Pivot

"I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination"  

-Jimmy Dean

A pivot is a change in strategy without a change in vision. Many of the best ideas and organizations have been brought to life by pivoting.

PROCESS: Gary Keller, founder of Keller Williams real estate, released a master class on pivoting in a 4 part Podcast series in Q2 2020. Check it out!

1. Safe & Strong: When you know you need to pivot, take care of yourself, your team, then your clients. The most successful never stop working on themselves during times of change.

2. Lean & Leveraged: Things change fast when you are changing directions. Keep your focus simple by asking a few clarifying questions while executing a new strategy:

  • Lean: Make sure your money is working for you. Should you buy or build? (a business model) Retain or acquire? (a customer) Do it now or later? (timing).

  • Leveraged: Make sure your team is focused and on point. Do you have the right Goals > Job Descriptions > People > Supporting systems to achieve success? Order matters!

3. Digital & Connected: Good things happen when you stay connected with your customers. Bad things happen when you don’t. Overcommunicate, using all mediums available, to bring your customers along a change.

4. Creative & Competitive: Consistent creativity is a process not an event. Brand new ideas are the last step, start by implementing existing ideas that have been used successfully in other places first.

Pivoting is a process. Master each step.

EXAMPLES: Have you heard of Nintendo, Twitter, Starbucks or Airbnb? All of these organizations, and countless more, were made successful only after they executed on big pivots. See this article from CEO magazine to read about 8 companies built on top of a successful pivot.

TIP: Use a System

If pivoting is a process, then you must have a system to do it. Create a system to record what you pivoted towards, why you did it, when it was done, and how effective it was.

Keep it simple - the system does not need to be elaborate. I use OneNote, and mark the pivot in bold.

Can you pivot and find increased success?

Stay Productive.

Joe House