Ten years ago, world-renowned professors W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne
broke ground by introducing "blue ocean strategy," a new model for
discovering uncontested markets that are ripe for growth. In this bound
version of their bestselling Harvard Business Review classic article,
they apply their concepts and tools to what is perhaps the greatest
challenge of leadership: closing the gulf between the potential and the
realized talent and energy of employees. Research indicates that this
gulf is vast: According to Gallup, 70% of workers are disengaged from
their jobs. If companies could find a way to convert them into engaged
employees, the results could be transformative. The trouble is, managers
lack a clear understanding of what changes they could make to bring out
the best in everyone. In this article, Kim and Mauborgne offer a
solution to that problem: a systematic approach to uncovering, at each
level of the organization, which leadership acts and activities will
inspire employees to give their all, and a process for getting managers
throughout the company to start doing them. Blue ocean leadership works
because the managers' "customers"--that is, the people managers oversee
and report to--are involved in identifying what's effective and what
isn't. Moreover, the approach doesn't require leaders to alter who they
are, just to undertake a different set of tasks. And that kind of change
is much easier to implement and track than changes to values and
mind-sets.
The Harvard Business Review Classics series offers you the opportunity
to make seminal Harvard Business Review articles a part of your
permanent management library. Each highly readable volume contains a
groundbreaking idea that continues to shape best practices and inspire
countless managers around the world--and will have a direct impact on
you today and for years to come.
