Today is April 15 and the Navigate the Chaos question to consider is “How often do you consider making a pivot in order to go in a completely different direction?”
In business the term disruptive innovation refers to an emergent strategy where company founders and leaders adapt to the external disruption around them and rely on their flexibility to pivot and change direction.
They take a step forward, gather feedback, and adapt accordingly. As Professor Amar Bhide at Columbia University has shown 70% of all successful new businesses end up with a strategy different from the one they initially pursued.
Two such well-known examples of companies that pivoted are Instagram and Wrigley Gum.
Instagram is the most widely used photo app for iPhone, but many don’t know its origins. Instagram began as Burbn, a check-in app that included gaming elements from Mafia Wars, and a photo element as well. The creators worried Burbn had too much clutter and potential actions, and would never gain traction. So they took a risk and stripped all the features but one: photos. They rebuilt a version of the app that focused solely on photography—it was clean and simple, and clearly it paid off.
Wrigley didn’t always sell gum. In fact William Wrigley Jr. stumbled on the value of gum while giving it away for free. Mr. Wrigley Jr. moved to Chicago in the 1890’s and took up work as a soap and baking powder salesman. He got the idea of offering free chewing gum with his purchases, and the gum proved to be more popular than his actual product. Wrigley went on to manufacture his own chewing gum brands, Juicy Fruit, Spearmint and eventually Doublemint.
American writer William A. Ward noted “The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; and the realist adjusts the sail.”
One strategy to adjust the sail is to be a multiplier. Leaders who navigate the chaos understand the difference between a multiplier and a diminisher.
In Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter, Liz Wiseman distinguishers between multipliers and diminishers. “Multipliers ask the questions that challenge the fundamental assumptions in an organization and disrupt the prevailing logic.”
They place a priority on leveraging and growing the intelligence of others. Diminishers, on the other hand, fail to ask questions and have a strong need to demonstrate that they are the smartest person in the room.
If you are a leader or manager, or hope to be one day, you should consider asking yourself: do I want to be a multiplier or a diminisher?