LEGO

"In a way, the statement about the vast possibilities was completely correct. LEGO has calculated that two eight-stud LEGO bricks can be combined in 24 ways. Three bricks in over a thousand ways. And six bricks in over nine hundred million ways. The combinations are indeed, as Godtfred put it, endless. Only imagination sets the limits."

"The achievements include A.P. Møller - Mærsk, ISS, LEGO, JYSK, Novo Nordisk, the Danish pig farmers, the Danish EU Presidency 2002, the Welfare State, the Productivity Commission, Skanderborg Municipality, Lotte Nursing Home, and Roskilde Festival."

"One such company is LEGO, known today by billions of people worldwide for its LEGO bricks, which have unleashed the imagination of children and adults for several generations. LEGO’s development has been canonized as one of the greatest management achievements in Denmark since World War II, and an example of successful idea-driven management, where new leaders have managed to create a successful business by bringing an idea into their own time."

"It is this idea that LEGO’s changing leaders have been able to rethink and renew from generation to generation. It is the idea that was almost lost when the company lost faith in itself – and it is the idea that Jørgen Vig Knudstorp and his management team have returned to, while also bringing it into the digital and interactive age."

"But along the way, LEGO was at risk of losing its grip on its idea. In the mid-1990s, the belief faltered that the little building block could maintain children’s desire to create and play. LEGO instead bet on a wide range of other products. The result was that in 2003 the company came close to financial collapse."

"But the small bricks are neither the essence of LEGO nor the idea the company was founded on. The idea and essence of LEGO is good play – that is, toys that support children’s imagination, creativity, and desire to create as much as possible. The building blocks turned out to be the best way LEGO could promote good play."

"By 1934, toy production had become so extensive that Ole Kirk Kristiansen thought it should have a name. He announced a contest among the people in the workshop with a bottle of homemade red wine as the prize. It was Ole Kirk Kristiansen himself who got the bottle. He thought it should be related to good play and came up with LEGO—a contraction of LEg GOdt. Thus, the LEGO Toy Factory in Billund was created."

"And it wasn’t just the neighbors’ children who deserved the best. Ole Kirk Kristiansen maintained the quality when he later produced in large quantities for customers far away. He even gave the quality a motto, which he found in a book: “The best is never too good.” It was put up as a sign in the workshop. Even today, this motto is a guiding value for LEGO."

"One day news arrived that the German Chancellor Adolf Hitler had invaded Poland, and Europe broke out in war. Business-wise, the war turned out to be good news for the small toy factory in Billund. Now the large German toy manufacturers were suddenly completely out of operation, and LEGO could capture larger market shares. Production increased in Billund, war or not."

"In June 1950, Ole Kirk Kristiansen appointed his now 31-year-old son Godtfred as junior director at LEGO. He remained the managing director and chairman of the board."

"Ole Kirk Kristiansen decided to put the blocks into production. The blocks were slightly adjusted—the thickness was changed, and the studs were flattened, but otherwise, they were like Kiddicraft’s blocks. That same year, LEGO entered the market with the so-called Automatic Binding Bricks—it was popular to have English names for toys back then—and sold them, as Kiddicraft did, in a cardboard box with pictures showing what children could build with them."

"Ole Kirk bought a plastic injection molding machine because he believed there were many possibilities in the new material. The machine cost 30,000 kroner. It was 50 percent more than the company’s total profit in 1946. In other words, it was a very risky investment. Although LEGO was now selling 500,000 kroner worth of toys annually, expenses were also many, and cash reserves were low. On a random day in 1947, the company had a cash reserve of just 6,000 kroner and a bank debt of 150,000 kroner."

"But the purchase of the plastic molding machine was a success. LEGO produced, among other things, a Ferguson tractor made of plastic, which was sold as a kit. The new plastic tractor sold 20,000 units in the first production run. An unprecedented record for toys from LEGO."

"In 1952, Ole Kirk Kristiansen suddenly intervened in the operations by deciding that the factories in Billund should be expanded again—he wanted greater production capacity. However, liquidity was tight, and the investment, according to Godtfred’s accounts, was larger than LEGO could bear: “I said to father: ‘Let’s start with a third.’ But shortly after, he poked his head in and said: ‘Here, I decide what is to be built, but you get the task of finding the money!’.”"

