Case Study: Jan Ryde / When Business is Love

A century and a half ago, a Swedish saddle maker fell in love and moved to the town of Köping where his beloved resided, and re-established his saddlery there. Back then, your customers were your neighbors, so you had to deliver the highest level of mastery and quality if your business was to thrive. Around the turn of the century, that saddler’s son recognized that horses were going out and cars were coming in. So, he took the skills that went into saddlery and started to make extraordinarily high-quality beds.

A century later, the Hästen brand stands for the same thing that the founder stood for a century and a half ago—mastery, quality, and a sense that they are making products not for strangers but for friends around the world. Hästens is famous for its Grand Vivitus bed, which retails for more than $750,000 and is a favorite of celebrities like Drake and Post Malone. At the same time, Hästen’s beds, which are warrantied for 25 years and typically last twice to three times that long, sell from $10,000 and up. Hästen is the Swedish word for horse, which befits the company’s origins and points to the fact that the beds are filled with the finest quality horsehair sourced from around the world. Horsehair provides a more restful night of sleep because it does not overheat or wear out. The handmade beds—the ones at price points below the Grand Vivitus—belong to celebrities, including Taylor Swift, Oprah Winfrey, Ellen DeGeneres, Charlie Sheen, Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Maria Sharapova, and a host of others.

The fifth-generation CEO of the company, Jan Ryde, took over when it was in the doldrums a generation ago. A business school professor, he had concluded that the best way to run an enterprise was not on competition or fear but love. He promised himself that he would write a book about that philosophy when the company reached the $100 million sales level. When Business is Love is that book.

The book details the company’s journey from its founder, the love-struck master saddler, through five generations of growth and service. When Business is Love breaks down the various components of Hästen’s approach to business—mastery, love of people, quality, work, and so on—and offers a refreshingly positive outlook on how to build and serve.For me, one of the most fun things about working on the book was the chance to make repeated visits to Köping to tour the factory and to fluff the horsehair at the heart of every Hästen’s bed. I sleep on a Hästen’s, the T 2000, which retails for around $52,000.

It’s worth it.