The best thing in the article is an exposition of specific actions good leaders take, and the accompanying charts ('data is life'). The creators of Blue Ocean Strategic Thinking have defined Blue Ocean Leadership in a recent Harvard Business Review article. For those of us who have been improving our own leadership abilities for decades, there is nothing new here that you won't see from other sources that encourage employee engagement, customer-centric policies and servant leadership practices. A great leader always turns concepts into actions. Most often, what great leaders do makes common sense and the academics hustle to catch up.
Kim and Mauborgne succintly define what those leadership actions should be for different management levels, and suggest a portion of time to be devoted to each of the actions. Showing a shift, for example, from review and reporting as a middle manager to coaching team members a manager can transform from a traditional role manager to an open water, adventurous, courageous leader (i.e. a blue ocean leader).
If you're mentoring or coaching managers--at the front-line, in the middle or at the top--take a look at the article. Chances are high that if you're already coaching those who work with you, you're a blue ocean leader. The article might explain to your bosses why you're doing what you're doing, and it might affirm what your subordinates have already suspected: that you're more interested in helping more or hindering less the people who get the work done. That is always more important than just pointless meetings and filing reports to keep everyone's FYI bucket filled.
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