How to Create Your Blue Ocean

You’ve been called the B-word, now what?

That’s what author Dr. R. Kay Green asks in her latest book I’ve Been Called the B Word… Now What Do I Do. She wants to redefine the B-word to mean be your best.

Along with Green’s “new-age spin” on the B-word, she encourages women to create their own blue ocean – a concept first introduced in W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne’s Blue Ocean Strategy.

According to Kim and Mauborgne, there are two types of oceans: red and blue. In red oceans, industry boundaries are defined and accepted. The competitive rules of the game are known – standard engagement.

In a blue ocean, you are only competing with yourself.

“Many times in an office setting, those with upward aspirations try to emulate the person they think is the frontrunner in the organization,” Green writes.

“The better strategy is to form and maintain your own unique standards. ”

So, how do you create your blue ocean?

“Creating my own blue ocean was a matter of focusing not on what the competition was doing, but on all the ways I was different from the competition.”

She offers six strategies:

Redirect the focus. “Stop trying to be like your competition and start demonstrating how you’re the valuable alternative.”

Build a culture of improvement. “No matter what we have done and no matter how much we have gained, we keep looking for ways to get better … to moving and keep improving.”

Be ok with no. “Part of being unique is understanding that not everyone will value or even agree with what you’re doing. Let those people go. It wasn’t a good fit anyway.”

Don’t compete and defeat. “Instead of trying to better our competitor for that promotion, work with him or her to get noticed.”

Focus on the bigger picture. “In our strategies and value propositions, we attempt to go beyond what is expected in the market.”

Declare your independence. “You’re not just positioning yourself advantageously; you’re freeing yourself from the shackles of competition and rules.”

Bonus PINK Link: Firing Back After Being Fired.

Have you discovered your blue ocean?

By L. Nicole Williams

“Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn’t.” Erica Jong