When Business Is Love

In today’s hypercompetitive business world, can you really run a business on love?

The Swedish firm Hästens enjoys an outstanding international reputation for creating the finest beds in the world, as evidenced by a client list that includes everyone from Hollywood royalty to actual crowned heads of state. Its luxurious, handcrafted, top-of-the-line Grand Vividus sells for as much as USD 750,000. Several decades ago, when the five generation family-owned business was struggling, CEO Jan Ryde promised himself that when annual sales reached SEK 1 billion (or USD 100 million), he would write a book explaining how a business can run on love.

Under Jan’s direction, the company reached its goal, now selling its beautiful beds, many with the firm’s iconic blue check pattern, in fifty countries around the world. In When Business is Love: The Spirit of Hästens—At Work, At Play, and Everywhere in Your Life, Jan shares his leadership philosophy and explains how any business, in any field, can operate on the basis of love. The book examines more than twenty facets of Jan’s methodology, from establishing a culture that values people, imagination, craftsmanship, and mastery, to living such vital traits as honesty, openness, forgiveness, integrity, humility, and encouragement.

You’ll go on an unforgettable journey from the company’s founding in 1852 as a one-man saddlery to one of the world’s most beloved brands with stores from Los Angeles to London, from Istanbul to Singapore. You’ll find yourself asking the question that motivates the entire Hästens team: how good do you want to have it?