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The Power of Little Ideas: A Low-Risk, High-Reward Approach to Innovation
Conventional wisdom today says that to survive, companies must move beyond incremental, sustaining innovation and invest in some form of radical innovation. “Disrupt yourself or be disrupted!” is the relentless message company leaders hear. The Power of Little Ideas argues there’s a “third way” that is neither sustaining nor disruptive. This low-risk, high-reward strategy is an approach to innovation that all company leaders should understand so that they recognize it when their competitors practice it, and apply it when it will give them a competitive advantage.
This distinctive approach has three key elements:
• It consists of creating a family of complementary innovations around a product or service, all of which work together to make that product more appealing and competitive.
• The complementary innovations work together as a system to carry out a single strategy or purpose.
• Crucially, unlike disruptive or radical innovation, innovating around a key product does not change the central product in any fundamental way.
In this powerful, practical book, Wharton professor David Robertson illustrates how many well-known companies, including CarMax, GoPro, LEGO, Gatorade, Disney, USAA, Novo Nordisk, and many others, used this approach to stave off competitive threats and achieve great success. He outlines the organizational practices that unintentionally torpedo this approach to innovation in many companies and shows how organizations can overcome those challenges.
Aimed at leaders seeking strategies for sustained innovation, and at the quickly growing numbers of managers involved with creating new products, The Power of Little Ideas provides a logical, organic, and enduring third way to innovate.
This distinctive approach has three key elements:
• It consists of creating a family of complementary innovations around a product or service, all of which work together to make that product more appealing and competitive.
• The complementary innovations work together as a system to carry out a single strategy or purpose.
• Crucially, unlike disruptive or radical innovation, innovating around a key product does not change the central product in any fundamental way.
In this powerful, practical book, Wharton professor David Robertson illustrates how many well-known companies, including CarMax, GoPro, LEGO, Gatorade, Disney, USAA, Novo Nordisk, and many others, used this approach to stave off competitive threats and achieve great success. He outlines the organizational practices that unintentionally torpedo this approach to innovation in many companies and shows how organizations can overcome those challenges.
Aimed at leaders seeking strategies for sustained innovation, and at the quickly growing numbers of managers involved with creating new products, The Power of Little Ideas provides a logical, organic, and enduring third way to innovate.
256 pages, Hardcover
Published May 2, 2017
56 people are currently reading
679 people want to read
About the author
David C. Robertson
3 books21 followersDavid Robertson is a Professor of Practice at the Wharton School where he teaches Innovation and Product Development in Wharton's undergraduate, MBA, and executive education programs. From 2002 through 2010, Robertson was the LEGO Professor of Innovation and Technology Management at Switzerland's Institute for Management Development (IMD), which received the #1 worldwide ranking by the Financial Times for its executive education programs. At IMD he was Program Director for IMD's largest program, the Program for Executive Development, and co-Director of the Making Business Sense of IT program, a joint program between IMD and MIT Sloan.
Robertson is the author of Brick by Brick: How LEGO Reinvented its Innovation System and Conquered the Toy Industry, and co-author of Enterprise Architecture as Strategy. He has published in Harvard Business Review, Sloan Management Review, and many other journals. Robertson has consulted and led educational programs for a wide range of companies, including EMC, Credit Suisse, HSBC, Georg Fischer, Braskem, Banco Santander, Skanska, Swisscom, Russell Investments, Novozymes, GMAC, Grundfos, BT, Microsoft, Heineken, Philip Morris, Globe Telecom, Tieto Enator, and AXA.
Prior to IMD, Robertson was a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, a consultant at McKinsey & Company for 5 years, and an executive at four enterprise software companies. David received his MBA and PhD from MIT and BS from the University of Illinois.
To learn more about David Robertson visit: http://www.robertsoninnovation.com/
Robertson is the author of Brick by Brick: How LEGO Reinvented its Innovation System and Conquered the Toy Industry, and co-author of Enterprise Architecture as Strategy. He has published in Harvard Business Review, Sloan Management Review, and many other journals. Robertson has consulted and led educational programs for a wide range of companies, including EMC, Credit Suisse, HSBC, Georg Fischer, Braskem, Banco Santander, Skanska, Swisscom, Russell Investments, Novozymes, GMAC, Grundfos, BT, Microsoft, Heineken, Philip Morris, Globe Telecom, Tieto Enator, and AXA.
Prior to IMD, Robertson was a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, a consultant at McKinsey & Company for 5 years, and an executive at four enterprise software companies. David received his MBA and PhD from MIT and BS from the University of Illinois.
