There Is No Secret Formula. Effective Leaders Need To Master Mode Shifting.
In 2005 W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne published Blue Ocean Strategy, which found that “blue ocean” launches, those in new categories without competition, far outperformed the shark-infested “red ocean” line extensions that are the norm in the corporate world. It was an immediate hit, selling over 3.5 million copies.
Around the same time, Bain consultants Chris Zook and James Allen’ published, Profit from the Core. They found that firms that focused on their ”core” far outperformed those who strayed. For example, they warned that Amazon was putting itself in peril for expanding its business beyond books and predicted dire results.
Clearly both theories can’t be true. The truth is that there is no secret formula. Success is highly context dependent. What works in one set of circumstances will likely lead to failure in another. That’s why we need to become adept at mode shifting from one set of principles to another. There are no silver bullets. Solutions need to fit problems, not the other way around.
Hierarchies And Networks
For decades we’ve been hearing that we need to eliminate hierarchies and break down silos. Yet there is little evidence of any success. In fact, when management guru Gary Hamel, who has been leading the…
