I like reading documents that explain the vision and mission of big corporations. Even though IKEA is also very controversially discussed, e.g due to the harm they put towards the environment, I am very interested in the story behind the company. 

The tip for the document I got from the comprehensive podcast episode of Acquired about IKEA, very worth listening to!

Introduction

So now let’s look into the writings of Ingvar Kamprad, who sadly passed away in 2018. I won’t go into detail about the history of IKEA, this was explained in detail in the podcast episode linked above.

It all starts with the companies guiding sentence:

To create a better everyday life for the many people by offering a wide range of well-designed, functional home furnishing products at prices so low that as many people as possible will be able to afford them.

It is followed by this statement: 

What is good for our customers is also, in the long run, good for us.

In my opinion, this is a sentence everyone who creates products has to live. Even though some decisions may not show a positive effect in e.g financial statements in the short term, a higher customer satisfaction shows its effect in the long term.

Product vision

We shall offer a wide range of well-designed, functional home furnishing products at prices so low that as many people as possible will be able to afford them.

Even though IKEA floods the world with so much furniture, there is also a good cause to be recognised. In the past, modern and qualitative furniture was reserved only for a small range of people who had the money to buy them. Today, IKEA (and the ones who followed) democratised the furniture market so that everybody can afford them.

The IKEA spirit

The working environment at IKEA is described as the IKEA spirit. It seems like it lead the company to where it is today.

The true IKEA spirit is still built on our enthusiasm, from our constant striving for renewal, from our cost-consciousness, from our readiness to take responsibility and help out, from our humbleness in approaching our task and from the simplicity of our way of doing things. We must look after each other and inspire each other. Those who cannot or will not join us are to be pitied.

This quote contains many important attributes. For one, the striving for renewal is one of the most important ones in my opinion. Organisations who do not take the chance of renewal will go with time. There is a good German proverb for this (“Wer nicht mit der Zeit geht, geht mit der Zeit” - The one who will not fit to the time they are in will leave the market after a time).

Also, every corporation should empower their employees to take responsibility and to help and also inspire others. Otherwise, the whole spirit will die after some years. The spirit has to be lived constantly.

And as your job takes in so much of your time on earth, you better take a job where the spirit motivates you, so that your time is invested wisely:

A job must never be just a livelihood. If you are not enthusiastic about your job, a third of your life goes to waste, and a magazine in your desk drawer can never make up for that.

For the leadership, there are also many requirements they have to fulfil.

For those of you who bear any kind of leadership responsibility, it is crucially important to motivate and develop your co-workers. A team spirit is a fine thing, but it requires everybody in the team to be dedicated to their tasks. You, as the captain, make the decisions after consulting the team.

I think everybody who has read some stuff about leadership or management has encountered the sentences above. But it does not hurt to read it often.

A leader, or captain as Ingvar coins it, has to motivate and develop all co-workers. There has to be a dedication to the tasks one has to solve. And, a captain has to make the final decision, but there should be a consultation of the team beforehand. Only this way your team will stand fully behind a certain decision.

And one thing must never be forgotten. Do never forget about the people who keep the system running:

Be thankful to those who are the pillars of our society! Those simple, quiet, taken-for-granted people who always are willing to lend a helping hand. They do their duty and shoulder their responsibility without being noticed.To them, a defined area of responsibility is a necessary but distasteful word. To them, the whole is just as self-evident as always helping and always sharing. I call them stalwarts simply because every system needs them. They are to be found everywhere – in our warehouses, in our offices, among our sales force. They are the very embodiment of the IKEA spirit.

Hard work brings in the money

As I’ve read through the document, one thing in particular fell into my eye: The quintessential part of IKEAs success is hard work and determination.

We do not believe in waiting for ripe plums to fall into our mouths. We believe in hard, committed work that brings results.

It is the same starting your own business, be it writing online or developing software: You have to start doing something. You have to commit to your work. And even though there might be hard times, it will pay out.

In the furniture business, it is defined as followed by IKEA:

The aim of our effort to build up financial resources is to reach a good result in the long term. You know what it takes to do that: we must offer the lowest prices, and we must combine them with good quality. If we charge too much, we will not be able to offer the lowest prices. If we charge too little, we will not be able to build up resources. A wonderful problem!
It forces us to develop products more economically, to purchase more
efficiently and to be constantly stubborn in cost savings of all kinds. That is our secret. That is the foundation of our success.

This also means that you have to look at a solution always in a way which sees both the resulting products and the connected price.

Wasting resources is a mortal sin at IKEA. It is not all that difficult to reach
set targets if you do not have to count the cost. Any designer can design a desk that will cost 5,000 kronor. But only the most highly skilled can design a good, functional desk that will cost 100 kronor.
Expensive solutions to any kind of problem are usually the work of
mediocrity.
We have no respect for a solution until we know what it costs.

I love the part about expensive solutions being the work of mediocrity. Often this is the case. Looking through different perspectives at the product and trying to find out if every part is really necessary or maybe something can be optimised was the way why SpaceX is so successful today as no other space company. The determination to always question the status quo, to always find simpler and thus cheaper options gave them the superpowers they show today.

Simplicity

The same direction they take with product decisions is also used for processes. IKEA focuses on avoiding complicated rules. Because “complicated rules paralyse”.

Especially in doing planning this can become a big problem:

Planning is often synonymous with bureaucracy. Planning is, of course,
needed to lay out guidelines for your work and to enable a company to
function in the long term. But do not forget that exaggerated planning is the most common cause of corporate death. Exaggerated planning constrains your freedom of action and leaves you less time to get things done.
Complicated planning paralyses. So let simplicity and common sense guide
your planning.

You may know it from your job: Planning stuff is hard. The simpler you plan, the easier it is. Be it planning in SW development, where agile planning with story points beats the complexity of whole-project planning in a waterfall-like style. Or as Ingvar Kamprad writes:

Simplicity is a fine tradition among us. Simple routines mean greater
impact.

This was the first part of my summary of the great writings in The Testament of a Dealer by Ingvar Kamprad. The next part will be released next week.

If you look forward to it, feel free to leave a comment :)

Source: The Testament of a Dealer

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Hi, my name is Flo 👋

I’m a software engineer from Germany. Thanks for joining me on this week’s episode of Stuff Worth Sharing! I hope you found something intriguing to explore further.

Feel free to share with others who might enjoy these weekly finds.

Until next week,
Flo

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