In The Power of Little Ideas, written with Kent Lineback, David Robertson introduces a low-risk, high-reward approach to innovation he characterizes as the “Third Way.” In essence, this approach is “neither incremental improvement in current products nor revolutionary [radical] disruption of those products…[an approach that is] not bound by the binary thinking that says innovators have only two choices: innovate small or innovate big. There is another option.”

In my opinion, some of the material in the book’s final chapter is of greatest interest and value as Robertson and Lineback suggest a number of lessons that can be learned from an American icon, The Walt Disney Company. What we have is a mini-case study of how successful application of the Third Way “can lead to internal dysfunction, separation of the different types of innovation, and ultimately – in Disney’s case – an erosion of capability to the core.”

This really is quite a story of how a once-great company lost its way and then recaptured its “magic” and became an even greater success. Without calling it that, Walt Disney envisioned a “third Way organization with films, especially animated films, as its creative center where they provided the stories and characters that nourished everything else.”

As this story illustrates, “The success of the Third Way project depends on maintaining a strong and vibrant core, even if the core doesn’t generate the most revenue. When Disney nurtured its core by producing a stream of animated feature films, its core and complementary businesses all thrived. When it neglected the core, when it tried to live on the legacy of past success, both its core and complementary businesses suffered.”

David 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. To learn more about him and his work, please click here

Kent Lineback is an executive coach, film producer, and author of several books, including The Monk and the Riddle and Being the Boss: the 3 Imperatives for Becoming a Great Leader, co-authored with Linda Hill. The Power of Little Ideas is his latest book.

The Power of Little Ideas was published by Harvard Business Review Press (May 2017)