Blog Layout

Transformative Outcomes

Shane Evans • November 25, 2024

A Case Study Approach

"We have two lives, and the second begins when we realize we only have one" -Confucius


Storytelling, analogy, and use of empirical examples can often help clarify complex or nuanced ideas. Let's explore how a subtle but strategic shift in how a business packages, delivers, or markets its offering can lead to transformative outcomes and unlock a second life. We made the case for shipmanagers becoming strategic asset managers, and here are three examples highlighting the power of innovative thinking:

The Apple Example: From Computers to Ecosystem


Apple Inc. in the early 2000s was primarily known as a computer company, with its hardware often competing in a commoditized market. The introduction of the iPod, iTunes, and later the iPhone marked a strategic shift from selling products to creating an ecosystem. The iPod wasn’t just a music player—it was bundled with iTunes, a seamless software solution that integrated with other Apple products. This ecosystem approach differentiated Apple from competitors and allowed the company to charge a premium for its products, despite others selling similar devices at lower prices.


Key takeaway for shipmanagers: By rethinking their role as ecosystem managers of ships (not just operators), they can emphasize the holistic, value-driven management they offer. Instead of charging piecemeal fees, they could reposition their expertise as a bundled service—more like managing an ecosystem of assets rather than individual components.

The Gillette Model: Selling Experiences, Not Just Razors


Gillette’s original business was focused on selling razors, a commoditized product. However, its shift to a subscription-based model with recurring income through razor blade sales transformed its business model. Gillette no longer marketed itself as just selling shaving tools but as providing a seamless shaving experience. By emphasizing the lifecycle experience—ease of delivery, superior technology, and guaranteed quality—they could charge more for their products.


Key takeaway for shipmanagers: Like Gillette, ship managers could reframe their offerings as a lifecycle partnership where the management fee isn’t about day-to-day operations but a seamless, optimized ownership experience that delivers superior value over the life of the vessel.

The Starbucks Example: From Commodity Coffee to Lifestyle Brand


Before Starbucks, coffee was often treated as a commodity, sold at a low price with little differentiation. Starbucks transformed this market by redefining coffee as an experience—creating a “third place” between home and work. This allowed them to charge significantly more than traditional coffee vendors, not for the coffee itself but for the perceived value of the experience.


Key takeaway for shipmanagers: By repositioning ship management as a comprehensive asset lifecycle experience, they can differentiate themselves from competitors who focus only on transactional operations. They’re not just offering a service but helping shipowners achieve long-term operational excellence and financial returns.

Applying This to Shipmanagement

These examples demonstrate the potential of bundling expertise and services into a cohesive value proposition, moving beyond a transactional mindset. Here’s how ship managers can adapt:


  1. Reposition the Service: Emphasize the long-term strategic benefits rather than daily operations. For example, “We don’t just manage ships; we manage their lifecycles for optimal profitability and operational success.”
  2. Monetize Expertise: Like Apple or Gillette, ship managers can package consulting, analytics, and lifecycle management into a premium offering, rather than giving them away for free alongside operations.
  3. Build a Brand Around Experience: Use the Starbucks model to turn ship management into a valued experience of confidence and success for the shipowner, not just a maintenance cost.


This approach helps ship managers see that while they may already offer elements of lifecycle management, rebranding and repackaging them as a strategic service—separate from basic operations—can significantly enhance perceived value and justify higher prices.



Thought Experiment: Is your business today more like a caterpillar or butterfly? Do you need to transform in order to achieve your full potential and reach new heights?


If so, let's talk.


Let's Talk

Strategic Agility: A New Routine

By Shane Evans • December 27, 2024
"Strategic Agility: A New Routine" advocates for making strategy a regular practice rather than an annual event. It emphasizes the benefits of weekly or bi-weekly strategic thinking exercises, which keep organizations agile and prepared for uncertainty. The article champions scenario planning as an accessible, high-impact exercise that enables teams to explore potential futures and adapt accordingly. By practicing strategy regularly, leaders build "strategic fitness," much like the physical health benefits of consistent exercise. This routine ensures organizations stay proactive, aligned, and ready to respond to challenges and opportunities.

Bulletproof Your Strategy

By Shane Evans • December 27, 2024
To future-proof a strategy, organizations should test and refine it using proven exercises. Backcasting identifies steps to achieve desired outcomes, while premortems uncover potential failure points. Forecasting, trend analysis, and horizon scanning predict changes and assess their impact. Scenario planning explores alternative futures to challenge assumptions, and war games or crisis simulations test strategy under extreme conditions. Finally, contingency planning prepares detailed responses to specific risks. Each method strengthens your strategy, ensuring it remains resilient and adaptable in a changing environment. Success favours the prepared—invest in bulletproofing your strategy today.

