Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World

The Japanese company known as Nintendo started out selling hanafuda, playing cards with flower designs. However, the cards later went out of style, and the company when through a period of decline as it sought potential new products to market. Gunpei Yokoi was an electronics worker, who took a job at the then-undesirable company. Yokoi loved to tinker and experiment with ideas and developed a simple toy called Ultra Hand that got the attention of Nintendo leadership. Yokoi went on to pursue an approach known as “lateral thinking with withered technology” that involved using well-known and even outdated technology that could be used to create simple, reliable, and enjoyable products (193). For instance, Yokoi looked at remote-control cars, which were very expensive because of the two channels required to allow the cars to turn right and left. He developed a remote-control car that could only turn left, simplifying the technology, and the car proved to be very popular because it was inexpensive and easy to use. Yokoi’s approach went against the prevailing idea that successful products must involve new equipment and methods, but it led to iconic products like the Donkey Kong game franchise, the Nintendo Entertainment System, the Game Boy, and the Wii, which all relied on relatively simple technologies but successfully expanded Nintendo’s market.