IKEA

Short Biography of IKEA founder:

We all are very familiar with IKEA and own at least a piece of furniture from this world-famous brand. IKEA is a top home furniture retailer, with over 90,000 employees working in its 200-plus stores, and annual revenues in excess of US$10 billion. IKEA owner, Ingvar Kamprad, he is listed in FORBES as the fourth richest person in the world, with a net worth of US$28 billion. But do you know that he had a humble beginning? As a young boy, from his bicycle, he began selling matches to neighbors. Later, he discovered that by buying matches in bulk, he could get them cheaply and sell them individually at a low price, and still make a good profit. From matches, he expanded to selling other things such as Christmas tree decorations, seeds and pencils. The breakthrough came when he was 17. His father gave him a cash reward to continue his studies, but instead, he used it to establish IKEA. Today, this seventy-nine-year old self-made billionaire still practices modesty; he avoids wearing suits and prefers to fly economy class. There are a few lessons that we can learn from him, by looking at some of his famous quotes: Lesson #1: The Best Leadership is by Example “If there is such a thing as good leadership, it is to give a good example,” “I have to do so for all the Ikea employees.” “How can I ask people who work for me to travel cheaply if I am traveling in luxury? It’s a question of good leadership.” Lesson #2: Time is your Best Asset “Time is your most important resource,” “You can do so much in ten minutes. Ten minutes, once gone, are gone for good.”  Lesson #3: Mistakes are a Must on the Road to Success “Only those who are asleep make no mistakes,” “There are few people who have made so many fiascos in my life as I have.” And, last but not least: “The word impossible has been and must remain deleted from our dictionary,” because when others said it couldn’t be done, Ingvar Kamprad went and did it.