CEOs are looking at alternatives to survive in this difficult economy and wondering when their business will go back to normal. The answer is it’s futile to look back. Expect a new world. Look ahead and innovate. The answer is to pivot.
Old business models have fallen. It's time to pivot with new strategies to survive and grow.
“Don’t strive for new normal. Strive for making the future bold, unique, better, meaningful, helpful. Think differently. Pivot.” Marcia Daszko, author of Pivot, Disrupt, Transform: How the Leaders Beat the Odds and Survive
Here are five strategies to successfully pivot in these times.
Pivot to Healthcare
One successful strategy is to pivot INTO Corona crisis. Many companies are pivoting into solutions for the health crisis. GM is making ventilators. Brewers are making hand sanitizers.
Small businesses are also Corona-shifting. Lesley Evers, who owns a small dress-maker business in Oakland, California, has shifted to making designer masks and selling them online.
Bruce Winkler is the innovator and managing partner of Innovation Strategies in Madison, Wisconsin has partnered with 2 other small companies to reengineer toaster ovens into mask sterilizers. They donate them to hospitals who can sterilize 150 masks per hour.
High End Systems in Austin, Texas makes equipment for stage foggers for concert events. They’re repurposing them with hydrogen peroxide for sterilization chambers.
Pivot to Online
All businesses are looking at ways to go virtual. From San Francisco Jazz Center to New York Metropolitan Opera and everywhere in-between, live performances are streaming online.
It’s not just the grand establishments. Enterprising yoga and Zumba teachers are holding classes online.
It’s not just in entertainment industry. The virtual trend is showing up in health care, education, and anywhere the customer is connected online
Telemedicine is a major trend and will likely continue even after the crisis fades. Patients contact their doctor online and videoconference with them. They would only see the doctor in person if the doctor determines it requires an in-person treatment (such as setting a broken leg.) Telemedicine avoids the risk contamination with other sick patients. It provides health care for those who are too sick to travel or don’t have access to good transportation. It saves times and travel costs for unnecessary doctor visits.
All schools and universities and students are adapting to on-line learning. There are some challenges. Not all students have access to a laptop and a strong internet connection. It’s harder to have interactive learning. The big advantage of online learning is that it opens up educational access by reaching many in remote communities or those with mobility challenges.
Pivot to Recognize Undiscovered Assets
Many savvy CEOs are discovering unrecognized assets. Companies that think of themselves in the business of arranging events (concerts, speakers, webinars, museum tours, sporting events, training sessions) are realizing they have been creating libraries. Their databases of concert recordings, videos of talks, webinars, museum viewings, taped sporting events, and training modules are valuable assets. Companies can monetize these intellectual properties. They can sell membership access to the libraries or give licenses to other companies to use their material or provide data/analysis to advertisers. ESPN aired the documentary on Michael Jordan, the Last Dance, and averaged 6.1 million viewers. Old content has new value.
Pivot to Transportation
As more people shop online, businesses will need to deliver the products to customers. There is more need for transportation, logistics, and delivery services. Uber is rolling out Uber for Cargo and Uber for Logistics.
Pivot the Supply Chain
All companies are re-evaluating their supply chains. Many companies will opt for having a reliable local supplier to minimize risk of future supply chain disruption. Some companies can pivot to establish manufacturing or supplies locally. One German automotive parts manufacturer was is setting up a plant in US to minimize tariffs on importing into US. With supply disruption concerns and international travel restrictions, pivoting to being a local supplier becomes even more attractive. Companies are looking at more distributed supply chains. They may pivot from large centralized production to smaller modular production closer to the customer.
If companies are looking for alternative business models, maybe they can look to their employees for pivot ideas. Per Daszko, “If leaders have a hunker-down mind-set, the ideas from employees get squelched.” For some executives this means pivoting their thinking to accept ideas from across the organization.
