The most dangerous poison is the feeling of achievement. The antidote is to every evening think what can be done better tomorrow.

Ingvar Kamprad is widely quoted as warning IKEA colleagues against complacency as the company grew from a frugal mail‑order business into a global retailer. The line is typically presented as part of his internal “IKEA spirit”/cost-conscious culture: never assume success is permanent, and treat each day’s results as a prompt for further improvement. Although the quotation circulates in business books and leadership compilations, it is most often linked in secondary references to Kamprad’s internal writings and speeches about IKEA’s values rather than to a single, easily verifiable public interview or dated publication.

Kamprad frames “achievement” not as a virtue but as a psychological hazard: the moment one feels finished, curiosity and urgency fade. Calling it a “poison” suggests it works subtly, dulling judgment and weakening the drive to improve. The proposed antidote—an evening habit of asking what can be done better tomorrow—turns ambition into a routine practice rather than a sporadic burst. The quote champions continuous improvement and humility: success should be treated as provisional, and progress as a daily discipline. In a business context, it also implies that competitive advantage comes less from breakthrough moments than from sustained, systematic refinement.