Wow, what a day. Not only did the NAPEO conference begin, but it was also the kick-off for the annual Basketball Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
Why is the induction ceremony relevant? Because this class will include probably the greatest basketball player in history, Michael Jordan. Now, being from Chicago, I am pretty biased. After all, I am a die-hard Bulls fan who has lived through a dynasty with the Bulls winning six championships in eight years with two three-peats. And these six championships were due, in large part, to his “air-ness”, Michael Jordan.
But there is a connection to the NAPEO conference that began today and its great keynote. The speaker was Gabor George Burt, an internationally known expert in Blue Ocean Strategy and Value Innovation. Although a bit more complex than this explanation, he distinguished Blue Oceans from Red Oceans; where the latter represents the market as it is today — very cut-throat, confining and having a goal of “blowing out the competition.” A zero-sum game if you will. Contrast this with the Blue Ocean Strategy in which uncontested markets are created by driving demand rather than being market driven.
In the Red Ocean, competition amongst the many leads to commoditization or driving prices down. In the Blue Ocean, you make the competition irrelevant by creating higher value and lower price and targeting non-customers.
What a concept! Innovation by re-allocating resources to meet the needs of the waiting market.
According to Burt, Blue Oceans are created by shifting focus from bloody competition to getting close to the customer. When this happens, prices aren’t driven down but rather higher value is the objective.
So how does this all relate to Michael Jordan? No doubt he was competitive. In fact, he was and still is known to be brutally competitive in everything that he does. But he re-invented the game of basketball. Although winning was critical to Michael, he did it differently than anyone else before him. The way he played, he made the competition irrelevant. It didn’t matter where you were from or what team had your loyalty. If you saw Michael play, you were a Michael Jordan fan. Even people who didn’t care about basketball, loved to watch him. He exemplified “blue oceans.” And the NBA exploited that to their advantage by re-defining the game.
So what’s the lesson here? Challenge current assumptions and really think outside the box. Create new and uncontested market places that give people what they need thereby producing value propositions not commoditization.
Let me leave you with a wonderful Michael Jordan commercial. It may not be entirely on target but who cares. Just watch greatness and see how he impacted an entire generation. More tomorrow.
Tags: Add new tag, Basketball, Basketball Hall of Fame, HR, Michael Jordan, NAPEO, NBA, PEO
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