The Fundamental Principle Of Business According To Godtfred Kirk – A Founder Of LEGO
Although Godtfred invented a system of play, paradoxically, on the management level he was not very inclined to systematization. He found that planning was too binding and killed empowerment. On the other hand, he had a deep understanding of every link in the production and sales chain, and often, simply by intuition, he could highlight the opportunities or problems of a new idea. Godtfred remained the driving force behind the development of new models and materials until the end of the 1960s, when LEGO really internationalized, and was able to maintain the basic idea of the gaming system at all times.
Developing a new product meant expanding and deepening the possibilities of bricks, instead of creating a completely new toy. For Godtfred, the focus on the fundamental idea of LEGO was linked to a great respect for customers and especially children. In a speech in 1959, he said: “Children are critical. You can never force a child to play with a toy he doesn't like. On the contrary, if the toy attracts him, there is no way to make him stop playing with it”. He was so familiar with the world of children that he often sat on the ground with his collaborators, playing with bricks, so as to devise new systems from the perspective of a child. This experience of the toy, together with his approach to product development, instilled respect and inspiration in his collaborators, at a time when the concepts of focus groups and user-driven innovation had not yet been invented, and when it seemed obvious that the experts were adults.
The success of LEGO was widely reported in the media, and as early as the 1960s, every week, schools, associations and companies organised visits to Billund to see how those famous bricks were produced. Godtfred had commissioned his cousin, Dagny Holm, to build a series of large LEGO models, representing houses, castles and animals. The exhibition became a big attraction, and longer and longer queues formed at the entrance. In 1963, Godtfred had the idea of creating a permanent exhibition space. He turned to the local bank, asking for financial support, but only got a rejection. The bank did not want to believe that Billund would receive three hundred thousand visitors a year. This was in fact the assumption that it would make the project financially viable. Godtfred was willing to give in and further elaborated the idea, and even expanded it. Moreover, that was one of the last occasions when Godtfred asked for help from a bank. Arnold Boutrup, who at the time was the interior designer in charge of the Anvas department store, was hired to implement the project. It took him two years to develop the project for a park of over one hundred thousand square meters, with rides and a hotel, decorated with LEGO buildings.
Finally, on 17 June 1968, LEGOLAND opened. The expectation at LEGO was 250, 000-300, 000 visitors. In the first year, 625, 000 visitors arrived. LEGO employees had to mobilize their family members to cope with such a large number of people, preventing the park from giving in under such pressure. LEGOLAND is still one of Denmark's biggest tourist attractions, with around 1. 7 million visitors every year.
