I have a new competitor. My colleague Petra Färm is attacking my position as your favorite Tuesday ProductShow host.
She is merciless and fearless in her competitive strategy. How should I deal with this new competitive arena?
As we look into the world of competition, some theories guide us to go where there is no competition. The Blue Ocean-thinking tells us to avoid the Red Seas colored by the blood of fighting. Geoffrey Moore states, "identify your enemy and beat them". Huawei managers are told to read "The Art of War." The book shares numerous strategies in how to beat your competitors. Most modern agile thinkers state that we should focus on our product, not the competitor.
Chris Lukassen provides a new perspective on how to work with competitors from a Martial Arts perspective.
He shared the three principles of Judo as a way to compete:
1.Tsukiri - Focus on your movement and get in position to compete.
2.Kazushi - Make your competitor lose her balance
3.Kake – Use the activities by your competitor and leverage them into your advantage.
I loved the thought of identifying the activities and direction of a competitor by looking at the competitors' investments. Where are they investing, where have they invested? The competitors will use the investments for their next move.
The thoughts of Judo can very much inspire us in developing our Product Principles in how we are to compete.
I will use Kazuhi thinking to win the competition over Petra. I will be staying close, getting a grip, and as she makes her move, I will leverage it to my advantage with the Kake principle.
More reflections on the presentation: https://medium.com/what-else-is-new/use-the-force-df04d4714272