"Godtfred hired two sales representatives solely to travel around and sell LEGO Bricks and explain to toy retailers the possibilities of the bricks. They did so without success. The representatives’ poor results led Godtfred to spend time himself traveling around and selling toys to retailers. This gave him an understanding of the importance of how the toys were displayed in stores and warehouses. He thought that the bricks should be seen as fully built models so that people could see what could be done with them."

"Similarly, Godtfred rejected ideas of buying other toy companies. Whatever it would bring to LEGO, it would not fit with LEGO’s platform and core idea – or what one would today call a “brand.” He believed that a consistent focus on the core idea and its possibilities was the way to create a strong position in the market and in the consciousness of consumers."

"When Godtfred became junior director in 1950, he changed the name of Automatic Binding Bricks to the Danish LEGO Mursten."

"Before the war, German manufacturers held 90 percent of the Danish toy market. At the same time, toy manufacturers were heavily copying each other, so what LEGO developed one year was on the market the next year at lower German prices—and often in lower quality as well."

"Only LEGO bricks were introduced in Germany, none of the other toys. But the German entry proved not to be easy. As in Denmark, the German toy buyers could not see the idea and believed that Germans were interested in mechanical toys. Export advisors in Denmark shook their heads at the thought of exporting toys to Germany, which had the status of the homeland of toys."

"The conversation made Godtfred think about the requirements the ideal toy for children worldwide should meet. In the following months, he formulated a series of “LEGO characteristics,” which he believed the company’s products should fulfill to have a future: 1. The toy must have a limited scope without restricting the free unfolding of the imagination. 2. It must be affordable in purchase price. 3. It must be simple and durable yet offer rich possibilities for variation. 4. It must be relevant for children of all ages and both genders. 5. It must be timeless, i.e., a classic among toys that does not need renewal. 6. It must be easy to distribute."

"At the end of the 1950s, LEGO contacted Kiddicraft and asked if they had any objections to the LEGO brick. Kiddicraft did not—on the contrary, they wished LEGO good luck since the Kiddicraft bricks had not been a sales success for them. Later, in 1981, LEGO bought the rights to the Kiddicraft bricks from Hilary Fisher Page’s family."

"The rule about being international meant, among other things, that LEGO could not be marketed as a Danish product. According to Godtfred, the best thing that could happen was for the Germans to believe that the company was German and the French to think the products were made in France. They succeeded. Over the years, many countries took credit for being the birthplace and homeland of LEGO."

"LEGO had rediscovered its idea, its customers, and its creativity."

"Up to 2010, LEGO has manufactured over 400 billion building bricks. In 2010 alone, LEGO produced more than 24 billion bricks."

"He sees the future for LEGO as bright. Over the next 20 years, there will be three billion more people on the planet who need to play and learn. Globalization opens new market opportunities in new regions of the world like Asia and Africa. Digitalization will encompass many more dimensions and open up many new products in the coming years."

"“The core business is what you do better than others. The brick, the brand, the building system, and the global fan base are the four things you cannot take from LEGO. Only that. Everything else is not core, and you should challenge yourself on why we do it. That’s why today we have many partners, for example, who produce films where LEGO provides the brand and idea. We no longer do it ourselves,” says Jørgen Vig Knudstorp."

"“In 15 years, I believe we will see a radically different LEGO than today, but it will be based on the same idea. LEGO is timeless and universal. Americans perceive LEGO as an essential part of American culture. Many other countries also believe they have the honor of LEGO. It’s only fitting that everyone can reflect on it and say that this is an expression of our culture. It shows the durability of the idea,” says Jørgen Vig Knudstorp, just as Godtfred predicted many years ago."

"The story of LEGO shows that an idea does not survive on its own – it must be continuously reinterpreted and transformed to meet new technological and market conditions. In that process, it is crucial that the qualities that make the idea special remain intact."

"Not because the crisis would have killed the LEGO idea. The LEGO brick, with everything it represents, would likely have continued to exist under the management of another company, such as Disney. Children still play with their fingers, whether it’s with sand, clay, or LEGO bricks. However, the LEGO brick would probably no longer have been an idea developed and sold from Denmark."

