#44 - Review of Blue Ocean Strategy

Hello Readers!

This week I am reviewing a book that I finished a while back and it’s called “The Blue Ocean Strategy” by W. Chan Kim, ‎Renee Mauborgne. 

I listed to the audio going and coming to work and at it’s essence, the things that I gathered about the book is:

-In order to be successful one needs to be both innovative and competitive. Being one or the other isn’t always the best strategy. 

-Being innovate opens up new opportunities and new industries. This leads to areas where companies can dominate and make a fortune in their respective industries. 

-Having a Red Ocean mentality means to have a competitive mentality and always bne concerned about the competition and beating them. 

-Having a Blue Ocean mentality means trying to innovate and try new things. This leads to new products and new solutions to existing problems. 

I have read many books on finance, entrepreneurship, and more. And there are things that help me stay engaged with the material and listen while I’m on the road. My commute isn’t difficult so it doesn’t much to both listen and drive. Some things that really affect the listening experience:

-How long the audiobook is. I really wouldn’t recommend to others expanded editions or editions with more chapters. The reason why if you get tired or don’t like the book this will prolong the process. 

-How good the narrator is. If the narrator is boring and/or monotone, then it can really hamper the experience of listening to an audiobook. 

-A variety of voices. Having a variety of speakers relates to the narrator or main person speaking. But it is awesome when you can hear a story or book and there’s different people talking. You mind likes to latch on to differences in sound and this helps one stay engaged and listening. 

-If there’s music, effects, and any other gimmicks. I know these can be seen as tacky, but it really adds to the listening experience, And if audiobook authors take time to incorporate these things it really makes spending our hard earned money on a audiobook worth it. 

-Lastly, if the information is interesting, has variety, or has value. If it’s things I haven’t heard before or haven’t researched. I feel like I’m getting value out of the book. Afterall, that’s why I am listening to an audiobook. Sometimes to get information and sometimes to get entertained. 

I will be honest, The Blue Ocean Strategy, failed in a lot of these things and the main voice was kind of hard to describe. He kind of had the voice of a general or military person who sounded like they were proud and boastful all the time. The fluctuations in his voice never really varied and followed the same pattern over and over. He would probably sound good for a couple of solid points in a meeting or in front of a big group of people listening. Maybe a board? But an audiobook that one listens to for 10 hours, it just got kind of old. 

Not only that, but the book’s ideas were kind of rehashed over and over again. I didn’t really gain as much valuable information as I did other books. If someone is going to talk to me in a monotonous way, at least make sure everything that’s coming out of their mouth is gold.

Anyways, that’s all I got! If you want to check out this book then search on your favorite bookseller for this book:

https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Ocean-Strategy-Uncontested-Competition/dp/1591396190

Have a great week everyone! I’ll be working on lessons like always and posting them. Hopefully in the future I’ll have enough to bundle them into a small course.

-Calvin