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When I was a boy, I loved Lego, probably my favorite toy, certainly the most enduring.

Through all the phases with Star Wars figurines, GI Joe, Transformers, even the Atari and Tandy TSR80

that captivated me so, Lego remained a stalwart favorite.

And I was a pretty good builder. I remember visiting my cousin once and playing with his Lego

collection. I picked up a block of randomly stuck together bricks and began pulling them apart

until my cousin objected, hey, you've destroyed my boat. I'm here to tell you it didn't look

like a boat, but I was very apologetic and promised to build him a new one. And I did. It was fantastic,

but apparently too good because my cousin took one look at it, smashed it on the ground and then

stormed off. And you know, I still love Lego. My daughter has a substantial collection,

and I don't mind one bit getting down onto the rug and building alongside her. So it's been a

fantastic journey to investigate the very beginnings of these small interlocking bricks

in the newest season of my podcast business movers. It all started in the aftermath of World War

2 when the future of a small family-owned toy maker in Denmark was under threat as economies

reopened in competition group. The company tried embracing plastic alongside its traditional

wooden toys, but that left its product line an unappealing mess. So the son of the founder and

heir to the business took the dramatic decision to focus on just one core product. And those little

plastic bricks built a business that eventually became the global leader in the toy industry.

I love this story, and I love this podcast. So while you're listening to this episode,

be sure to search for and follow business members. We put a link in the show notes to make it easy for you.

Hi, I'm David Brown, the host of Wondery's podcast business wars. And in our new season,

two of the world's leading hotel brands, Hilton and Marriott,

...