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Gratitude: Make Room
Le Guin Series: Chapter 11, Verse 3
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The worst corporate “business book” I’ve (yet) encountered is by far Blue Ocean Strategy (2005) by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne. Reading material purchased by corporate leadership teams for “the troops” to read was a duty everyone had to participate in. I’ve read many, endorsed enough, lambasted a few. What I remember from Blue Ocean is the repeating of the phrase “Blue Ocean”, over and over and over, dozens of time inside of a few pages.
Today, a confession. I never finished the book. Suppose this is my making amends.
So here is an honest review. First let’s be honest, if you can find a two page PDF summary of the book, you won’t miss anything. The basic idea is that businesses find success not by doing what everyone else is doing, but through creating new markets and demand by giving customers products and services they need but didn’t know they wanted. Avoid the “red oceans” where competition is fierce and profits are thin. Magic stuff, I know. Case studies are easily identified when looking backwards: Steve Jobs, Apple, Pixar, Apple (again). No book can really help you predict your businesses (or personal) needs. That is work we must do on our own, and I suppose Blue Ocean…