"“Kjeld is the one who understands the brand better than anyone else. I have learned it through him – through many, many hours of conversations. Kjeld is the innovator who understands the product and creates the brand and the visions. He is involved in all strategic decisions, hiring top executives, management compensation systems, strategies, brand, culture, forecasts. Keep in mind that Kjeld professionalized LEGO and raised the revenue from millions to many billions. It was only when he became ill that things started to go badly. I told him that he probably should have changed the management 10 years before he handed it to me. He would have gotten much more out of it. It would still have been a difficult period to navigate through, and no one says that a new leader would have done the right thing. It may be that I, too, would have spread the LEGO brand too thin because that was what everyone said one should do back then. But it is very clear to me today that a strong brand has a clear focus,” says Jørgen Vig Knudstorp."

"Today, Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen has taken on the role of owner and has entirely left the management to a professional director. This does not mean that Kjeld Kirk and the family have relinquished influence over LEGO. Although Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen is no longer visible to the public, he is Jørgen Vig Knudstorp’s closest advisor and sparring partner:"

"Godtfred insisted, however, that the focus should be on the bricks and the system around them. If the focus shifted, Godtfred feared that competitors would catch up and overtake LEGO."

"When Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen bet on Jørgen Vig Knudstorp, it wasn’t just because Jørgen Vig, as a leader, was a good analyst and strategist. Kjeld Kirk sensed that Jørgen Vig understood LEGO’s core idea – he had read up on it and talked for hours with Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen about the thoughts and attitudes behind it all."

"Part of the focus was identifying LEGO’s core customers and mobilizing them as ambassadors and partners through competitions such as the FIRST LEGO League robot design, which was held in 20 countries and attracted 100,000 participants in 2004, contributing to the perception of LEGO as not just another toy, but something unique with endless possibilities for creative expression."

"“There are far too many leaders who, in times of crisis, are only concerned with distancing themselves from the past and thinking entirely from scratch. Experiences from LEGO show that it is incredibly important to constantly hold on to the past while developing towards the future,” says Majken Schultz."

"LEGO and its leaders are not the first—nor likely the last—to discuss the water level at length while the ship sinks. American business researcher Jim Collins has analyzed the reasons behind companies’ rise and fall. In the book “How the Mighty Fall”—based on a total of 6,000 years of corporate history—he explains how the fall begins with success, because success breeds complacency, and complacency breeds blindness to reality, leading to a careless pursuit of more success, as one takes it for granted and ignores the facts, creating fertile ground for problems and threats until they grow large enough to trigger the fall. Exactly what was about to happen to LEGO."

"Jørgen Vig Knudstorp confided his concerns to Poul Plougmann and was asked to prepare a report. Jørgen Vig wrote the report – a critical description of LEGO’s condition and development – and sent it to the board with a copy to the management, instead of just to Plougmann himself."

"When Kjeld Kirk returned to LEGO after a year’s absence, it was without the old energy. He had lost the desire to take the CEO seat again to be part of the endless series of meetings inherent to the job. Ideally, he wanted to find a new way to run LEGO. He had a clear realization that LEGO needed to reinvent itself to survive in the new, IT-driven global experience economy, which offered children so much excitement that hadn’t existed ten years before. The question was just how."

"Family-owned LEGO had always been driven by a strong, enterprising leader whose authority was not up for discussion because he was also the owner. Now there emerged an unprecedented vacuum that created confusion—and room for power struggles. The new marketing-oriented leaders were not focused on developing new, expensive digital blocks but on boosting the sales of the classic blocks, which were under pressure. They also wanted to capitalize on the unique brand that LEGO had become in all sorts of other product areas."

"In 2003, Jesper Ovesen was hired as the CFO at LEGO. He came from Danske Bank and before that from Novo Nordisk and Baltica – a skilled and experienced financial expert who quickly and straightforwardly addressed the organization’s fiscal weaknesses. At his first management conference, he began by writing a large multi-billion figure on a blank board and asked the leaders if they could guess what the number stood for. None could. The figure was the amount the management had destroyed for LEGO’s shareholders."

"Kjeld Kirk supported the new ideas of a broad push into a range of new areas with the LEGO brand as the waving battle banner, making it possible to create new revenues that could replace the loss on the bricks. With growth as a guiding star, LEGO’s marketing people set out to develop a wide range of new product areas where LEGO could leverage its brand. Video games, movies, the internet, clothing, action figures - everything suddenly became relevant and was being developed for enormous amounts. One of the major decisions was to accelerate the rollout of LEGOLAND parks worldwide. Godtfred himself had been part of the decision to build the first LEGOLAND outside Denmark in London, but he wanted to see it operate for a few years before moving on – he wasn’t sure about the concept. Now the decision was to open a new LEGOLAND every three years and not wait for the experiences from London. The investment in the new parks was enormous. Most of it was done in LEGO’s own management, because it was still a LEGO value to preferably produce things themselves to have control over the quality."

