Gabor George Burt is an internationally recognized expert on Blue Ocean Strategy and Value Innovation; the highly acclaimed, new approach to high-growth strategy formation and implementation conceived by INSEAD professors W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne. He is also regarded as a thought leader on the cognitive perspective of Defying Conventional Wisdom. Taken together, his two spheres of expertise are highly relevant in helping organizations to create successful growth strategies.

   Gabor is also the chief architect and original host of the Blue Ocean Executive Experience series, an exclusive immersion forum on Blue Ocean Strategy and Defying Conventional Wisdom. He is actively involved in shaping strategy with a diverse group of international clients spanning from Fortune 500 firms to successful start-ups, as well as in his own wide ranging application of the Blue Ocean and DCW ideas. 

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  An engaging and provocative presenter, Gabor uncovers the core concepts of Blue Ocean Strategy and the mindset of Defying Conventional Wisdom in a way that is immediately accessible for his audiences. Featured in the new book “Radical Action for Radical Times,” he is a frequent lecturer and ad visor to companies on the topic of innovative strategies that lead to uncontested market space.

   In addition to a BA degree in psychology from Amherst College, Gabor holds an MBA degree from INSEAD in France.

Speeches:

1) Keynote: 60-75 minutes plus Q&A

   Companies have long engaged in head-to-head competition and battled over market share, leading to little more than incremental differentiation. And in today's overcrowded industries and global economic uncertainty, competing head-on results in nothing but a bloody "red ocean" of rivals fighting over a shrinking profit pool.

   Luckily, there is an alternative: Blue Ocean Strategy is considered the most influential new concept in management, and challenges everything you thought you knew about the requirements for strategic business success. Since publication in March 2005, the book of the same name has been translated into 40+ languages, shattering the all-time record for the most widely translated book by Harvard Business School Press. It is a worldwide best seller, and the term "Blue Ocean" has become part of business vocabulary to label high-impact and successful strategic moves.

• The practical application of Blue Ocean Strategy.

• The core logic and mindset behind creating blue oceans and defying conventional wisdom.

• Using a provocative combination of examples and anecdotes, the presentation brings to life the visual framework of Blue Ocean Strategy and Value Innovation (Strategy Canvas, Value Curves, Six Paths and Four Actions).

• Participants take away the foundation for discovering their own blue ocean of uncontested market space, breakthrough value for customers, strong profitability and high staff motivation.

2) Half-Day Workshop: (60-90 minute presentation + 60-90 minute interactive exercise + 30 minute Q&A)

   Why all the fuss surrounding Blue Ocean Strategy? What makes it such a powerful concept? How can it enable any business to breakaway from cutthroat (red ocean) competition and create uncontested (blue ocean) market space – especially during difficult economic times?

   During the first part of the session, Mr. Burt uncovers the general mindset of Defying Conventional Wisdom, and the framework of Blue Ocean Strategy that turns unconventional ideas into powerful strategies. Through a series of entertaining and interactive examples, he demonstrates the key principles and visual mapping tools of Blue Ocean Strategy in action. Participants will take away the framework to begin mapping their own strategy canvases and the inspiration to seek out blue ocean market spaces.

   During the second part of the session, participants are broken into small teams and get to experience the application of BOS to a fun and meaningful scenario. Each team will create a strategy canvas showing the value curve of a common product or service, then reconstruct the value curve to come up with a blue ocean offering. Group presentations and overall wrap-up follow. Taken together, the two parts of the session provide participants with an intensive introduction to Blue Ocean Strategy, in both theory and application.