by Peter A. Arthur-Smith, Leadership Solutions, Inc.®

“Did you want your venture be a rocket-ship or a WWII fearful but lumbering Flying Fortress?” 

Once your venture leader team fully implements enlightened leadership (EL2), there’s no reason why it shouldn’t take-off like a rocket-ship; especially if it operates in Blue Ocean. (NOTE: Blue Ocean was identified by Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne in their book with the same name in 2004.) With Red Ocean you will find yourself operating in the bloodied waters emanating from so many competitors.  Blue Ocean is its opposite, where your marketplace is virtually untouched.

For those EL2 ventures that still feel obliged to operate in Red Ocean, they are still likely to be among the best in their market-pack although their success will be much tougher to sustain. Their gains will also be less dramatic. Where do you see your venture at right now?

Following a discussion between Christine, the leadership team’s outside advisor, and the car dealership’s Visionist –Strategists; they decided that they should follow Keith’s, their Expansionist, recommendation to sell Mini-Series cars manufactured by Tata Motors. The Mini-Series would likely be a wide open market for qualified teen drivers, as most other regional dealerships didn’t seem to be pursuing this demographic. All the market intelligence Keith and his team produced seemed to confirm this opportunity.

Strategist team members agreed that to meet the rocket-ship metaphor, they would have to “think about” and “position” themselves with 5 different scenarios:

» The critical Rocket-fuel – borne by effective two-way communication – would be provided by two things:

• A two-way marketing and local publicity initiative that supports a number of day-long Mini-Series rallies, where qualified teen drivers could test drive Minis around a local race track. A competition for the best written driving experience essay would be held: the winner could access a Mini for a year.
• An in-house, dealership two-way workshop, where ideas and suggestions could be put forward by dealership staff on how to be ready for any “buyer” surge. Volunteer team-pairs formed by dealership staff across domains, would then be sought to implement these ideas-suggestions. The volunteer response would show the degree of enthusiasm for the campaign.

» Rocket Framework and Features – providing the vehicle, navigation, resources and steering

– Vehicle – the “Go-Teen-Mini” campaign with its associated media coverage

– Navigation – using special strategic and operating paradigms in their EL2 toolkit

– Resources – ensuring sufficient staff, equipment and finance to be made available

– Steering – campaign journey milestones would be used to gauge that key events were on track. It was   agreed that 40 Minis sold would be a valuable destination after 4 weeks.

» Leadership Team – the pilots and crew members

– Pilots – two dealership team leaders volunteered to lead the initial four week campaign

– Crew Members – they requested certain other staff and leaders for special assignments

» Organization Culture – the rocket engine, fuel additives and coolants

   – Rocket engine – with the ongoing benefits of their enlightened leadership (EL2) Phases 1-4 over recent times, everyone knew the dealership’s culture was much more cohesive and solid; consequently was primed to display its considerable human-power

– Fuel Additives – Some talented leader and staff volunteers involved were about to add special spice to the rocket-fuel where required

– Coolants – With everything well thought out and organized, along with great leadership, it encouraged everyone to feel “cool;” even during the intense heat of a rather exciting, future campaign

» Continuous Journey – the refueling and ongoing momentum. The dealership Visionist (Joy) and her Strategist team were already “thinking about” the campaign’s aftermath, even as they firmed-up the initial campaign. Dependent on its success and associated tweaks, their dealership was set with:

   – Refueling – “In-reserve” promotional activities in place for once per month, weeklong additional Mini campaigns over the next six months assuming initial success. New Minis were also put on reserve order for this outcome. A fresh pair of team leaders was to be nominated for any additional weeklong campaigns, so everyone would share the load.

– Ongoing Momentum – Joy the Visionist and her Strategist team members were committed to take turns at being present for every campaign to encourage updates and inspire dealership staff. Assuming the campaign was a continued success, it would become the blueprint for promoting other potential Blue Ocean cars that would catch the eyes and hearts of likely purchasers within their regional community.

Are you ready to build your venture into a rocket-ship performer? By building your expertise in enlightened leadership (EL2) – EL2 because there was another enlightened leadership book in the early 90s – you can build a potential rocket-ship. As you’ve already noted, with a compelling vision and purpose, pulling together talented teams of people, and having a great Strategist leadership team, you can certainly do so. Now is the time to be ready for Enlightened Leadership Rediscovered: People Count more than Numbers.

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Author, Peter A. Arthur-Smith, Founding Principal with Leadership Solutions, Inc., is based in New York, and author of Smart Decisions: Goodbye Problems, Hello Options. He has drafted a potential new publication, Enlightened Leadership Rediscovered: People Count more than Numbers that offers a slew of fresh leadership concepts and practical models. Feel free to follow author at: Linkedin.com/in/peter-arthur-smith-2115722/

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