David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants

at its peak. Within a year, East and West
would come to the brink of nuclear war
during the Cuban Missile Crisis. The
equivalent today would be Walmart
setting up shop in North Korea. Most
people wouldn’t even think of doing
business in the land of the enemy for fear
of being branded a traitor. Not Kamprad.
He didn’t care a whit for what others
thought of him. That’s disagreeableness.
Only a very small number of people
have the creativity to think of shipping
furniture flat and outsourcing in the face
of a boycott. An even smaller number
have not only those kinds of insights but
also the discipline to build a first-class
manufacturing operation in an economic