Organizations that survive long-term almost always have to make major pivots.
But knowing when to pivot or not pivot is usually a very hard decision riddled with risk. Is it time yet? Is my idea of which direction to pivot the right one? How do I know?
Think of the companies that did pivot successfully- consider John Deere pivoting from plows to tractors and tractors to heavy equipment. Success. Or Toyota pivoting from looms to automobiles. Success. Or think of BlockBuster and Movie Gallery. Pivot resistant until it was too late. Fail. Gone.
The core of how to know when to pivot means taking a big risk is required. It also means you have to have the right people on board. Do you employ highly change resistant employees or those willing to innovate alongside you? Are you using data and the right data, or just guessing? And ‘when’ is the right time?
All these questions are far easier to ask than answer. But asking them is critical.
In our 20th podcast episode, we interviewed the CEO of BridgeWays, an organization that has made many major pivots successfully, and as a result, survived and is about to turn 100 years old. Listen and learn the lessons she passes on from firsthand experience:
