than 40 courses trusted by Fortune 500 companies.
What you need to know about being in charge.