Ever hear of Mickey’s Kitchen? Probably not. Mickey’s Kitchen was an initiative started during the Michael Eisner era: a Mouse House attempt to enter the fast, casual food market (snap above, courtesy Kathy Barkus Racine).

Two locations opened. One in California and one in Illinois. Customer feedback was positive, and their locations—right next to Disney Stores—provided a ready-made customer base. It would have worked if it aligned with expectations.

In Snap V2 I15, What Disney Sells, we discovered that for Disney, the expectation is making inanimate objects move to tell stories that make people happy. Disney could, for example, expand from short cartoons to full length animated films, to live action films, to theme parks, to cruise ships, to Disney+ because all those offerings, although unexpected when announced, aligned with the entertainment product already offered by the Mouse House.

But Disney as McDonalds? It was not what people wanted from the Mouse. The initiative failed and both locations were closed.

That failure offers a lesson for both people and companies.

It is important to try new things. Repeating yourself over and over invites boredom and less effective results over time.

It is equally important that those new things align in some way with what you already do best.

Unexpected new things can capture attention, but if the new thing is both unexpected AND unaligned with your core strengths, it will likely fail.

Want to succeed in business and life? Constantly strive to deliver the absolute best of what you are great at AND find ways to expand what you deliver in new and aligned directions.

Unexpected AND aligned is the right recipe to keep cooking.