Ingvar Kamprad
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.Collection: Leadership
Ikea people do not drive flashy cars or stay at luxury hotels.Collection: Car
How the hell can I ask people who work for me to travel cheaply if I travel in luxury? It's a question of good leadership.
I'm stingy and I'm proud of the reputation.
I decided that the stock market was not an option for IKEA. I knew that only a long-term perspective could secure our growth plans, and I didn't want IKEA to become dependent on financial institutions.
We don't need flashy cars, impressive titles, uniforms, or other status symbols. We rely on our strength and our will!
If we want to be cost-conscious, we should do it, not just talk about how cost-conscious we are.
Our idea is to serve everybody, including people with little money.
Normally, I try to get my haircut when I'm in a developing country. Last time, it was in Vietnam.
I'm not afraid of turning 80 and I have lots of things to do. I don't have time for dying.
I look at the money I'm about to spend on myself and ask if IKEA's customers could afford it.
I am very proud to follow the rules of our company.
I feel many responsibilities - to our customers, to our employees, to the environment, to the world at large. But I don't want to feel responsible to investors, to outsiders with financial concerns that may differ from those of the welfare of IKEA.
My theory was that good furniture could be priced so that the man with the flat wallet would be attracted to it, would make a place for it in his spending, and could afford it.
When the first million came in, I felt, 'My God, now I'm really independent.' That was a fantastic experience.
Everything we earn we need as a reserve.
People say I am cheap, and I don't mind if they do.
We have to still develop the Ikea group. We need many billions of Swiss francs to take on China or Russia.
We ought to have more women in various management positions, because women are the ones who decide almost everything in the home.
It is in the nature of Smaland to be thrifty.
The company will never go to the market. We want to keep strict self-financing.
We have always looked at taxes as a cost, just as any other cost that comes with doing business.
An optimised tax structure gives us the possibility of flexibility in using our assets that have already been taxed in one market. They can be used in new markets for further business development without the additional burden of double taxation.
I see my task as serving the majority of people. The question is, how do you find out what they want, how best to serve them? My answer is to stay close to ordinary people because, at heart, I am one of them.
I've paid an awful lot of lawyers to protect what I've built. I can only hope the money was well spent.
Most things remain undone. Glorious future!Collection: Undone
Happiness is not reaching your goal. Happiness is being on the way.Collection: Goal
What is good for our customers is also in the long run good for us.Collection: Running
The most dangerous poison is the feeling of achievement. The antidote is to every evening think what can be done better tomorrow.Collection: Success
Only those who are asleep make no mistakes.Collection: Inspirational
The word impossible has been and must remain deleted from our dictionary.Collection: Impossible
The IKEA spirit is strong and living reality. Simplicity in our behavior gives us strength. Simplicity and humbleness characterize us in our relations with each others, our suppliers and our customers.Collection: Strong
Making mistakes is the privilege of the active. It is always the mediocre people who are negative, who spend their time proving that they were not wrong.Collection: Mistake
Time is your most important resource. You can do so much in ten minutes. Ten minutes; once gone is gone for good.Collection: Important
Simplicity and common sense should characterize planning and strategic direction.Collection: Ikea
To design a desk which may cost $1,000 is easy for a furniture designer but to design a functional and good desk which shall cost only $50 can only be done by the very bestCollection: Ikea
Waste of resources is a mortal sin at IKEA.Collection: Ikea
A better everyday life means getting away from status and conventions -- being freer and more at ease as human beings.Collection: Mean
Making mistakes is the privilege of the active - of those who can correct their mistakes and put them right.Collection: Mistake
It was our duty to expand. Those who cannot or will not join us are to be pitied. What we want to do, we can do and will do, together. A glorious future!Collection: Ambition
I'm a bit tight with money, but so what? I look at the money I'm about to spend on myself and ask myself if IKEA's customers can afford it... I could regularly travel first class, but having money in abundance doesn't seem like a good reason to waste it.. 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.Collection: Ikea
You can do so much in ten minutes' time. Ten minutes, once gone, are gone for good. Divide your life into 10-minute units and sacrifice as few of them as possible in meaningless activity.Collection: Inspirational
IKEA is not completely perfect. It irritates me to hear it said that IKEA is the best company in the world. We are going the right way to becoming it but we are not there yet.Collection: Ikea
I could have an office all to myself but since my collaborators don’t have one, then I too am contented to have a desk in a shared room.Collection: Office
Ten minutes are not just one-sixth of your hourly pay; ten minutes is a piece of yourself. Divide yourself into ten units and sacrifice as few of them as possible in meaningless activities. Most things still remain to be done.Collection: Sacrifice
Simple routine have a greater impact. It is not just to cut costs that we avoid luxury hotels. We do not need fancy cars, posh titles, tailor made uniforms or other status symbols.Collection: Cutting
How can I ask people who work for me to travel cheaply if I am traveling in luxury?Collection: Luxury