Portrait of a Legend: Ikea's Ingvar Kamprad

Summary

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Nobody knows for sure whether entrepreneurs are made or born, but they all seem to share certain character traits, personality quirks and behavioral patterns. They are driven. They work towards the kind of long-term goals that you and I get a mere glimmer of at best. The time of day and day of the week don't matter, and work and leisure time are usually one and the same. They're often great motivators, albeit with a sting, and they always take total responsibility for their own motivation. It's easy when there's always a new goal to pursue. Or as [INGVAR KAMPRAD], who received this year's SACC New York Lucia Trade Award, puts it, "Most things remain to be done. Glorious future!"

"This was never the IKEA strategy," Kamprad says. "We were always proud to be Swedish -- we feature the blue and yellow colors on our buildings, and we represent Swedish values, culture and, of course, design."

The ownership structure of the different entities that constitute IKEA would take a whole other article to explain, and isn't something most of us would be able to follow anyway. The basic idea behind the present ownership has two aims: Kamprad wanted to ensure the survival of his creation and simultaneously try to keep the actual power inside the family, without giving his heirs the disadvantage of having the tax burden that follows ownership of a multi-billion dollar business. Nobody other than the founder himself and the handful of people that went through the process of creating the web of IKEA foundations and corporations at the end of the '70s and early '80s seems to understand and fully grasp the structure behind IKEA's ownership. Much thought and care was devoted to creating a safety net to keep the IKEA concept true to its origins. The ownership strategy was at one point described as a division between the hand, which owns, and the spirit, which governs.

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Portrait of a Legend: Ikea's Ingvar Kamprad

INGVAR KAMPRAD

Travels: As much as half of his time; he needs to see more stores to be reassured that IKEA is developing in the right direction.

At home: In Switzerland. "But my heart remains in Sweden -- I am Swedish and will die Swedish."

Enjoys: Work. Poking around in the garden. (Roses.) Fishing, an occupation he has little time for, although he did catch a perch the other day. "I used a casting rod in Lake Möckeln for the first time in years." Rowing. Walking in the woods. Good food: "Meatballs are high on the list, but nothing compares with a freshly caught and boiled white fish, served with horseradish, maybe parsley, hard-boiled egg,"

Leadership strategy: By example.

Last read: Dav...

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