Domino by Nick Tasler

Author:Nick Tasler
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781119083061
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 2015-10-26T00:00:00+00:00

Or at least that's what the headline would have read had 2004 gone differently for the LEGO Group.

That year, the LEGO Group found itself embroiled in a desperate fight for survival. In a surprising move, the iconic maker of one the world's most popular toys, turned to a young strategist named Jorgen Knudstorp. At just 34 years old and nowhere to be found in the family tree of LEGO founder Ole Kirk Christiansen, Knudstorp was an odd choice to be the fourth president in the company's 70-year history.

The first question Knudstrop had to answer was where do I start?

With everyone eyeing the future, some argued that LEGO's top priority should be reinvigorating its stale product line. After all, the kids of today just weren't as interested in the old plastic blocks as they were before. And the kids of tomorrow, toting their smartphones and iPads, would almost certainly be even less interested in stodgy old building blocks. Others believed that LEGO needed to get back to focusing on the simple plastic bricks that had made the company so successful in the first place. “Stick to your knitting!” was the rallying cry of this group. One faction inside the company felt its employer needed to do a better job of embracing the digital age with a fresh line of video games and LEGO-themed software. Still another group of concerned Bricksburg citizens offered a convincing case for striking more licensing deals like the wildly successful relationship LEGO America struck with Lucasfilm for Star Wars–themed LEGO's in the 1990s. Then there was the cohort that believed that LEGO's future depended on its ability to custom create its own casts of characters and storylines that would be proprietary to the LEGO Group. On top of all that, it was widely agreed that operational deficiencies and an insular culture of talent recruitment—both resulting from too much success in the company's past—were the primary source of LEGO's ailments.

So which problem was the true root cause?

All of the above.

Buoyed by his training as a McKinsey & Company consultant, Jorgen Knudtstorp jumped head-first into strategy/creation mode. Every night during that bleak January of 2004 when the future of the iconic toymaker hung in the balance, Knudstorp met with Chief Financial Officer Jesper Ovesen for dinner at the LEGOLAND Hotel. Situated right across the street from the corporate headquarters on the edge of the Danish hamlet of Billund, the LEGOLAND hotel was symbolic of the organization's predicament. As a thriving, profitable amusement park on par with its obvious inspiration, Disneyland, the theme park in Billund was one of the brightest stars in the LEGO universe. At the same time, the other LEGOLAND franchises scattered throughout Europe, Asia, and North America were not so lucky. Some were barely afloat. Others were circling the drain. The LEGOLAND brand held so much promise, while it simultaneously caused so much pain. The same could be said for most of LEGO's brands.

CFO Jesper Ovesen was a seasoned executive with a legendary reputation throughout the European business community.

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