© Inter IKEA Systems B.V. 1976 - 2016
Humbleness
A nice word, though often misused. More than anything else, it really means
respect. We are humble towards our competitors respecting their proficiency, and
realising that we constantly have to be better than they are, if we’re not going to lose
our market to them. We respect our co-workers and their views. We recognise the
value of actively listening, and know that the only lasting victories are those where
there are no losers. And we also have respect for the task we have set ourselves: it
entails more than you realise, and our success is built on a foundation of
unglamorous groundwork.
It is certainly not a sign of respect if you make life difficult for colleagues by failing
to give them sufficient information, or failing to tell them how and where they can
reach you.
It is vital that we IKEA co-workers don’t lose sight of our humbleness in the face
of all our success. Success breeds envy and can easily become the worst enemy of
humbleness. We must also bear in mind that today’s success can soon turn into
tomorrow’s failure if we let ourselves become intoxicated with our own
achievements rather than knuckling down to more hard work.
We must be willing to accept criticism and act upon it without delay. Listen to
customers, suppliers and others around you. Friendliness, appreciation and praise are
good investments which don’t cost anything. Being humble means admitting your
mistakes, not blaming others. It’s big to say you’re sorry.
Being humble isn’t the same as keeping a low profile. If you have something
important to say, say it. Being humble means admitting your weaknesses, and trying
to put them right.
Being humble doesn’t mean being over-kind either. A manager who lets co-
workers do a bad job without pointing this out is far from humble. Sometimes you
have to be cruel to be kind.
Consideration, respect, friendliness, generosity, sincerity, admitting your mistakes,
listening to others – these are the qualities we like to encourage within IKEA
organisations. This is what we mean by humbleness.