"“LEGO’s core idea was thinning out. LEGO had become a sausage machine, looking at prices, at blocks in buckets for $4.99 each. Kjeld wanted something different, but marketing analysts said there was no market for computers in bricks. He couldn’t get his ideas through; they didn’t want to make it. So he asked me if I wanted to do it. I wanted to.” At Kjeld Kirk’s direct request, LEGO Dacta developed a prototype of an IT-controlled LEGO robot that could be programmed to follow a line on the table. After the presentation of the prototype to management, Kjeld Kirk said with great satisfaction: “That is the strongest expression of LEGO’s values for the next 20-30 years.” The combination of construction toys and IT programming expanded the possibilities for creating with LEGO and was a direct continuation of LEGO’s fundamental idea. Two years later, LEGO Mindstorms was launched as a bid for LEGO in the computer age. The “smart” bricks meant that children could now use LEGO to construct behavior or intelligence. In the next ten years, over one billion kroner worth of Mindstorms kits were sold."

"But the opposite happened. Poul Plougmann had had two chances to get LEGO back on track. Now a third, even more critical rescue attempt was at hand, where it was clear many would have to be dismissed. Trust was gone. Poul Plougmann was dismissed. Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen stepped in and took over the leadership of LEGO and brought the 34-year-old Jørgen Vig Knudstorp close to him as an advisor, flanked by Jesper Ovesen."

"However, Tyco’s attack did not have the devastating impact on sales that LEGO feared. Over the years, LEGO had built a strong image with its products and systematic marketing, not least a production technical superiority that ensured bricks of high quality. It was easy to notice the difference between the copy products and the LEGO bricks, which were produced with precision to a fraction of a millimeter, ensuring all bricks always fit and stuck together as they should. This helped protect sales. But competition from Tyco’s much lower prices forced the prices of LEGO bricks down."

"In 1994, LEGO occupied 80 percent of the market for construction toys in the USA. LEGO had 8,800 employees and revenue nearing 9 billion kroner. The LEGO system was now sold in 60,000 stores in over 130 countries. Hundreds of millions of children worldwide had played with LEGO bricks. LEGO was clearly Europe’s largest toy manufacturer and one of the five largest in the world, with American companies Mattel and Hasbro as the biggest. Unlike LEGO, Mattel and Hasbro focused on a wide range of toys, not a single product idea."

"Kjeld Kirk had managed nearly to tenfold LEGO’s revenue without abandoning LEGO’s core idea. Under his leadership, the company expanded the range of LEGO products, while delving even deeper into the product idea itself, among other things by collaborating with psychologists and experts in children’s play. For example, in 1989, Seymour Papert was appointed LEGO Professor of Learning Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and LEGO Futura—the LEGO development division—opened an office near MIT. Papert had developed an educational theory he called “constructionism.” According to the theory, learning is particularly successful when children are engaged in constructing something they enjoy making, such as a sandcastle, a poem, a machine, a story, a computer program, or a song. Equally importantly, Papert collaborated with LEGO on a programming language that allowed children to control the things they built with LEGO elements and program them to move and respond to, for example, light. The personal computer had made its way into homes, and with it came computer games, which increasingly captured children’s playtime. For Kjeld Kirk, it became crucial for LEGO to take a new evolutionary step. His father had moved LEGO from wood to plastic. Now Kjeld Kirk saw it as his task to elevate LEGO from physical building blocks to digital bytes. The question was just how."

"“A company’s strength begins with a crystal-clear idea of why it exists and is sustained by the leadership living it out. If the belief in why we are there weakens, then the company is in danger, and that belief cannot be read from the financial statement. You can maintain the idea by creating products that support the belief. LEGO’s financial crisis started as a crisis of belief. They aimed for the stars but lost the footing they stood on. The problem is that when things are going well, you often forget to ask why they are going well. It is an important exercise. If you don’t know it when a crisis hits, you risk making mistakes. At the same time, LEGO is an example of what happens if the owner is ill and the board is asleep at the wheel. LEGO’s crisis was visible as early as 1996-97, even though it broke out seriously years later.”"

