Pivot, or your company could perish!
In start-up and business turnaround lingo, “pivot” means quickly changing the company’s primary direction.
“We have expanded our approach beyond using the Supply Chain model only for selling analytical and consulting services. Our company now runs an open business platform that enables the core transaction between producers and users of these services in the food and lodging industries.”
Or famously, this Glitch that became Slack, “We are no longer selling games; we are selling collaboration.” Here are nine pivots that all slow-growth companies facing competitive threats should read.
Some C-levels don’t pivot for fear of the unknown, uncertainty, or risk. They believe it indicates that they didn’t know what they were doing in the first place. Others think it makes them look weak and wrong. And so rather than pivoting, like an armchair General, the leader stubbornly stands her ground and watches the business stagnate or continue nominal growth rather than pivot for faster growth.
Reality: pivoting isn’t a sign of weakness. Pivoting shows constant learning followed by intelligent and agile actions.
And the thing about start-ups and slow-growth companies is that because they are spending so much time in terra incognita, in a world of unknowns and new possibilities, learning new stuff and changing the rules of competition is what the game is about.
Some companies must move beyond their comfort zone and pivot, or they could perish.
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Thank you,
Satish Mehta
Author, Speaker, Coach
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