Don’t Tell Me to Pivot!
We are all full of business advice. We like to sit around tables or at bars (well, used to) talking about what companies “should” do. We do the same to entrepreneurs- constantly give them advice from our theoretical perches. When I left a large company after almost a decade and went out for coffee with ex-colleagues, I was told many times what I should do with my new business. It got to the point where every time I heard “should do” attached to a business idea, I quickly challenged the suggesting party to put in $10,000 to invest with me in the brilliant idea. Not once was I taken up on the challenge.
In Corona Times, we are back to the “should” game. This time we collectively have one suggestion to all companies, a one-size-fits-all “obvious” solution- pivot. Yup. Pivot.
Let’s imagine how our suggestion might be received. There are a few scenarios I can imagine, a few ways I foresee business leaders or owners responding:
1. “Wow. Pivot. Thanks. I hadn’t thought of changing things up. I was just going to go down in flames singing.”
2. “Stop the presses. I need to consider that. I need to pivot. I’ll get back to the trivial stuff later- like getting people paid, applying for loans, negotiating, with vendors, keeping calm as I go bankrupt, and so on.”
3. “Okay, thanks. I get it. I need to change. So what should I pivot to?”
If members of the “should”-brigade were to confront scenario 3 what would they say?
Well we all know the answer: Either nothing or something mind-blowingly trite.
Imagine a restaurant group with 500 employees. Physical bookings are down 100%. Payroll and rent are coming up. Your “Net-60” on Accounts Payable is hitting in a big way. You’ve made the decision to lay-off the vast majority of your staff. The new restaurant you are building is on hold. You’ve sunk $500,000 into it and it might be money down the drain. You don’t know all your employees personally but of the ones you do know, you actually care about many. You know that most of them live precariously. No one planned for this sort of Black Swan event. Your investors are skittish. They are calling you often, asking you what you plan to do.
Then, someone tells you to “Pivot.”
You get over your anger at both the arrogance and the mind-bending banality of the comment. You then ask the person what you should pivot to?
“How about curbside take-out, “he says.
Clearly you’ve thought about this. In order to do that you still need a people working and you need to ask them to go into a physical place to work. You have to keep your insurance. You have to ask people to package and “deliver” the food. You have to market the service heavily and hope that you get sympathy-purchases. It’s a low-trust environment and people are rightly scared of everything. “Pivoting” might seem obvious but it won’t come close to solving your problem; it might not even be profitable.
We all see the point. Most of us either have obvious points to make or are simply satisfying our own egos by making such suggestions.
Now, don’t get me wrong. If any of us has coherent, thoughtful, and practical suggestions, we should offer them. But let’s collectively try to avoid the condescension and academic bloviation we are all so used to. Offer substance or don’t offer anything at all.
