Known for unlocking creativity and imaginative plays… LEGO is more than just a child’s toy. How did this one-time family-run business out-compete the competition and profit from the core?
Around 20 years ago, LEGO was struggling to survive. Competing with the digital era, losing touch with what their customers wanted, and innovating in the wrong areas had caused LEGO to neglect their core business – leading them to a dreaded decline.
In the world of high performance, we view inclusive diversity as a fundamental lever for building a full-throttle performance and innovation culture.
The business would claw back to incredible success, reinventing itself, launching new products and expanding through unique and surprising partnerships. Further bold moves included shifting the leadership of the business out of family hands, to a non-family chief executive, Jørgen Knudstorp, who introduced greater discipline and simplified the complex global business.
LEGO attributed much of their growth and success in the first 50 years to the three principles that had guided them: resilience, innovation and quality. Knudstorp soon realised though, that these three principles weren’t enough to create the turnaround LEGO needed. His turnaround approach would focus on returning the business back to the purpose, focusing on the core, growing and out-competing the competition.
Knudstorp was clear about The Main Thing in business – and reminds us that high-performance habits are founded on action, not on talk and intent… and that success is achieved by engaged (and happy) people… who are performing!
In this case study, you will see how the RSP (Repeatable, Sustainable, Profitable system) is crucial to business success, and explore the red flags any mature business should be watching out for: complacence, too much innovation, losing touch with your customers.
Are we clear about why we exist?
High-performance habits:
Clarity if focus:
Team alignment:
Focused:
“Innovation flourishes when the space available for it is limited. Less is more.” – Jørgen Knudstorp
With a success record over 25 years and as the premier provider of the world’s best digital platforms, systems and content for human capital development, LRMG is today the number one provider of smart, human-centric capability development solutions to most of the African blue-chip companies in the financial services, telecoms, manufacturing, mining, educational and professional services sectors in Africa.
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