RULE BREAKING STRATEGY USING LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® METHOD

Rule Breaking Strategy: A Practical Way to Rethink Competition

Rule Breaking Strategy is a powerful approach for organisations that want to win in existing markets without simply fighting competitors harder or trying to invent an entirely new category. Instead of playing by the same unwritten industry rules as everyone else, this strategy helps businesses challenge, reshape, and sometimes break those rules to create a stronger, more visible position in the market.

​

Many industries are crowded with companies offering similar products, services, pricing, customer experiences, and ways of working. Over time, these patterns become accepted as “just how things are done.” Rule Breaking Strategy invites teams to question those assumptions. What if the business model could be redesigned? What if the customer experience could be simplified? What if inspiration came from outside the sector rather than from direct competitors?

​

Successful companies such as Zipcar, Triumph, Ryanair, and Louis Nielsen show how powerful this can be. They did not necessarily create new markets. Instead, they looked at their existing industries differently, challenged dominant practices, and found new ways to stand apart. Louis Nielsen, for example, disrupted the optics sector by rethinking packaging, pricing, staffing, and supplier relationships. These changes were not random acts of innovation. They were deliberate choices inspired by looking beyond the usual competitive landscape.

​

This is where Rule Breaking Strategy becomes especially useful for leadership teams, strategy workshops, and innovation programmes. It sits between traditional competitive strategy and Blue Ocean Strategy. Like Porter’s competitive strategy, it focuses on succeeding in an existing market. But like Blue Ocean thinking, it looks for ways to avoid direct competition by creating a more distinctive space.

​

The key shift is learning to look outward. Rather than only benchmarking against known competitors, teams explore other sectors, industries, and business models for relevant inspiration. This helps organisations identify new strategic possibilities, sharpen their thinking, and discover practical ways to create differentiation.

​

In our approach, we bring this thinking to life through the LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® Method. This creates a highly participative strategy process where every voice is included, ideas become visible, and teams can explore complex business challenges in a hands-on, engaging way. Participants build, discuss, challenge, and reframe the rules that shape their industry.

​

Rule Breaking Strategy is not about being different for the sake of it. It is about making intentional, customer-relevant choices that help your organisation stand out, compete smarter, and create new value within the market you already know.

​

LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® METHOD

LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® method is a facilitated methodology that helps people think, communicate, and solve complex challenges by building models with LEGO bricks and reflecting on the meaning behind them. While it may look playful at first glance, it is a serious process designed to unlock deeper insight, fuller participation, and more honest conversation.

​

What makes this approach powerful is that it allows people to express ideas that are often difficult to surface through discussion alone. By building first and speaking from what they have built, participants tend to think more clearly, contribute more equally, and engage more openly. For organisations navigating complexity, ambiguity, or change, this creates a very different quality of conversation.