She Means Business

Strategic Pivots: How Do You Know When It’s Time to Change Direction?

Description:

Businesses don’t always need a new strategy. Sometimes they need better execution. Sometimes they need to stop doing things that no longer create value. And sometimes the strategy itself needs to change.

A crisis can make that decision obvious, but strategic pivots often become necessary long before a crisis occurs. This roundtable brings executives together to explore how leaders recognize the signals that a strategic pivot may be warranted, what they need to know before changing direction, and how they distinguish a fundamental strategic shift from another initiative added to an already crowded agenda.

We’ll discuss:

• What signals suggest a strategy may no longer fit the market or customer?
• How do you distinguish an execution problem from a strategy problem?
• What customer and business information is essential before making a pivot?
• How do you evaluate different directions without creating another round of random acts?
• What should leaders stop doing when they pivot?
• How do you determine whether you have the capabilities to execute the new direction?
• What should be tested before making a significant commitment?
• How do you define success and know when to adjust again?

The objective isn’t to pivot more often. It’s to develop the strategic perspective to recognize when the direction needs to change and the discipline to make that change deliberately.