Today's conventional wisdom says to survive, companies must move beyond incremental Innovation and invest in radical, disruptive innovation.

But by doing this, organizations often abandon the "crown jewels" that built the organization, setting their sights instead on reinventing the future of their industry.

In "THE POWER OF LITTLE IDEAS", Wharton professor David Robertson examines an approach to innovation; one that is neither incremental nor disruptive.  This low-risk, high-reward strategy is an approach to innovation that all companies should recognize and apply when it will give them a competitive advantage.

This approach focuses on three key elements:

1. Creating a family of diverse innovations around a central product that make that product more appealing and competitive.
2. Developing these complementary innovations, so that they work together as a system to achieve a single goal or promise.
3. Managing innovations centrally, so that all the different partners are successful.

The book lays out a clear process for implementing this approach to innovation and shows how organizations can overcome challenges.

What's Next?

You've chosen your key product; defined a clear, compelling promise; and designed a portfolio of Complementary Innovations that deliver the promise.  Now you must bring those complementary innovations to market by deciding who will do each and how you will deliver the entire project.

Get that critical role right, and many of the other problems will become manageable.  Get it wrong, and your project is probably doomed.

Source:  David Robertson: The Power of Little Ideas: A Low-Risk, High-Reward Approach to Innovation