“The only mistakes you can learn from are the ones you survive.”

James C. Collins, author of Good to Great

Take heed, entrepreneurs. You got this. Taking the plunge to start a business is one of the hardest and gutsiest things anyone can do. And you’ve already done that. Let me remind you how brave and strong you are. 

But let me push you a little further. What’s made you a great entrepreneur is your ability to see a better way and have the guts to act. Now’s the time to conjure up that same energy and passion, take a hard look at your situation, and lead your organization headlong into the new normal and not just survive, but succeed. You need to pivot. Or die.

Success and greatness aren’t achieved by being stubborn or having a lousy attitude. It’s by seeing opportunity within your company’s expertise and specialty, and as the world and your customers change, you pivot. A pivot doesn’t mean stopping and dropping everything and chasing some utterly new and different opportunity. Take long-time Propr client Culinary Architecture. Since 2015, CA owner and chef Silva Lin has been growing her company as a top-tier corporate catering business. But with the pandemic, she lost nearly 100% of her customers overnight. Since Culinary Architecture has clear brand values, thanks to the Propr branding workshop, they successfully pivoted within their radius to thrive as a fabulous grocer. She didn’t stop and drop everything, she pivoted.

Extinction Events for Brands Start Within

Below is a gallery of photos* of once-great brands that are now extinct.  There are many reasons why they no longer exist. Still, their demise was not due to a recession or economic downturn. Overwhelmingly, according to Good to Great by Jim Collins, successful companies fail because they don’t have clear core values to guide decision-making, lack the discipline to pivot within the radius of their expertise in a changing world, and shift the blame outward. They didn’t pivot. They died.

*We take no credit for the photographs; whoever took the photos own all the rights to them.

Face the facts, and seek opportunities.

Take a hard look in the mirror, skip the opinions, face the brutal facts of reality, and realize what you aren’t, but seek who you can be. For example, are you a craft beer brand that relied on brick-and-mortar sales before the 2020 pandemic? Perhaps you can offer home delivery, drive-up service, distribution, and contract brewing? Or pivot to making soda, turning the brewery into a co-op?r repurpose your equipment for something in high demand?

Pivot only in your radius.

Know what you are, what you can be, and what you will never be. Use your core values and brand purpose to pivot within your success and opportunity radius. For example, Sylva of Culinary Architecture didn’t stop being a chef; she pivoted to stop being a corporate caterer to offering her fantastic food and meals direct to customers and the community. Use the three circles of the Hedgehog Concept to understand your opportunities. 

Lastly, have a purpose.

If your sole purpose is to make money, the only pivot that will help you succeed is to become a purpose-led company because shallow or short-sighted businesses are on the path to extinction. 💯

“The pain of same is greater than the pain of change.”

CDK Global, taken from The Challenger Customer