To learn more about David Robertson visit: http://www.robertsoninnovation.com/
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
June 22, 2017
Excellent book addressed to product manager or similar.
Innovation is fundamental for the permanence of brands, but also has its edges and risks. The author explains that a revolutionary, radical or disruptive innovation is more likely to fail, or in other words a success low rate.
The book provides an approach to innovation with the objective of maintaining a competitive product in the market that remains relevant, fresh and attractive to the consumer. But also this strategy can be applied to develop new successful products, or introduce existing products into new markets.
This type of innovation is called the Third Way, first it seeks to innovate around the core product to complement it and not to change it substantially, second it focuses on making it attractive for a segment of key customers, and third it poses little strategic risk, therefore little investment and also if it fails does not seriously affect.
In some cases the authors also mention the decrease in advertising on television, a percentage towards online to social media. The strategy is clearly explained, with detailed examples of very successful real cases. The third way is the way to keep the promise to customers of continuing to obtain value from the company's products, or rather the key product and continue to depend on and rely on it. In addition, the authors have created an attractive website with resources to expand the understanding and application of this strategy.
My gratitude to the Publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to review the book
Innovation is fundamental for the permanence of brands, but also has its edges and risks. The author explains that a revolutionary, radical or disruptive innovation is more likely to fail, or in other words a success low rate.
The book provides an approach to innovation with the objective of maintaining a competitive product in the market that remains relevant, fresh and attractive to the consumer. But also this strategy can be applied to develop new successful products, or introduce existing products into new markets.
This type of innovation is called the Third Way, first it seeks to innovate around the core product to complement it and not to change it substantially, second it focuses on making it attractive for a segment of key customers, and third it poses little strategic risk, therefore little investment and also if it fails does not seriously affect.
In some cases the authors also mention the decrease in advertising on television, a percentage towards online to social media. The strategy is clearly explained, with detailed examples of very successful real cases. The third way is the way to keep the promise to customers of continuing to obtain value from the company's products, or rather the key product and continue to depend on and rely on it. In addition, the authors have created an attractive website with resources to expand the understanding and application of this strategy.
My gratitude to the Publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to review the book
February 8, 2020
The premise in the book is that existing innovation books focus on disruption, step-changes, and greenfield, when in reality many of the best products are formed through continuous innovation _around_ a key product.
An example from the book I liked is that of HGH (human growth hormone) therapy, used to treat especially development-disorders. HGH injections suck. It's a daily needle injection. So, Novo Nordisk (a major Danish pharmaceutical company) innovated _around_ that key product. They made their needles super sharp, to reduce pain and discomfort. They provided a carrying case for injections for free, to make travel easier. Instead of a slider, they had an easy-to-use button. And many other small conveniences that all added up to doctors consistently recommending the Novo Nordisk product over others. Similar reasons why many prefer daily contact lenses.
Competitors are typically slow to notice this type of innovation (what the book in an annoying self-important tone keeps referring to as the 'third way', reminiscent of the mean girl who tried to make 'fetch' happen) are usually slow to notice. It's also the type of improvements that are a function of culture. Small improvements like these come from the people on the ground: account managers, sales, .. the people that deal directly with customers. Does the organization properly allow for those ideas to be implemented or does it _have_ to come from some biochemist who's never met a patient who's in charge of R&D?
There's a bigger lesson in that: Big ideas are cheap, it's the sum of the little ideas make up the product. Any executive can say "we're building a cloud!", but a great Cloud product is coherent through all the 'small' ideas from the 100s of teams working on it.
Innovating around a key product doesn't always work. If someone invents an HGH-pill, Nordisk is done. They have to invest there too. Kodak wouldn't be saved from digital photography this way.
The raw content of the book is decent, but the structure made it a frustrating experience. Kept shoving this 4-step model down your throat in different forms, re-using similar examples from the same companies, and ugh. At some point, I had to close the book.
An example from the book I liked is that of HGH (human growth hormone) therapy, used to treat especially development-disorders. HGH injections suck. It's a daily needle injection. So, Novo Nordisk (a major Danish pharmaceutical company) innovated _around_ that key product. They made their needles super sharp, to reduce pain and discomfort. They provided a carrying case for injections for free, to make travel easier. Instead of a slider, they had an easy-to-use button. And many other small conveniences that all added up to doctors consistently recommending the Novo Nordisk product over others. Similar reasons why many prefer daily contact lenses.
