Welcome to Edition #73 of Did You Know? (DYK), the weekly newsletter by Gorick Ng, Harvard career adviser and Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author of The Unspoken Rules, where we deconstruct the untold story of how someone (or something) became successful—and what you can do to follow in their footsteps.
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Did You Know? You can make an impact!
Your story this week
Did you know? IKEA would have never become the king of “build-it-yourself” furniture had its employee #4 not suggested the idea.
When you think of the company IKEA, what comes to mind? If you answered “furniture that I buy in a flat box and assemble myself at home,” then consider this:
Did you know that IKEA’s signature “build it yourself” model wouldn’t exist had its 4th employee not spoken up?
The year is 1956—and IKEA, a 5-year-old Swedish mail-order company run by 22-year-old Ingvar Kamprad, is about to expand beyond selling pens, stockings, and watches to selling furniture.
There was just one problem: The furniture was too big to fit into a regular car. The problem got so bad that IKEA was at risk of not even having a product catalog because Gillis Lundgren (the 4th employee) couldn’t fit one of the tables he needed to deliver to a photo shoot into his car.
Then, inspiration struck. “If this table can’t fit in the car,” Lundgren wondered, “What if I just take off the legs?”
He suggested the idea to the team—and the iconic IKEA flat pack “build-it-yourself” furniture experience was born.
Lundgren’s innovation didn’t just save IKEA’s product catalog—it changed IKEA’s entire business model forever. By packing furniture down flat, IKEA was able to keep more products in stock, increase shipping efficiency by 10x, and lower its prices—all at the same time.
(Fun fact for IKEA fans: Lundgren didn’t just stand out once; he stood out forever after he designed BILLY, the popular IKEA bookshelf that’s sold “every 10 seconds.”)
Fast forward 76 years to 2024, and IKEA boasts 473 stores in 63 countries and territories, making it the seventh most valuable retail brand and the largest furniture retailer in the world.
What does this mean for you? The next time you find yourself wanting to make an impact at work but not knowing how, remember Lundgren—who managed to help IKEA achieve more, better, faster, and cheaper—all at the same time with a single simple but consequential suggestion.
Your strategy this week
Did you know? Every organization cares about the same 5 things: more, better, faster, cheaper, and safer!
To some, the question “What if I just take off the legs?” might seem ridiculous. To Lundgren, however, this seemingly ridiculous question changed the trajectory of the company—and established him as an industry legend.
What Lundgren may not have realized himself is that every organization cares about the same 5 things:
- More (customers + top-selling products + sustainable practices + top talent, etc.)
- Better (quality product + team morale, etc.)
- Faster (sales + issue resolution + time to hire, etc.)
- Cheaper (raw material costs + operating costs, etc.)
- Safer (ways to do everything)
If you can accomplish one or more of these goals, I guarantee you’ll get ahead in your career—especially if the goal you tackle is the same one that’s wasting time and causing stress to those higher up in your organization.
Try it out! Look at your current company, club, or side project. Now, try filling in the following blanks:
(1) “More in my [industry / organization / team] means more ______, ______, ______, and ______.”
(2) “Better in my [industry / organization / team] means more ______, ______, ______, and ______.”
(3) “Faster in my [industry / organization / team] means more ______, ______, ______, and ______.”
(4) “Cheaper in my [industry / organization / team] means more ______, ______, ______, and ______.”
(5) “Safer in my [industry / organization / team] means more ______, ______, ______, and ______.”
(6) “Of the above, the top 3 that higher-ups in my organization have been talking about are ______, ______, and ______.”
This is a hard exercise that even many senior executives don’t know how to fill out. But the sooner you get into the mindset of seeking out more, better, faster, cheaper, and safer, the more sensitive you will be to opportunities when they come up—and the more likely you’ll make an impact.
(Need more inspiration? Check out my other stories on the origins of instant noodles, the Super Soaker, the barcode, and Shopify. The founders of all of these innovations started with a similar mindset!)
I know it because I’ve experienced it: When I was identifying my target audience for my book, The Unspoken Rules, I asked myself: Who wants BETTER early career professionals on their team who can do BETTER work FASTER? That's when I stumbled across large companies that hire hundreds of interns and early career employees every year. Fast forward and Fortune 500 companies continue to be my core base of clients for speaking!
Look for more, better, faster, cheaper, and safer!
Gorick
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