This week featuring the second part of the vision and mission which brought IKEA to the position it has today.
This is part two of my summary of the writings of Ingvar Kamprad. If you want to start from the beginning, I recommend you reading the first part.
The Why and the Focus
After looking into the product vision, the IKEA spirit and other visionary thinking of Ingvar Kamprad last week, I will now look into the power of focus, asking ‘why’ and responsibility of each and every employee.
Even before Simon Sinek wrote and spoke about The Power of Why, Ingvar Kamprad defined it as one of the pillars of IKEA’s success.
By always asking why we are doing this or that, we can find new paths.
By refusing to accept a pattern simply because it is well established, we make progress. We dare to do things differently! Not just in large matters, but in solving small everyday problems too.
Everyone can use the power which arises from constantly asking why something is the way it is. Blindly accepting the status quo only leads to mediocre performance.
Being bold and trying new things leads to success. And as Ingvar Kamprad tells, it is not only the large things where asking why gets you forward, you should also use it in small everyday problems.
But, as you can imagine, questioning everything and trying new things in multiple different areas can also lead to you losing focus. And that is one of the worst things which can happen.
For us too, it is a matter of concentration – focusing our resources.
We can never do everything, everywhere, all at the same time.
You have to admit to yourself that you cannot do everything at once. You have to Divide and Conquer. This not only is relevant for computer programmers but also for everyone who has to plan things. After you split up the problem at hand, it is important to focus on only one area at once.
IKEA does that e.g by focussing their range of products only on things that fit their profile. They admit to themselves that they cannot satisfy each and everyone’s taste with their furniture. So they do not even try.
Also, you have to try to only give minimal resources to your focus areas:
While we are concentrating on important areas, we must learn to do what
people in Småland call “lista”. “Lista” is a common term in Småland; it means
“making do”, doing what you have to do with an absolute minimum of resources.
In my opinion, everybody should keep Lista in their minds. Many problems can be solved with less resources than initially thought. This can also lead to better solutions as they are more cost-efficient.
Being responsible
Ingvar Kamprad defines an interesting equation: less responsibility-takers = higher bureaucracy.
The fewer such responsibility-takers a company or a community has, the more bureaucratic it is.
Constant meetings and group discussions are often the result of unwillingness or inability on the part of the person in charge to make decisions.
Everybody working in a corporate environment can agree with this: leadership without the ability to make and stand for decisions leads to constant meetings and discussions about which decision to take.
Rather than just taking a decision, the fear of taking the wrong decision paralyses many.
Only while sleeping one makes no mistakes. Making mistakes is the privilege of the active – of those who can correct their mistakes and put them right.
You need to make mistakes. Only in making mistakes, one can see that a decision was the wrong one. Having endless discussions and taking ‘the best’ decision can also lead to mistakes, but those are often way more costly due to the amount of time which was invested in them.
The fear of making mistakes is the root of bureaucracy and the enemy of development. No decision can claim to be the only right one; it is the energy that is put into the decision that determines whether it is right. It must be allowed to make mistakes.
It is always the mediocre people who are negative, who spend their time proving that they were not wrong. The strong person is always positive and looks forward.
Don’t be mediocre. Stand for your decision. Be bold and move forward. Or as Ingvar Kamprad coined it:
It is always the positive people who win. They are always a joy to their colleagues and to themselves. But winning does not mean that someone else has to lose. The finest victories are those without losers.
If somebody steals a model from us, we do not sue them, because a lawsuit is always negative. We solve the problem instead by developing a new and even better model.
So besides avoiding to be mediocre, also avoid to be negative. The positive people lead the way forward. Join them and become positive yourself. If there are no positive leaders in your environment, start a positive movement. Others will follow you, that’s for sure.
Looking forward
In the last main chapter of The Testament of a Dealer, Ingvar Kamprad appeals to all readers to shape the future.
The feeling of having finished something is an effective sleeping pill. A person who retires feeling that he has done his bit will quickly wither away. A company which feels that it has reached its goal will quickly stagnate and lose its vitality.
Do not define your state of happiness by reaching a goal. Be happy while getting to your goal. Build systems to reach goals which enable you to enjoy the journey.
We will move ahead only by constantly asking ourselves how what we are doing today can be done better tomorrow.
Also, do not fall into the experience trap. Relying on others experience can also lead to mediocrity.
Experience is a word to be handled carefully. Experience is a brake on all development. Many people cite experience as an excuse for not trying anything new.
Still, it can be wise to rely on experience at times. But if you do so, you should preferably rely on your own. That is usually more valuable than lengthy investigations.
Be careful when to rely on experience and when to just try out for yourself. Only because a senior colleague said a certain way does not work, you do not have to accept this fact. Think. Experiment. And rely on experience only when necessary.
For this to work out, you can use humbleness, willpower and strength.
Willpower and strength without humbleness often lead to conflict.
Together with humbleness, willpower and strength are your secret weapons for development as an individual and fellow human being.
Ingvar Kamprad ends the manifesto with the most important statement:
Bear in mind that time is your most important resource . You can do so much in 10 minutes. Ten minutes, once gone, are gone for good. You can never get them back.
Ten minutes are not just a sixth of your hourly pay. Ten minutes are a piece of yourself. Divide your life into 10-minute units and sacrifice as few of them as possible in meaningless activity.
There is nothing more to add.
Next week I will publish the third part of the series and go into the meaning of certain words and phrases at IKEA.
If you like the content, feel free to leave a comment 🙂
Source: The Testament of a Dealer
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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