"Things became really unpleasant for LEGO in 1984 when the American toy manufacturer Tyco realized that LEGO’s patent had expired and began producing bricks identical to LEGO’s, which were sold cheaply in buckets. LEGO tried to combat Tyco legally but failed. Copy products flooded the American market."

"In 1965, LEGO established a proper development department. It was necessary, but Godtfred was nervous about the construction. He feared that entirely new product ideas would sneak in, which had nothing to do with the LEGO system—because in the department, it would likely be reasoned that it was too vulnerable to build the company on just one idea and that it would be good to spread the risk."

"With Kjeld Kirk’s entry into the management, LEGO was effectively undergoing a new generational shift. But it did not proceed peacefully. Godtfred and Kjeld, as father and son, had many emotions involved in their discussions with each other. There were almost daily heated discussions or even outright arguments, so that Godtfred’s wife, Edith, often had to intervene between the two men. Kjeld Kirk experienced unreasonably much skeptical opposition to his ideas from his father, who kept “interfering” in the operations. Godtfred, who had invested his whole life and existence in the company, and who loved working with the products and the company, felt a loss of his identity by relinquishing influence and stepping back."

"In 2004, sales fell another 10 percent. The deficit reached a historic high of nearly 2 billion kroner. But the figures also showed that the trend had reversed. In 2005, LEGO made a profit of half a billion. In 2006, the profit was 1.4 billion kroner. With themes like LEGO City, LEGO launched a series of new products that same year, based on the classic LEGO brick, achieving fantastic sales. This demonstrated that the development department had rediscovered its focus, its faith, and its creativity regarding the possibilities of the bricks. LEGO Mindstorms NXT was launched – a new, updated version of the eight-year-old Mindstorms robot, which could both see, hear, speak, and feel, allowing users to build and program a robot in just half an hour. The LEGO Exoforce, LEGO SpongeBob SquarePants, LEGO Avatar, and LEGO Batman series were introduced. Later followed by LEGO Indiana Jones, LEGO Agents, and LEGO Speed Racer."

"By the threshold of the 1980s, LEGO had grown so large that neither Godtfred nor anyone else could manage to explain the quickly growing number of new employees about the values and attitudes in LEGO culture. Kjeld Kirk therefore hired three employees tasked with arranging a series of seminars for the leaders, called LUP (LEGO Univers Partners), thereby strengthening self-understanding and culture. This later became a leadership course—“The IMD Experience”—which created a common understanding of strategy, organization, market situation, and LEGO’s unique foundational ideas."

"“In hindsight, it seems as if LEGO has always had a clear idea, but history shows how the idea has evolved over time and has been tested many times. The greatest risk of losing the idea comes from within when the company either loses sight of itself or has been seized by growth fever,” says Majken Schultz."

"Importantly, Kjeld Kirk had learned about market segmentation at IMD. He believed that LEGO should create different LEGO products for different ages and interests, so the products would more precisely meet the needs of each child."

"On June 7, 1968, LEGOLAND finally opened. Internally, LEGO expected 250,000-300,000 visitors. 625,000 guests came in the first year. LEGO employees were asked to mobilize family members to help handle the many visitors so that the park would not collapse under the pressure."

"Undeterred by the rejection, Godtfred continued working on the idea and only made it even bigger. If Walt Disney could captivate people to visit Disneyland, which was a huge success, why shouldn’t LEGO be able to do the same with the great interest there was? It was also one of the last times he asked a bank for assistance."

"“LEGO is an idea-driven company. It can be difficult to hold onto an idea. But the idea becomes stronger when you concentrate. If you spread yourself too thin, you lose your identity. Companies usually don’t die from hunger but from indigestion. You need to grow and grow, and then you start to dilute the brand. LEGO found itself in an identity crisis. When you expand on as many fronts as LEGO did, there is a tendency to forget the core business. The values had been hollowed out at LEGO. Management had become a process-oriented culture with steering groups and the like, where everyone was involved and everyone had a say, but no one felt responsible. I said that now we have to make tough decisions and become clear on where the responsibility lies,” says Jørgen Vig Knudstorp."

"Godtfred hired Arnold Boutrup, the then chief decorator of the department store Anva, who spent two years developing a plan for a 100,000 m2 family park with attractions, a hotel, and decorated with LEGO models."

