641: Doing Better Than Zero Sum-Thinking, with Renée Mauborgne

Renée Mauborgne: Beyond Disruption

Renée Mauborgne is the INSEAD Distinguished Fellow and a professor of strategy at the global business school INSEAD. She is the co-author of the 4 million copy global bestseller Blue Ocean Strategy, which is recognized as one of the most iconic and impactful strategy books ever written, and is also co-author of the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Los Angeles Times bestseller Blue Ocean Shift.

To date, the Blue Ocean Strategy and Blue Ocean Shift teaching materials have been adopted by over 2,800 universities across the globe. In 2022, Harvard Business Review selected Blue Ocean Strategy as one of the most influential and innovative articles published in HBR over the last 100 years. Along with her colleague W. Chan Kim, she was named the most influential management thinker in the world by Thinkers50. She is the first woman ever to secure that top spot. She is the co-author with W. Chan Kim of Beyond Disruption: Innovate and Achieve Growth without Displacing Industries, Companies, or Jobs*.

Key Points

Zero-sum thinking means that if we win, someone else must lose. Many of us have been conditioned to accept that this is how competition has to work.

Nondisruptive creation creates new industries without leaving failed companies, lost jobs, and destroyed markets in its wake.

Consider shifting focus from structure to agency. Firms that generate nondisruptive creation lead with agency.

Don’t confuse the means with the ends. Technology enables, but value innovation is ultimately what creates a nondisruptive new market.

Unlock the many, not just the few. Overemphasizing an entrepreneur or creative leader underemphasizes the contributions of everyone else.

Resources Mentioned

Beyond Disruption: Innovate and Achieve Growth without Displacing Industries, Companies, or Jobs* by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne

Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant* by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne

Interview Notes

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