In an environment of volatile and highly competitive markets, it is not uncommon for companies offering great products or services to still see their sales decline. In the face of such a decline, companies usually react with one of two approaches: engage in incremental innovation to improve performance; or follow Clay Christensen’s call for disruptive innovation and search ‘outside the box’ for solutions.

Incremental improvement of existing products may help retain existing customers, but it is unlikely to unearth and entice new customers to stem the falloff. On the other hand, disruptive innovation—creating radical new products for new market segments—is a huge task—as difficult as catching lightning in a bottle. It is a high risk, high expense strategy, and one that is still likely to fail.

In his book “THE POWER OF LITTLE IDEAS – A Low-Risk, High-Reward Approach to Innovation” MIT Sloan Senior Lecturer David Robertson shows us there is a lesser known ‘Third Way’ to innovate and retain rapid growth in such challenging environments. David’s Third Way approach is a result of his decade-long study of how admired companies such as LEGO, Apple, Disney, CarMax, Gatorade, Guinness, GoPro and Victoria's Secret have successfully used innovation to gain market share.

It all began with the case of the LEGO Group, who, on the threshold of financial disaster, began using the Third Way approach. When faced with a disastrous decline in sales they initially attempted disruptive innovation, outside the box, without success. Success didn’t come until they realized the “crown jewel” status of the BRICK and started innovating AROUND the box of bricks with books, movies, games and events making playing with the bricks irresistible.

The beauty of the Third Way is that it is low risk, and easy to implement. Five years ago I trained David Robertson in the LEGO SERIOUS PLAY method, and the two of us collaborated in developing a LEGO SERIOUS PLAY Third Way application.

The LEGO SERIOUS PLAY method has proven to be a powerful way of applying the Third Way approach to innovation. The combination of the two methods help companies innovate by finding answers to the following key questions in this approach.

1.What is the key product (crown jewel) you want to innovate around?

2. What do you promise your customers will experience with your crown jewel?

3. Which innovations around your crown jewel will deliver this promise?

4. How will you develop, deliver and control these innovations?

We invite you to preview the Third Way approach by attending a training or contacting me directly.



We wish you a happy holiday season and much success in 2024.

Best Regards