"The focus on the core idea of LEGO was linked for Godtfred with a great respect for LEGO’s customers or users – the children. In a speech in 1959, he said:"

"And durability or quality has not been an obstacle to new sales. Indeed, 27 percent of children inherit the long-lasting LEGO bricks. But it has also been shown that families who pass on LEGO bricks to children buy more new boxes of LEGO bricks than other families."

"Another consequence of the LEGO values was that Godtfred insisted on doing most things themselves – from development through production to marketing and sales. For example, from the beginning, Godtfred opposed having the LEGO system sold by wholesalers along with thousands of other types of toys. They would not be motivated or have the time to explain the principles behind LEGO well enough. Therefore, LEGO systematically built its own staff of salespeople. Typically, they did not have a background in the toy industry because Godtfred did not consider LEGO to be a toy. LEGO was much more – it was about children’s development and learning, and therefore LEGO should not be sold with words and concepts derived from the toy industry."

"This focus on quality is reflected in the fact that LEGO bricks produced in 1963—when they switched from using cellulose acetate in favor of the more stable acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS plastic), which is still used today—continue to maintain most of their shape and color. There is still a good connection between the bricks from 1963 and the LEGO bricks produced today."

"LEGO’s success garnered much coverage in the press, and already in the early 1960s, schools, organizations, and businesses visited Billund every week to see how the famous bricks were made. Godtfred had his cousin, the artist Dagny Holm, build a series of large models with LEGO bricks, depicting houses, castles, and animals. The exhibition became a major attraction, and the queue kept growing. In 1963, Godtfred had the idea for a permanent exhibition area. The plan was to use an area the size of a football field and build a small cafeteria. He approached the local bank for backing for the construction. The answer was no. The bank refused to believe that 300,000 visitors would come to Billund each year, which was the condition for the project to be profitable."

"The attitude of being self-reliant also extended to financing. When success really began to bring in money in the 1960s, Godtfred made LEGO self-financing and largely independent of the goodwill of banks. The money was placed in a finance company, which later became Kirkbi, or commonly known as the “LEGO-bank.”"

"According to Helge Torpe, who joined LEGO in 1958 as an executive assistant, Godtfred Kirk was the first boss he had who did not give an order. At that time, it was such an unfamiliar approach to management that many new LEGO leaders had difficulty figuring out what to do, and many left LEGO again for the same reason."

"The focused commitment to LEGO bricks alone meant, among other things, that LEGO spent 5 million kroner on advertising in 1960 – more than the total advertising budget in all the years since the LEGO brick was developed. Godtfred believed it was necessary to unfold the potential of the LEGO system:"

"In 1960 – at that time there were 450 employees at LEGO – the wood warehouse burned down. Until then, LEGO had continued the production of wooden toys. The day after the fire, Godtfred made a far-reaching decision. He discontinued the production of wooden toys. This would give Godtfred and everyone at LEGO the freedom to focus all resources on the internationalization of LEGO bricks."

"In Denmark, the factory in Billund expanded significantly. LEGO bought both its own trucks and planes, and Godtfred ensured that Billund got its own airstrip so that factory personnel could quickly reach new markets—and customers could easily visit the small Danish village. Relocating the company was out of the question. It would have been a betrayal to the people who dedicated their lives to LEGO, and a catastrophe for the local community, which Godtfred would not entertain."

"In 1961, LEGO expanded to America. Initially, this was through a licensing agreement with Shwayder, the producer of Samsonite suitcases. The contact was established via LEGO’s Swiss director, John Scheidegger, who had been an agent for Shwayder in Europe. LEGO provided molds, machines, and other equipment, while Shwayder handled production and sales."

"Even though LEGO’s system bricks caught on internationally and were successful, Godtfred was not satisfied with the bricks. They didn’t bind properly to each other. To solve the problem, he established a new working group headed by himself. They concluded that if they molded hollow tubes at the bottom of the bricks, they could connect them much more securely and in new ways. This created LEGO’s famous “coupling principle.”"

"With its bricks, LEGO offered to build the new dream in all sorts of variations. So while the parents built new lives in the suburbs of reality, the children could play it out with the bricks."

"His two brothers, Karl Georg and Gerhardt, who also worked at LEGO, did not agree with the decision. It ended with Godtfred buying them and younger brother Johannes out of the company they had inherited together."