"After owning his own surgical and orthopedic equipment business for 31 years, Bill Kimbrell retired in 1997 and "caught the horrid affliction known as boredom." He wrote a novel ("as yet unpublished"), took three mission trips with his wife and did extensive work for his church. He then began an independent business of consulting and motivational speaking. In 2005, he read the international bestseller Blue Ocean Strategy. "It blew me away," he said. Kimbrell was so impressed with the book, he sent an e-mail to the two authors, who are professors at INSEAD University in Fontainebleau, France.
"I said, 'I'm sure you're overwhelmed with requests, so if you need an ex-businessman — on a good day with average business skills and on a very good day with slightly above-average speaking and presentation skills — please throw my name in the hat.'"
A week later, one of them replied, saying they were indeed formulating a network of strategists and asked Kimbrell for his curriculum vitae, an hour-long presentation and a 2,000-word essay. He didn't have those three things at the ready, but eventually got them together, and in 2006 passed on to the second phase of qualification, an online exam of 25 essay questions. He passed again, and it was on to the third phase, an oral dissertation and one-on-one interview at the university in Fontainebleau. "I headed over there at my own expense, cashed in my frequent flyer points, celebrated my 64th birthday in France and found myself in the company of global consultants and Ph.Ds from 26 countries," he said. "Talk about being in tall cotton."
Kimbrell was one of 60 who qualified, out of more than 800 applicants. "This country boy slipped through the cracks," he said.
The market space, according to Blue Ocean Strategy, has two components: red and blue oceans. Red-ocean companies try to outperform their rivals to grab a bigger share of an existing pie of consumers, and cutthroat competition turns the ocean bloody. The pie doesn't expand, however, and everybody is competing for existing demand. In blue oceans, the market space is vast and deep and yet to be explored. Demand is created rather than fought over. "Competition is irrelevant because the competitive rules of the game are waiting to be set," said Kimbrell. "There's more than ample opportunity for growth that is both profitable and rapid." So how does a company create a blue ocean? By hiring a Blue Ocean Strategist, of course. "Strategists refuse to let the market structures limit their thinking," he said.
As a certified Blue Ocean Strategist, Kimbrell is consulting with businesses in the Lexington community, as well as nonprofits and churches. "They're concerned about growth, too," he said. In his spare time, he's a motivational speaker for Spencerian College and is active in Rotary and Commerce Lexington. He also serves on the board of the Kentucky Humanities Council and the UK Wesley Foundation.
A native of Greenville, Miss., Kimbrell picked cotton when he was five years old and credits his grandfather with teaching him the best three lessons in life. "Number one, a man's word is his bond. Honesty is always the best policy; there's no substitute for the truth." The second lesson was a day's work for a day's pay. "Number three, always do your best. It doesn't matter how you feel about it, just do your best." This childhood training led Kimbrell to win the 9th grade Rotary four-way test award. "It made my father so proud," he said. "Of course, the next year I became an inveterate hell-raiser and fell from grace."
Almost 30 years to the day of winning the Rotary award in high school, Kimbrell owned a franchise-type operation selling surgical equipment and was appointed national ethics chairman for the professional organization. "It resulted in the first certified code of ethics in the medical device industry," he said.
Kimbrell almost became a doctor. He graduated pre-med from SMU in Dallas. "I had a wife and a baby on the way and didn't want nine more years of school." He landed a job in clinical research and medical sales, but wanted to do his own thing, so he moved his young family to Kentucky to start his medical sales business. "My parents thought I had patently lost my mind," he said. "We starved to death the first year on $5,069." That was 1966. In 1997, his business was doing $19.7 million a year. Today, Kimbrell spends "24 and a half hours a day dreaming Blue Ocean Strategy." He has a passion for people and business strategies, and a most positive outlook on life. One of his guiding mottos is based on the teachings of Aristotle. "Happiness is an activity of the soul based upon excellence and guided by virtue."
And by the way, that Rotary four-way test of the things we think, say or do, poses the following questions:
Is it the truth?
Is it fair to all concerned?
Will it build goodwill and better friendships?
Will it be beneficial to all concerned?
Catch the wave of Kimbrell's passion at www.blueoceanstrategy.com