In Good Company with Nicolai Tangen Niels B. Christiansen: Leading LEGO, Competing in the Digital Age, and Shaping Creative Minds
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Sep 17, 2025 Niels B. Christiansen, the CEO of LEGO, shares insights on the company's journey since 2017. He discusses the challenge of competing for children's attention in the digital age and emphasizes the importance of intergenerational play. Niels highlights the balance of creativity and complexity in product development, including launching hundreds of new items each year. He also addresses sustainability efforts, the role of AI in future designs, and the significance of learning from failures to shape LEGO's innovative path. A journey through creativity and leadership!
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Play Reflects A Deep Creative Impulse
- Children model creative play and Lego amplifies that innate drive to create objects and tools.
- Niels Christiansen argues Lego bricks tap into a 5,000-year human impulse to build and invent.
Competing For Children's Time
- LEGO competes for children's time, not just toy market share, against screens and digital media.
- That competition makes staying relevant harder but underscores the developmental value of hands-on play.
Give Designers Unstructured Freedom
- Give designers freedom and a creative environment to flourish, including unstructured time.
- Christiansen enforces a two-weekly free day where designers can pursue any idea outside the roadmap.