"CURT NICKISCH: If you don't know that music, it's the theme song from the Lego movie. The animated film grossed nearly a half billion dollars in 2014, and it also breathed new life into the brand. People loved seeing the little plastic pieces of their childhood in action. The hero, Emmett, falls down a hole one day into the Lego underground LUCY: Prophecy states that you are the most important person in the universe. That's you, right? EMMETT: Uhhhhh. Yes, that's me."
"Behind the scenes, the Lego group went through its own adventure. Turns out there's a strategic decision making story behind the blockbuster, and it's a case that Jennifer Riel and her co-author Roger Martin study in their new book, "Creating Great Choices, a Leader's Guide to Integrative Thinking." Riel teaches at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management. She also loves movies. So today she's here to talk about integrative thinking through the lens of the film industry."
The Lego Group revitalized its brand by aligning a blockbuster film with corporate strategy, reconnecting childhood play with adult nostalgia and broadening market appeal. Executives confronted strategic trade-offs that required solutions beyond binary choices. Integrative thinking blends opposing ideas and constraints to generate creative, higher-order options that satisfy multiple objectives. The Lego Movie example demonstrates how synthesis of brand preservation and expansion goals can produce superior outcomes. Practical integrative leadership involves surfacing assumptions, framing tensions clearly, experimenting with integrative options, and building narratives that align stakeholders around cohesive strategies.
Read at Harvard Business Review
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