The Clifton Review
The Clifton Review is a tri-weekly column that examines the question of the Clifton project along with the evolution of the war between two billionaires. We covered the start of this war with articles describing the battle over easement rights, the mysterious burning of a home, the blocks to rebuilding, and countless questionable court filings.
While the 2018 series salutes fashion mogul Peter Nygård’s Golden Jubilee detailing his rags to riches story, his incredible business success over these past fifty years and an inside look at how he did it, The Clifton Review will also continue to address current affairs as they relate to the good of The Bahamas.
The Making Of A Multi-Millionaire
By P.J. Malone
“The most important asset I have is enormous energy and staying power; and my training from past history from my parents who gave me the strength for never quitting — we call that in Finland ‘SISU’ staying with it right to the end!” Peter Nygård
Imagine at the age of three when you are just learning how to communicate, and you are creating meaning from everything you observe, that the role model in your life as a little boy, the individual you live and interact with every day, is a man with stumps for legs and only one arm. Everything he does makes an impact. It shapes your thinking for the rest of your life.
If the experience of this individual happened in isolation, then maybe the impact wouldn’t be as powerful. However, if the experience at the age of three is reinforced by other experiences, other information, other demonstrations, the impact would be that much more powerful and long-lasting.
Fashion mogul Peter Nygård spent the formative years of his life watching a man with stumps for legs and one arm perform everyday farm work and drive a buggy to town every week to sell his wife’s wares. Accompanying his ‘Grampa’ to the market and observing him conduct business would have also formed certain impressions.
Though he would not have understood it at the time, the biggest lesson Peter learned from Grampa Nygård was that nothing is impossible. That is the foundational belief that set Peter Nygård on the course of his life. Once that foundation was set, learning about Finnish soldiers, who didn’t cower in the face of the Russians who came in massive numbers with tanks and artillery, made his foundation indestructible. Discovering how the Finns fought against all odds built on that foundation.
Key in the lessons he learned was how the Finns won battles — while immensely outnumbered — by strategizing and outsmarting the Russians, using their knowledge of the terrain around them, and never ever giving up battle after battle. The idea of sisu — grit and determination of sticking with it to the end — demonstrated by their history is a part of the Finnish culture that is always cultivated.
But, Peter Nygård didn’t just observe his Grampa’s grit, and learn the lessons of Finland’s history, he experienced it. Poverty in their new land of Canada didn’t make his father give up, but instead motivated him to chase a bakery truck down the street for days until he got to the bakery it belonged to. It was yet another important lesson for an impressionable eleven-year-old.
The Finnish principle of sisu built on the foundation of a belief that nothing is impossible set the stage for everything Peter Nygård was to do and achieve in his life. It became the competitive advantage in his business that no other company could overcome. That sisu spirit propelled him to success.
Nygård’s Finnish culture and upbringing combined with his characteristics formed a unique foundation that created his competitive advantage and is likely unmatched.
This millionaire was made through a combination of factors thatformed the core of his foundation creating his competitive advantage: Factors such as,
• The belief that nothing is impossible which he learned from his Grampa.
• That enduring Finnish principle of sisu, the determination to persevere, demonstrated by Finnish soldiers, his father and grandfather.
• The desire to be the best cultivated in a Finnish culture which prided itself on the athleticism of its people, and which defined him and drove every action he ever took.
• The principle of always working hard drilled into him by his parents.
This combination was a winning formula for Peter Nygård. It set a foundation within him that is an immeasurable competitive advantage that exponentially increased his levels of business success.
This series will take a detailed look at how these factors shaped Peter Nygard’s business and success.