Competitors are typically slow to notice this type of innovation (what the book in an annoying self-important tone keeps referring to as the 'third way', reminiscent of the mean girl who tried to make 'fetch' happen) are usually slow to notice. It's also the type of improvements that are a function of culture. Small improvements like these come from the people on the ground: account managers, sales, .. the people that deal directly with customers. Does the organization properly allow for those ideas to be implemented or does it _have_ to come from some biochemist who's never met a patient who's in charge of R&D?
There's a bigger lesson in that: Big ideas are cheap, it's the sum of the little ideas make up the product. Any executive can say "we're building a cloud!", but a great Cloud product is coherent through all the 'small' ideas from the 100s of teams working on it.
Innovating around a key product doesn't always work. If someone invents an HGH-pill, Nordisk is done. They have to invest there too. Kodak wouldn't be saved from digital photography this way.
The raw content of the book is decent, but the structure made it a frustrating experience. Kept shoving this 4-step model down your throat in different forms, re-using similar examples from the same companies, and ugh. At some point, I had to close the book.
May 3, 2024
ما يريد الكتاب إيصاله بكل اختصار:
أنه قبل الذهاب والتفكير "خارج الصندوق" لتبتكر منتجات/خدمات أخرى لها سلسلة إنتاج مختلفة لزيادة الأرباح، فعليك التوقف قليلًا وإعادة النظر في "منتجك الرئيسي" والتفكير في تطويره وابتكار "منتجات تكميلية" مع المنتج الرئيسي. وهذه طريقة أبسط في الابتكار وتكاليفها أقل ولكن ربحها أعلى.
تحقق ذلك في ٤ خطوات رئيسية: ما منتج الرئيسي؟ ما هو الوعد الذي تقدمه للعميل؟ كيف ستبتكر المنتجات التكميلية؟ كيف ستقدم هذه المنتجات/الخدمات؟
أحد الأمثل هي "كاميرا جو برو" كيف أنها وعدت بعيش تجارب مثيرة، وربحها في منتجاتها التكميلية مع الكاميرا؛ عصا سيلفي، غطاء لعدم الضرر من الماء، حقيبة لها.. إلى آخره.
كان ممكن اختصار الكتاب بالتركيز على فكرته الرئيسية.
أنه قبل الذهاب والتفكير "خارج الصندوق" لتبتكر منتجات/خدمات أخرى لها سلسلة إنتاج مختلفة لزيادة الأرباح، فعليك التوقف قليلًا وإعادة النظر في "منتجك الرئيسي" والتفكير في تطويره وابتكار "منتجات تكميلية" مع المنتج الرئيسي. وهذه طريقة أبسط في الابتكار وتكاليفها أقل ولكن ربحها أعلى.
تحقق ذلك في ٤ خطوات رئيسية: ما منتج الرئيسي؟ ما هو الوعد الذي تقدمه للعميل؟ كيف ستبتكر المنتجات التكميلية؟ كيف ستقدم هذه المنتجات/الخدمات؟
أحد الأمثل هي "كاميرا جو برو" كيف أنها وعدت بعيش تجارب مثيرة، وربحها في منتجاتها التكميلية مع الكاميرا؛ عصا سيلفي، غطاء لعدم الضرر من الماء، حقيبة لها.. إلى آخره.
كان ممكن اختصار الكتاب بالتركيز على فكرته الرئيسية.
March 24, 2018
Interesting book, it talks about the options we get under pressure, and the out-of-the-box thinking needed to make the decision. It covers success stories for companies like Carmax, Desiney, Apple, Victoria's Secret, and a couple more..
