I recently completed the LEGO Ideas Typewriter, a fan-designed set based on the typewriter used by the founder of the LEGO Group, Ole Kirk Kristiansen. It’s retro green with a functional paper roller and carriage return. I love it so much.
And, since this 2,000+ brick set takes a while to build, I had some time to think. As y’all know, I’m a nerd who loves pop culture and games. LEGO sets have a strong brand identity and intergenerational, long-lived appeal. What can entrepreneurs and leaders in other industries learn from LEGO?
LEGO Leadership Lessons, Inspired by a QWERTY Typewriter
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Quality LEGO’s high quality is evident in everything the company produces, right down to the box you’re probably going to recycle rather than keep. That across-the-board quality builds trust in the set before you even begin building it.
Whimsy LEGO models embrace the fanciful and the realistic. There’s an entire line featuring elves & dragons, as well as sets based on movies like Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Even the neighborhood and home sets have flourishes like a whole fish in the cat’s food dish. By making whimsy a foundation of their sets, LEGO created an entertainment “home” for all kinds of imaginations.
Effort Part of the appeal of LEGO sets is the work of building it. Snapping bricks into place is satisfying on its own and making something as complicated as a typewriter is a treat for someone like me whose work tools are pens rather than wrenches.
Relaxation Paradoxically, the work of building a LEGO set is relaxing, a kind of moving meditation. Because it comprises many small steps, each build requires a level of concentration that pushes other ideas from your attention. The end result is a completed build as well as a calmer mind.
Typewriter I’ve wanted the LEGO typewriter since I first saw the set. I learned on an electric typewriter, not a computer keyboard, a fact that my heavily-percussive style of hitting the keys still proclaims. I think I find white noise while writing so effective because I’m used to producing my own from my own long-ago machine.
Young and Young at Heart LEGOs are not just toys for little kids. The company’s tremendously popular Botanicals and Architecture lines are more likely to appeal to older teens and adults than children. Likewise, I was utterly delighted to receive two sets based on the Raiders of the Lost Ark trilogy, although my 20-something nephew – a LEGO devotee himself – remains baffled as to why.
Universal Design LEGO embraces universal design as much as possible for a toy that requires manual dexterity. Sets include a lever to pry up misplaced pieces more easily. The directions are all pictures and include a 1:1 scale to more easily disntguish pieces that might be mistaken for each other. The company also does not assume that users can intuit how to assemble mirror-image components; instead, each component gets its own set of directions. LEGO has even developed a Braille tutorial using its bricks.
Ideas LEGO Ideas – including the typewriter – is a line of sets initially designed by and voted upon by fans. Including fans in developing new products builds loyalty and commitment.
Orientation Details matter! Is the clip facing up-down or side-side? Is the 1-dot bricks squarely in line with the rest of the build or is it askew? Paying attention to the orientation of a build – to all of the details – is the difference between success and frustration.
Play LEGO sets are toys, first and foremost. Building the sets is part of the fun; imagining new scenarios for playing with them is another. You can’t take yourself too seriously while providing your own clickety clack sounds. Making the time for play rejuvenates the spirit.
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Adaptability LEGO re-uses pieces for new purposes. Lily pads become tree foliage. Automobile headlights double as space capsule rockets. Blades are both propeller pieces and sunflower petals. Adapting pieces keeps LEGO sets interconnected, literally and metaphorically.
Standard Adaptability is possible because each size and style of LEGO brick is standard. The 8-dot brick will work in any set that calls for it, past or present. When a tiny piece for connecting the typewriter’s space bar skittered across my floor to places unknown, I was able to borrow an extra from our spare parts stash. Consistent standards are synonymous with LEGO.
Display LEGO sets make terrific displays and our house is a series of impromptu galleries. The International Space Station and NASA Lunar Lander and Rover grace one bookcase, the Ghostbusters car, 007’s Astin Martin, and the Millennial Falcon are atop another. I’m terrible at keeping plants alive, so it’s a good thing that the LEGO Botanicals look so wonderful in the bay window. The typewriter will have pride of place on my desk. Displaying built sets is passive marketing keeps the brand in frequent conversation.
Fun LEGOs lighten up any space. From their bright colors to their interactive components to their storylines, a built LEGO set draws attention, smiles, and interaction.
Gift LEGO sets are fantastic gifts because they come in so many themes and number of pieces/complexity, or, no theme at all, just random bricks to let your imagination roam free. LEGO sets aren’t inherently gendered, so they’re appropriate for a wide range of ages and stages of life. Not many products cut across demographics as widely as LEGO does.
Hazard The pain of stepping on a LEGO brick is such a well-known hazard that it’s a meme.
Joy Leaning in to what brings you joy strengthens everything you do. I’ve used LEGOs to illustrate assignments in my college classes and I talk about builds I’m working on. By sharing my authentic self, including the joy of an afternoon spent with LEGOs, I’m a more effective professor with my students.
Keys The typewriter keys are round, with a realistic heft. Obviously, LEGO wanted to get the central feature of a typewriter correct, but their satisfying feel on the fingertips is an unexpected element.
LEGO The company name is all capitals, always.
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Zen The LEGO bonsai tree and tranquil garden sets are a beautiful blending of Eastern culture and Western engineering. There’s a fine line between appreciation and appropriation, one that LEGO gets right.
EXpression LEGO minifigures have more personality than you might expect. Most of the minifigs are have a blocky torso with independently-moveable legs and arms, and a head with a fixed expression for its face. Somehow, those few elements combine to show the full range of emotions. That’s a large part of their appeal.
Creativity LEGO sets give you creative license. Whatever the build book says to do, there’s nothing actually stopping you from assembling the set differently. One of my favorite examples is the time that our daughter reverse engineered a staircase for a LEGO house, because the family had no way to get between the first and second floors.
Variety Do you like animals? Buildings? Cars? Disney? LEGO has something for every interest, which reinforces the intergenerational loyalty to the brand. Your kids and grandkids don’t have to like the same thing you like in order to enjoy LEGOs together.
Bricks LEGO pieces are called bricks.
Nostalgia Memories of playing with LEGOs as a kid are a significant source of my current delight with them. Few toys from my childhood have endured, and even grown in cultural presence, as well as LEGO sets have. LEGO has successfully tapped that theme without being trivial or condescending.
Maker LEGO sets put you in charge of executing your vision, adapting and updating is as often as serves you. That’s a really powerful message for kids and adults.
How About You?
Do you have a favorite LEGO set or a story about playing with LEGOs? If you could make anything into a LEGO build, what would it be?
Tell us about it in the comments.
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