Bringing Strategy to Life

By Shane Evans • December 27, 2024
Developing a strategy is just the start—execution is where success happens. This article outlines the key steps to bring your strategy to life. First, identify Strategic Projects to address gaps between your current capabilities & your strategic goals. Next, align performance management systems to reward behaviors that support your strategy, ensuring metrics like speed or quality reflect new priorities. Implement tools like the Balanced Scorecard to track objectives, KPIs, & measures, enabling data-driven adjustments. Communication is critical: use the ADKAR model to guide employees through the change process, building awareness, desire, & knowledge, while reinforcing the strategy with aligned rewards. Finally, share your strategy with customers and stakeholders to inspire confidence & build accountability. With alignment across projects, people, & metrics, your strategy becomes actionable, empowering individuals to achieve collective success & ensuring your organization thrives in its strategic direction.

Define Your Strategy

By Shane Evans • December 26, 2024
The article introduces the Strategy Compass, a concise, one-page tool designed to simplify strategy formulation for leaders and individuals. It breaks strategy into key components: Winning Aspiration, Where to Play, How to Win, What We Have, What We Do, Objectives with KPIs, Strategic Projects, and Assumptions & Risks. Each element helps organizations clarify goals, align efforts, and measure progress effectively. Two examples illustrate its versatility. For Nike, the compass highlights its focus on premium sportswear, leveraging innovation and global branding to dominate key markets. For a personal goal, such as running a marathon, it maps out a clear training plan, progress metrics, and contingency measures. The Strategy Compass demonstrates that strategy doesn’t need to be intimidating or complex. With its structured approach, leaders can align their teams, drive accountability, and execute plans—whether for global success or personal achievement.

Strategic Asset Manager

By Shane Evans • November 25, 2024
This article proposes reimagining ship management as strategic asset management to escape commoditization and elevate its value proposition. Ship managers would act as lifecycle partners, optimizing fleets, advising on procurement, and managing vessels for long-term profitability. Offering enhanced services like fleet analytics, lifecycle consulting, and new-build advising would justify a shift to value-based pricing tied to performance or asset value. By demonstrating expertise, leveraging data, and building trust, ship managers can transform into indispensable partners. This model promises cost savings, asset value maximization, and deeper client relationships, positioning ship managers as strategic leaders rather than commoditized operators.

The Silent Drain

By Shane Evans • November 20, 2024
Shipowners face hidden costs and risks by neglecting asset management principles. Reactive maintenance, siloed operations, and misaligned strategies lead to inefficiencies, regulatory penalties, and diminished asset value. For example, unplanned downtime costs $260,000 daily, while fuel inefficiencies and compliance issues add millions in losses over a vessel’s lifecycle. Asset management transforms operations by integrating maintenance, lifecycle planning, and sustainability goals, enabling savings, regulatory compliance, and enhanced reputation. By adopting a proactive, data-driven approach, shipowners can boost resilience, profitability, and long-term value, ensuring they thrive in today’s volatile maritime landscape.

Breaking the Cycle

By Shane Evans • November 20, 2024
The shipmanager-shipowner relationship is often transactional, resulting in inefficiencies, fragmented strategies, and diminished vessel value. Asset management offers a transformative solution by aligning operations, maintenance, and lifecycle goals. Shipowners benefit from higher vessel performance, lower costs, and regulatory compliance when working with asset management-driven shipmanagers. Shipmanagers, in turn, can become indispensable partners by leveraging predictive analytics, ensuring lifecycle continuity, and breaking away from cost-driven competition. This approach creates trust, long-term partnerships, and shared success, emphasizing the need for a paradigm shift in shipmanagement practices.

Asset Management

By Shane Evans • November 20, 2024
Asset management is a proactive, strategic approach to maximizing the value of everything a business owns or relies on, from equipment to people and property. Unlike the reactive “business as usual” mindset—marked by inefficiencies, silos, and costly downtime—asset management aligns decisions across the organization to reduce waste, improve resilience, and unlock hidden value. For example, it can cut maintenance costs by 30%, lower fleet fuel consumption by 15%, and reduce wasted office space by 25%. By shifting to asset management, businesses move from firefighting to thriving, saving money, reducing risks, and building a foundation for sustainable growth.

Speak Their Language

By Shane Evans • November 19, 2024
Tailoring communication to auditory, visual, and kinesthetic learning styles can enhance understanding, engagement, and buy-in. Auditory learners respond to sound-related language, visual learners to imagery and detail, and kinesthetic learners to touch and movement. Identifying someone's style involves observing their word choices, behaviors, and preferences for listening, seeing, or doing. If unsure, use subtle questions or blend all styles in your communication. Leveraging metaphors, analogies, and anecdotes further deepens connections by tapping into universal emotions. By adapting your approach to your audience’s learning style, you can build trust, inspire action, and achieve greater success in any setting.

Profit from Storytelling

By Shane Evans • November 19, 2024
Storytelling is a powerful tool for driving change within organizations and connecting with customers. By inspiring emotional engagement, storytelling motivates employees to embrace transformation and helps customers see themselves as the heroes of their journey. Whether it’s through marketing, sales, or internal communications, crafting compelling stories fosters connection, loyalty, and action. To get started, focus on the human element, make your stories relatable, and create clear calls to action. Examine where storytelling can be used in your organization, from customer-facing content to internal change initiatives. When done well, storytelling accelerates results and builds lasting impact.
More Posts
Share by: