Transformational Pivots: Part 1 of 3

How do we—individuals and organizations alike—position ourselves for consistent success? Reality these days is neither consistent nor predictable. What has become of your projections, made around this time last year, for 2020?

Strategic visions with a laser focus on future developments may seem business savvy. But the barrage of challenges and the current pace of change make advice about early birds getting worms seem pitifully quaint.

Pivots for Saving Lives and Businesses

Among the strategies that have proven to be life saving or business saving, you will find the transformational pivot—the clear-eyed reassessment of a current direction and subsequent re-launch in a new direction. There are examples of businesses embarking on transformational pivots in order to improve business results, taking advantage of previously unseen opportunities. Most often, they are crisis response strategies engaged to avoid disaster. If for no other reason than disaster looming as a possible outcome, it is a good idea to have a “break-glass-in-case-of-emergency” understanding of transformational pivots. In this, and my next two posts, I will discuss transformational pivots, what they are, when they happen (or fail to happen), how they happen, and how they impact results and organizations.

You will have no trouble conjuring examples of transformational pivots in the lives of individuals; the friend who has neglected his physical health, gets a wake-up call, and becomes a fanatic about diet and exercise; the jailhouse religious convert, or the lawyer/fixer who pivots to tell-all author. In every example, coming face-to-face with an untenable trajectory leads to a transformational pivot.

So it is with organizations. But it seems even less likely that businesses will be able to marshal the qualities necessary to make such pivots. The necessary nimbleness, the quickness, the open-mindedness, and the appetite for risk are in direct opposition to the conservatism, risk-aversion, and over-deliberation that typify most organizations.

Successful Transformational Pivots

Examples of successes and failures in this regard are pretty easy to find. The wildly successful business collaboration software Slack is a success story. Slack began as an internal tool used by developers in a digital game business. The game’s failure, and the business leader’s awareness of the potential of this adjacent tool resulted in a successful pivot: make the tool the focus product of the business. Interestingly, Slack is the second such successful pivot for this business leader. Flickr also grew from a tool developed by the same game developer—in this case, for photo sharing. Here again, the tool outperformed the initial objective, and awareness of the broad applicability of the tool enabled the pivot.

Conversely, Kodak’s failure to pivot in the face of the emergence of digital photography landed them in their current position of no longer being a brand that matters. Kodak leadership was aware of, and in fact investing in, digital photography, but their attachment to viewing the market and opportunity from the comfort of their customary thinking prevented them from making the pivot necessary for them to remain profitable and relevant.

The attitudes of attachment and awareness emerge in every example of transformational pivots. A recent Washington Post article about restaurant operations during the pandemic illustrates this dynamic. All restaurant owners have been forced to acknowledge the hopelessness of a business-as-usual perspective. Only after releasing his attachment to preconceptions about his business did one owner realize that his ample parking lot had become a vital asset, enabling the development of a large outdoor dining business, allowing him to survive where others were closing down.

How do successful businesses execute these strategic course corrections? You’ll find out in my next post. In the meantime, please feel free to share in the comments about any personal or organizational transformational pivots you’ve encountered—whether they were a success or a failure. 

Clara Conti is a former chief executive officer, corporate restructuring guru and founder of multiple business startups. Connect with her on LinkedIn and Twitter.