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10/09/2025
Success Story: The LEGO Turnaround
Success Story: The LEGO Turnaround
Who has never played with LEGO bricks? Who never had a box of LEGO, building a house, a car, or the most colourful and shapeless forms that our childhood imagination allowed? Who has never tripped over a box or bucket of LEGO and — puff! — pieces scattered all over the floor? Probably no one.
But times change. The toy kit market exploded, interaction formats evolved, prices dropped with globalisation, and digital competition was (and still is) fierce. Faced with these challenges, LEGO had to adapt.
They expanded the possibilities of play with countless variations for both children and adults, yet always within the same philosophy: plastic, interlocking pieces in different shapes, sizes, and colours. Beyond the traditional children’s sets, LEGO introduced technical lines (such as LEGO Technic), where pieces were no longer only cubic and basic but technical and precise. Accessories such as small motors were introduced, and the product range grew substantially.
However, sales did not keep pace with rising design and production costs, placing the Danish family-owned company in financial difficulty. It became necessary to manage efficiency, innovate in products and strategic alliances — and today LEGO has returned to its golden era.
It took strategic action to recover the company. But how?
I came across this LinkedIn article (Pandit, Prashant, Sept 25, link below) which very succinctly describes the challenge and the surgical modus operandi required to carry out a successful turnaround and make LEGO sustainable and profitable once again — for the benefit of us all.
Given the significance of this company and how much it resonates with us all, I decided not only to respond publicly on that social network but also to share the article here on this Blog, as it provides an excellent example on management and sustainability — topics of great relevance to PR Lean Consulting.
20/08/2025
Why do we so quickly focus on mistakes rather than on best practices?
Why do we so quickly focus on mistakes rather than on best practices?
It is not just a matter of organisational culture. It is also about how we are wired. Our brain reacts more strongly to what threatens us, to what could go wrong. And at work, a mistake can mean a lot — a loss, a criticism, a missed opportunity. That is why it feels natural to correct it quickly, to analyse it, to talk about it.
But what is done with care, with excellence, with heart… often does not even receive a simple “thank you”.
And that hurts. It hurts those who give their best every single day. It hurts those who try, who succeed, who build. Because when recognition does not arrive, emptiness sets in. The employee begins to feel that they do not matter. That their effort is nothing more than obligation. That they will only be noticed if they fail.
Companies, often unintentionally, feed this cycle. Evaluation systems focus on what is missing. Feedback highlights what needs to improve. And even when results are good, there is always a “but”. This way of looking, though well-intentioned, can become suffocating. It can turn workplaces into environments of fear, where mistakes are dangerous and success is seen only as the minimum requirement.
Mistakes must be acknowledged and addressed responsibly. But only those who do nothing make no mistakes — and initiative is a highly valued quality. Mistakes can and should be viewed in organisations more as a form of learning than as a failure. Failures, especially when public, may trigger group “punishment” and discourage new initiatives. Yet we must remain aware of the potential for error when carrying out experiments and know how to mitigate the risks that arise.
The problem is not making mistakes; it is making mistakes without a safety net, acting in an area completely unknown, or rushing simply because we need to “show results”. Above all, we must act responsibly.
In a business world defined by speed and constant change, mistakes are no longer taboo — they have become opportunities. When an organisation embraces mistakes as a natural part of the learning process, something powerful happens: innovation emerges, processes are refined, and resilience is built that cannot be easily shaken.
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