How a vision statement saved and revitalised Lego

Bloomberg TV ran a great programme over Easter entitled "Inside Lego". It told the story of the company's rise from its earliest days, to running into severe problems when it lost its way, to re-emerging as the fastest growing toy maker in the world. Credit to the turnaround was given to CEO Jorgen Vig Knudstorp. In a nutshell, the company had expanded and diversified into an overly complex business. Jorgen focused on one key question, Why do we exist? It became clear that Lego had stopped understanding what their core business was. Jorgen simplified the business, focused on efficiencies and the rest as they say is history.

As a consultant, I sometimes feel that clients wonder why I ask what may appear to be such basic questions as, "why do we exist?" and similar questions in the Demand Metric Vision Worksheet. The Lego example surely shows exactly why it is essential to do so and when necessary, go back to basics.

The documentaries on Lego can be seen by downloading the Bloomberg TV - IPad app.

The vision statement from Demand Metric can be downloaded on subscription from Demand Metric.