25 years of constant development

On 1 July 2020, Executive Vice President Marketing, Sales & Expansion, Jørgen Lund, celebrates 25 eventful years in JYSK.

On a beautiful summer day in 1995, a young adventurous Dane went to Norway to become an apprentice at the JYSK store in Molde.

The name of the young man was Jørgen Lund, and now 25 years later he is still working for JYSK, although no longer in a store in Norway but from an office in Brabrand, Denmark.

In between he worked 10 years in stores in Norway and Denmark, almost four years in Purchasing and in a number of different positions in Sales & Expansion, until he become Executive Vice President Sales & Expansion in December 2017 and Executive Vice President Marketing, Sales & Expansion in February 2019.

“It is no doubt the possibilities to work in new positions or with new countries, which is the reason I have stayed in JYSK for so many years. Combined with our unique culture and strong values that has made JYSK the perfect place for me,” explains Jørgen Lund.

Never bored

He is especially happy that it never becomes boring to work in JYSK.

“JYSK works in the spirit of Lars Larsen. That means that we are not afraid to try new things, and that we always have to deal with new issues. If we have everything under control, we just open stores in a new country, in which we then have to learn to operate,” says Jørgen Lund with a smile.

And even if that becomes too easy, the world is full of challenges in an international company.

“Then they pass some new legislation in Romania, which means that we have to rethink part of our business, or we suddenly have to deal with Brexit or most recently with coronavirus. Of course, there is nothing fun about coronavirus, but me and my team enjoy being challenged and having to overcome obstacles in order to succeed. That makes us better every day, and that is very motivating,” says Jørgen Lund.

Work experience

He believes that learning from experience gives a lot of advantages, and he has never gone back to school, since graduating Business School prior to his apprenticeship.

“I have never found it necessary for everyone to have a lot of diplomas from various universities. Of course there are a lot of people in my department that have spent a lot of years studying, and I think that the best solution is to have a mix of different backgrounds. For me it is just important to point out that years of experience from a store is just as good as a lot of years in school,” says Jørgen Lund.

That is very much in line with the spirit of JYSK and of the founder Lars Larsen, and therefore Jørgen Lund also sees himself staying in JYSK for many years to come.

“It is of course always hard to make detailed plans for the future, but I really like being in JYSK, and my plan is to keep working here until I stop working,” says Jørgen Lund.