Sir Peter Jackson is an innovator par excellence, a game changer.

He achieved extraordinary success, including Lord of the Rings winning 17 oscars and grossing -$6 Billion.

- Saw a unique opportunity in making hit movies with special effects that would keep people mesmerized in their seats
- Got his first break with the Lord of the Rings

He was passionate about Low Cost AND High Quality, and achieved that by shooting all 3 films in the trilogy at the same time:
- Sets didn't need to be built up and brought down three times
- if the first is a hit, stars will have to be paid much more for the subsequent installments, if done one after the other. From a quality perspective, the people in the movie would age (may even die) from one part to the next if done separately. Story will be coordinated and appear seamless. He avoided these problems and had much better outcomes by shooting all 3 in the trilogy together.

He managed what may have been risks in others’ eyes by being resourceful:
- Kept costs down to a mere $280 million for all three movies
- Shot movie and did all animations in New Zealand at Weta, an organization he founded, that is dedicated to special effects for movie and television
- Thought of innovative ways to increase viewers. For example, he made a free video for Air New Zealand to make the “seat belt and related” announcements—using Lord of the Rings characters. Every one watched it. Many got curious and went and saw the movie.

His accomplishments were extraordinary:
- The Lord of the Rings trilogy that costed $280 million, grossed $6 Billion, and won 17 Oscars
- Weta has grown to be the leading animation and special effects company with a special twist on horror, employing thousands of people
- With his focus on quality and cost at the same time, he had a vision of dramatically increasing the amount of work done digitally, without affecting quality. As a result, Weta can digitally create environments, characters, creatures, costumes, weapons, props, vehicles with animation and real life 3D effects
- Made a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2010.

He expanded the pie in many different dimensions:
- Transformed the movie industry in New Zealand. So much so that Wellington has become Wellywood
- One of the extras, Ian Brodie, had an idea of writing a book with all the locations where Lord of the Rings was shot. He shared all the location details with Ian. The resulting book, Lord of the Rings Locations, was a runaway bestseller. Some see the movie and buy the book. Others chance upon the book and then go see the movie. They feed off each other and expand the pie for both.
- He allowed the jeweler that made the ring for the movie, Jens Hansen, to reproduce it. The local jeweler is now a celebrity. Many see the movie and buy the jewelry. Equally, several buy the jewelry and then decide to watch the movie.

1. Reverse Innovation - http://www.amazon.com/Reverse-Innovation-Create-From-Everywhere/dp/14221576...

2. Shocking Velocity - http://www.amazon.com/books/dp/1593113420

3. Vijay Govindarajan - http://www.tuck.dartmouth.edu/people/vg/

3. Srikanth Srinivas - http://www.linkedin.com/pub/srikanth-srinivas/0/131/908

1. Innovation Mindset Concepts - http://www.haikudeck.com/p/aG5m2B4NxP

2. Innovation Mindset in Action: Dr. Jerry Buss - http://www.haikudeck.com/p/RXNjZfHt7X

3. What is the Connection between Counting Squares and Innovation (HBR Blog)? - http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2013/04/whats_the_connection_between_c.html

4. To Innovate, Find what is Hiding in Plain Sight (HBR Blog)- http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2013/04/innovation_requires_thinking_o.html

5. Finding Your Place in the Competitive Jungle (HBR Blog) - http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2013/04/finding_your_place_in_the_comp.html