The Power of Little Ideas
A Low-Risk, High-Reward Approach to Innovation
Lavin Exclusive Speaker
We tend to imagine innovation as slow, incremental change or else industry-shifting disruption. Yet for most companies, neither works. In The Power of Little Ideas, MIT Sloan professor David Robertson outlines a third way of innovation—actual working strategies for world-class companies. Building on his groundbreaking study of Lego’s rise from near-bankruptcy, Robertson shows us the organizational practices that lead to sustained innovation.
David Robertson has devoted his life to innovation, having studied, taught, and practiced the art of organizational change throughout his career. In his book The Power of Little Ideas, Robertson argues for a ‘third way’ of innovation: something between slow, incremental change and radical disruption. Instead, he champions a low-risk, high-reward strategy that calls for complementary innovations around a core product or service. As he explains, companies like Gatorade, Wegman’s, Novo Nordisk, Lego, Victoria’s Secret, and others were either tired, second to market, challenged by tough competition, or on their way to becoming a commodity. But each were each able to expand and recover spectacularly by innovating around the box—creating ecosystems of products that made their central product or service irresistible to customers. Little Ideas is powerful, practical, cogent and necessary—and Robertson translates this transformative book into refreshingly useful keynotes.
In his previous book Brick by Brick, Robertson gave the definitive account of one of the most profound business transformations in recent memory. In 2003, Lego almost went bankrupt. The company failed to adapt to the revolutionary changes in children’s lives and began sliding into irrelevance. Advice from innovation experts almost led the company to ruin, and the future looked bleak for one of America’s most iconic brands. Why didn’t newly developed products and businesses—including theme parks, computer games, electronic toys, and clothing—save the company? The answer wasn’t just innovation—it was innovation management. Lego needed an entirely new system of processes, tools, roles, and policies that governed creative thinking. Once that was in place, the company re-emerged more powerful, resilient, and inventive than ever. Throughout Brick by Brick—named one of the Best Books of the Year by Fortune and Strategy + Business—Robertson presents the strategies Lego used to become a customer-driven, full-spectrum, open, and adventurous brand. “Any manager can learn from these lessons,” writes Forbes. And in his funny, fascinating, and often interactive talks, he makes Lego’s success a case study any company can use to grow and evolve—and become iconic.
Today, Robertson is a Senior Lecturer at MIT Sloan School of Management, where he teaches Product Development and Digital Product Management. Previously, he was a Professor of Practice at the Wharton School, where he hosted the podcast Innovation Navigation, in addition to teaching. He was previously a 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. Robertson currently serves as a consultant to companies on innovation and technology management issues. He holds a PhD from the MIT Sloan School.