Ingvar Kamprad: Wealthy Man, Frugal Man, Entrepreneur Extraordinaire

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Ingvar Kamprad: Wealthy Man, Frugal Man, Entrepreneur Extraordinaire Saint Leo University Introduction Ingvar Kamprad, founder of Swedish-based IKEA is the definition of both a manager or advocate for change and new approaches, and a leader or advocate for stability and the status quo as defined by Nelson & Quick (2013, p.466). An entrepreneurial from his youth he is no stranger to new approaches and innovation and with the foundation of a family business model he leads the business by example with hard work and strict business ethics. Current Issues As stated by Daniels (2004) “Kamprad stepped down as CEO in 1999 to comply with Dutch age retirement laws for chief executives, [however] he's still very active in running the company and often suggests furniture ideas, the company says”. In accordance with this family business model Ingvar Kamprad created an ownership structure that stands for independence and a long-term approach by instituting the IKEA Foundation to reinvest and use for charitable purposes all profits (ikea.com). Kamprad encourages the workforce to feel part of the family. His leadership or managerial style would be team manager with an equal concern to results as well as people. With his lead by example mentality in addition to his willingness to admit mistakes and own up to weaknesses he instills great confidence in his commitment to the employees, relate to him on a personal level, as well as motivates them to reach their highest levels without fear of rebuke for mistakes or failures. As Kamprad is quoted as saying, “if there is such a thing as good leadership, it is to give a good example and I have to do so for all the IKEA employees” (Nelson & Quick, 2013, p.466). In following with his leadership orientation, the employees at IKEA would most likely fall in the effective followers type of followership as defined by Nelson

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