The IKEA Effect

Why do we value things we build ourselves more?

Harvard Business School calls it The IKEA Effect—and it’s a game-changer for educators and leaders.

In this episode of The PiXL Pearls Podcast, Rachel Johnson (PiXL CEO) dives into fascinating studies showing how effort drives ownership and engagement. Whether it’s a flat-pack bookcase or a school project, the harder we work, the more we cherish the result—sometimes more than it’s worth!

Rachel explores how this applies to classrooms and leadership: How can we create a sense of ownership for students and teams? Where does collaboration build commitment? And when does “labour of love” cloud our judgment?

Packed with practical tips, this episode helps you harness The IKEA Effect to inspire ownership, confidence, and teamwork—without overvaluing the effort itself.

Following lots of requests we are now releasing the transcript for each Pearls episode in series 7 – download them here

If you enjoyed PiXl Pearls...

Check out the PiXL website: https://www.pixl.org.uk/ for free downloads

Read Rachel's two books:

Time to Think: The Things that stop us and how to deal with them

Time to Think 2: The Things that stop our teams and what to do about them

Listen to the PiXL Leadership Bookclub.

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The PiXL network spans thousands of schools across key stages 1-5. We collaborate, share best practice, and equip leaders throughout the educational system.

Series 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 are presented by Rachel Johnson, CEO of PiXL, and Series 1 was presented by Founder-Director Sir John Rowling.

They both draw on literature, life, and experience in leadership to explore different elements of what it is to be a good leader and how we can become even better leaders, both in and out of schools.

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PiXL Pearls is a We Are In Beta production.

For more information visit: https://www.pixl.org.uk/