January 26, 2019
The book is extremely impressive, a unique approach to innovation. The author talks about a third way of innovating, which is not disruptive in nature or which isn't strictly a kaizen approach to innovation or continuous improvement of the same product to perfection over the long term. Instead the author talks about building an ecosystem around the core product, the author talks about lateral innovation, i.e. innovation across the entire supply chain, the value chain and the consumption. The authors have done an incredible job of mixing the theory with the apt example. Just when you start getting bogged down with the theory, the author shifts to an example and keeps you interested. The examples chosen, gatorade, carmax, apple, Disney, Irish pubs and Guinness among others are perfect to explain the concept. The author does not offer this as a one stop solution to all your innovation problems. The author talks about the pitfalls of this process too! The author also explains the right process and the steps that needs to be taken to get complementary innovation in your organization. The mistake of the authors was to explain everything in the first few chapters i.e. the first few chapters embody the entire book. The other chapters then take apart each of the concepts explained in the first few chapters in careful detail, but many anxious and impatient people assume that it is a mere repetition of what ever was said the first three chapters. They couldn't be more wrong. Each of the subsequent chapters also add value, thought not as much as the first few chapters, but they have their own value never the less. For example in the penultimate chapters, the authors explain the differences between a typical product manager versus a solution integration and the importance of the cross functional team across the organization vs silos working on their own products. I was impressed because this is how startups function, they have ad-hoc teams which form and break up according to requirements. It is impressive that the author could capture this very well. I have read many books about innovation, but very few have touched upon this concept of a core with supporting eco-system all of them working to provide a single promise to the user. The example of a paint shop, having more number of outlets than a CCD was impressive, the way the paint shop helps out the painters, make decisions was also cool. This hit a chord with me because I recollected seeing this in action in my neighborhood, with Asian Paints, which actually does this. They actually give the painter the entire catalog and help him choose, and only after the choices are made, the paint is mixed on site using a machine that spits out the combination of colors, already in it, all the paint shop has to do is, press the right combo, given by the painter. I saw painters flocking towards this machine. Asian paints thus reduced its inventory and successfully installed it in almost all the paint shops in and around the neighborhood, it is safe to say that there are as many Asian paints mixing machines as there are coffee machines in the place. This also hit a chord with me because I could associate this with an eco-system approach that was discussed in a Boston Global article or a Scientific American article, discussing why Russia isn't the scientific super power it could be.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/201...
The ecosystem and the framework required for production of real product i.e. hardware isn't present in Russia, due to the socialist system, the mafia, the corruption, the govt interference, lack of rule of law, constitution and many other factors all come together and create a single promise "Russia is a place where no innovation will happen". Thus the mass exodus of all the sane people in Russia has begun. This is like a negative ecosystem, i.e. a vicious cycle created by small complementary evils that come together to great a great evil, which nobody can touch because it is now like a hydra, you cut off one head i.e. the complementary evil and two heads pop up - i.e. two more evil systems!
https://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/201...
The ecosystem and the framework required for production of real product i.e. hardware isn't present in Russia, due to the socialist system, the mafia, the corruption, the govt interference, lack of rule of law, constitution and many other factors all come together and create a single promise "Russia is a place where no innovation will happen". Thus the mass exodus of all the sane people in Russia has begun. This is like a negative ecosystem, i.e. a vicious cycle created by small complementary evils that come together to great a great evil, which nobody can touch because it is now like a hydra, you cut off one head i.e. the complementary evil and two heads pop up - i.e. two more evil systems!
June 3, 2017
An alternative to disruptive and incremental innovation that focuses on creating complementary bundles of products and services. I wrote more about it here: https://www.inc.com/theodore-kinni/he...
November 16, 2023
This is a book that could have been an article. I say that in the sense that the core premise is relatively simple to convey, not in the sense that the remainder of the book wasn't useful. This book is about 15% theory and 85% case study. It can be essentialized as the following:
- All companies eventually reach a point where sales flounder and they seek to "innovate"
- Many firms do this by changing the core product, usually to disastrous effect
- Other companies do this by creating other products that bear no real relationship to the core product
- There is a "third way" here that involves creating a portfolio of complementary services and products that enhance the "promise" made by the core product
-Incentives must be aligned across the organization rather than engaging in local optimization for short term profit goals
- All companies eventually reach a point where sales flounder and they seek to "innovate"
- Many firms do this by changing the core product, usually to disastrous effect
- Other companies do this by creating other products that bear no real relationship to the core product
- There is a "third way" here that involves creating a portfolio of complementary services and products that enhance the "promise" made by the core product
-Incentives must be aligned across the organization rather than engaging in local optimization for short term profit goals
August 5, 2018
If you’re part of a small business that can get your decision-makers in a room and decide to try something new, buy The Power of Little Ideas, it’s great. You’ll learn a lot about innovation and different innovation systems, and about Robertson’s approach to addressing the entire business and customer experience. And, you can do that without reading the last 2/3 of the book. If you’re a senior executive in a large company with the ability to influence the way the entire company does business, this whole book is good for you, if you’re willing to take on the challenges that the author describes.
March 24, 2021
Like most business books, it definitely could have been shorter, but I thought this book, and the third way was very insightful, and I believe it can translate into nonprofit work as well, which is what I am specifically looking for.
The main thesis of this book is that if your company is stagnant, you don't need radical change/innovation to progress, and you also don't need to just do what you are already doing, but just scale it up. the third way is to focus in on what essentially is the primary core competency of your organization, and build out the rest of you product/service line in a way that supports the core competency.
