Design Your Life: Former Ikea Executive Shares Her Tools for Personal Success

Don't spend your whole life searching for the right job; make designing your life the most important one.

Pernille Spiers-Lopez left Denmark for the United States as a young, ambitious entrepreneur. Years later, she had reached the top as CEO of IKEA North America and then Global HR Manager for 130,000 employees. But at the peak of her success, a health scare and ambulance ride forced her to confront a devastating truth: she had built a career while losing her balance, her purpose, and herself.

In Design Your Life, Pernille shares her powerful journey from burnout to clarity, revealing how redefining personal leadership can transform not just your work, but your entire life. Through honest stories and practical insights, she shows readers how to recognize when achievement comes at too high a cost and how to create a more meaningful, sustainable path forward.

Perfect for readers seeking work-life balance, intentional living, reinvention, and authentic success, this inspiring book offers a clear roadmap to designing a life where you can truly thrive.

Pernille Spiers-Lopez is an international business leader with over twenty years executive experience with a unique focus on developing both business and personal growth. Among several top executive positions, Pernille has held the position as President and CEO for IKEA North America, global Chief HR Officer, and was a member of the executive management team of the IKEA Group for ten years. Pernille left IKEA in 2011 after commuting between Chicago and Europe for more than two years. Without a plan B, She then took a year off to learn to “do nothing” and take the time to figure out what was next. Today, Pernille is a corporate and non-profit director in both the United States and Europe, including Save the Children, Meijer Corporation, and Coop DK, as well as a coach and mentor of executives and entrepreneurs of all ages.