Once we have tasted success for a season, we tend to become bored with the fundamentals that made us successful. We become increasingly excited by innovation and pioneering. We become eager to expand.

This happens to rockstar solo acts and to monolithic corporations. Size doesn’t matter, and neither does longevity. This zealous drive can be a good thing, but it becomes dangerous when the basics are forgotten.

Forgetting the basics is the opposite of getting stuck in a rut (i.e., on course but no progress). You are making progress  but not in the right direction. The basics keep you on course, but enthusiasm gives you speed.

A History of Lego

Once upon a time, Lego forgot the basics and almost never recovered. For almost 7 decades (1932-1998), Lego was all profits. Then they lost money and more money to the point that private-equity firms were lining up to buy the remains in 2004.

What happened?

Years of success made Lego complacent, financially inefficient, systematically inefficient, and very overstretched. As The Mail puts it:

The problem lay not with the product, but with the company’s attempts in the Nineties to make itself more modern and relevant in the age of video games. It had attempted to broaden its appeal to the young female market; it had tried to become a lifestyle brand with its own lines of clothes and watches; it had built more theme parks. But in doing so it had neglected its core business.

The Solution

Lego went back to the basics. Essentials were simplified, guarded, and emphasized.

Nonessentials were sold, scraped, or overhauled. Theme parks and video games were sold then licensed. Buildings were sold then leased. Staffing was downsized. Processes were outsourced. And manufacturing was streamlined, including a 60%+ reduction of Lego brick types.

Lego went back to the basics and is growing again because of it. In fact, today Lego is thriving despite the global financial crisis.

The Lesson

As your organization grows and succeeds, be mindful of the basics. Guard your brand, your goals, your core values, and what made you successful in the first place. There may be fast-paced seasons that naturally cause you to focus on something else, but always return to the basics as quickly as possible.