LEGO executive shares corporate lessons, advice for supercharging creativity

Skip Kodak, regional president of the LEGO Group’s Americas business, challenged the audience of the 39th annual F. William Harder Lecture in Business Administration to try something a little bit unexpected: think inside the box. 
  
“Constraints aren’t limitations, they’re inspirations for your creativity,” Kodak said during his March 6 presentation, “Supercharge Creativity with Constraints,” in Skidmore’s Gannett Auditorium. “By restraining the amount of options you have, you push yourself toward new solutions. It sounds counterintuitive, but by removing options, you can increase the speed at which you create.” 
  
In business, it’s important to obey the limits of time and space, fiscal responsibility, and environmental sustainability, Kodak noted. So to demonstrate that you don’t need much of something to be creative — and in fact, boundaries are beneficial — he invited the audience to take part in a few interactive exercises, one of which asked each individual to build their own duck using the six LEGO bricks they received before the start of the lecture. As neighbors compared and observed how differently each of their ducks was assembled, Kodak proved his point — that there are myriad ways to create with limited resources. 
  
Unbounded innovation — from opening new amusement parks to developing video games — at times put a financial strain on the LEGO Group, Kodak explained as he presented a glimpse into the company’s evolution since its beginnings in 1932. 

  
“We had to focus on delivering a core business that we were really good at,” Kodak said. “There’s a power in doing something you know well and doing that vertically, and there’s a huge opportunity in partnering with other industries to get your product into their spaces.” 
  
Staying true to the LEGO Group’s four promises — play, people, partner, and planet — has allowed the company to weather two major financial crises and a global health crisis, Kodak noted. “Our product and our brand come through in how we think about our people and our company.” 
  
Among the personal lessons he has learned over the years, he has found that external is greater than internal, the team is greater than ego, execution is greater than strategy, and learning is greater than perfection.  

It matters what you can execute more than what you can imagine sometimes. ... Don’t let perfect stand in the way of better.”

Skip Kodak

regional president, LEGO Group - Americas

Kodak joined the LEGO Group in 2002 in U.S. sales and led global retail, marketing, and supply chain teams previously for the company. Before the LEGO Group, he spent 15 years in advancing roles at Heinz, Ocean Spray, and P&G.

The annual F. William Harder Lecture at Skidmore College was inaugurated in 1985 and made possible by the generosity of F. William Harder, a Skidmore parent and College trustee from 1968 to 1980. The lecture invites industry leaders to explore the current business environment and the challenges that lie ahead. 
 
This year’s lecture was organized by Matt Lucas, Skidmore’s 10th F. William Harder Chair of Business Administration. 

 
In addition to delivering his lecture, Kodak visited Skidmore classes and participated in other activities with students and faculty.  
 
This year, the College also hosted a “LEGO Masters”-style competition, the Skidmore Building Challenge, where student groups were asked to build a Skidmore-themed project in a single day.  
 
“It’s all about collaboration — about getting a team of people who work really well together,” said Johnny Mulcahy ’24, a double major in music and health and human physiological sciences, who was part of the winning team that depicted a Northwoods garden scene with LEGO bricks. “It’s sort of what Creative Thought Matters is about at the end of the day.”