The main thesis of this book is that if your company is stagnant, you don't need radical change/innovation to progress, and you also don't need to just do what you are already doing, but just scale it up. the third way is to focus in on what essentially is the primary core competency of your organization, and build out the rest of you product/service line in a way that supports the core competency.
April 2, 2018
This book outlines a new innovation strategy called The Third Way. Instead of focusing on disruptive innovations, The Third Way advocates pursuing complimentary innovations around other parts of the value chain. I always enjoy a book that gives me a new lens to think about business, and this one delivered. The examples were also relevant and interesting. If I could change one thing about this book, I would edit it down. The author gets a little long-winded towards the end of the book, and some of the text felt redundant. However, I'd recommend it overall.
August 1, 2018
This book is more like a history book than a concrete business/guide book. It is interesting to read about historical examples which prevailed other companies by focusing on simple concepts and ideas, but this book lacks concrete advice, or atleast an appendex at the end, since the last 50 pages are just about Disney and its past, which imo is interesting to read but doesn't add anything truly valuable.
December 14, 2018
If you are looking for strategies to improve and keep your products and services relevant to your industry, The Power Of Little Ideas is the perfect reading for you. The Third Way Approach between incremental improvement and revolutionary disruption of current products was defined and explained with real examples from the internationally known organization. This approach was succeeded to improve and save those companies.
April 16, 2018
A very easy and simple books using a few case studies (a few companies) to illustrate the concept that company should try incremental innovation instead of chasing a radical change. A bit too simple an idea that I thought most CEOs/managers would have thought of that first before trying the radical change.
May 2, 2018
Overall an interesting read. I liked that it wasn't too long. The beginning had more interesting things for me to learn than the middle/end. I really enjoyed learning about the different companies and their tactics. I listened to the audiobook which was good because it was like listening to a podcast.
November 12, 2018
Strategies about how Gatorade (and others) has been revived: create multi complementary innovations around the core or key product that make their product more appealing and competitive.
Thinking about new strategies to revive a brand is surely interesting, but right now, I'm more interested in creating a brand in the first place.
Thinking about new strategies to revive a brand is surely interesting, but right now, I'm more interested in creating a brand in the first place.
August 27, 2024
Must read book at this Back to Basics Moment
Em um momento onde o capital de risco está escasso, é importante reduzir o risco da inovação. Fazer algo é melhor que não fazer nada e inovar no entorno do seu produto principal pode dar muitas vezes mais retorno do que se fixar somente em radical innovation.
Em um momento onde o capital de risco está escasso, é importante reduzir o risco da inovação. Fazer algo é melhor que não fazer nada e inovar no entorno do seu produto principal pode dar muitas vezes mais retorno do que se fixar somente em radical innovation.
August 31, 2017
I found the title misleading. The book is about an alternative to innovation using little ideas, but the intent is that the ideas are across the company. Slightly interesting but many techniques discussed are already well known.
June 9, 2018
Absolutely fantastic. See past the silly "third way" wording and discover the process of service design and product management plainly and thoroughly described. The examples, particularly the epilogue, help bring it all to life.
A great read for anyone in the business of business.
A great read for anyone in the business of business.
November 25, 2018
I was expecting a totally different book honestly. This one talks about a third way strategy to innovate. I really liked the chapter on testing but the rest is pretty much known stuff said in a different way.
October 26, 2018
I enjoyed the cases and his "Third Way" method seems sound. However, I felt the author pushes too much to fit his method to the cases and to business in general. It feels forced. Other than that a solid book on a different approach to innovation.
June 25, 2017
Great book, highly recommended. Enjoyed learning about the Third Way approach within the innovation mindset.
July 20, 2017
Excellent examples, richly informative!
November 9, 2018
started off a bit slow for me but after a long drive in my car and nothing to do but listen to something I gave this book a chance and I really enjoyed it.
December 16, 2019
Fast read, full of clear concepts and real company examples that flesh out the ideas at the core of the "Third Way" approach.
July 28, 2020
Good book with good story outline
July 18, 2023
Excellent case studies. Phenomenal template for innovation. Must read.
July 27, 2024
كتاب مفيد لرواد الأعمال والمدراء يركز على مفهوم واحد ويسهب فيه
March 10, 2025
This is a really interesting book about building up a product's success via complementary offerings that surround it. Excellent examples including Lego and Disney - well presented.
April 24, 2025
Multiple example such as lego or Apple. Sometimes we do not need innovation and develop around our existing product. Last chapter was about Disney story
June 23, 2025
This was intriguing from the perspective that you don’t need to upend everything to innovate to huge changes!
Loved it. Have our product team learning from this right now
Loved it. Have our product team learning from this right now
Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews