Marcia's Leadership Q&As

Q. Who are the best people to listen to in order to get the most accurate picture of how my company is doing?

A. Just as you have multiple people to communicate to, you have multiple groups to listen to. They are all part of your system. There is not an either-or answer, and there is not an answer where you rank the people you as a leadership (team) need to listen to. As a leadership team, you are the visionaries for your organization, so you need to listen to each other and your consultant/strategist who will ask you strategic questions (not provide you with answers.)  

You need a system where you can gather the voice of the customers. It’s common to use surveys and focus groups; these are easy methods, but not necessarily relevant. Observing the customer use your product or service is much more effective. Your employees also have a voice and contribute their ideas to improving the organization. How do you listen to them: townhalls, informal conversations, e-mail connections, Zoom chats? Your vendors and industry and future trends are full of perspectives. How do you engage with them? Do you have a plan to attend meetings and conferences to stay up-to date on innovation? 

Your competitors are also part of your system; do you create a bigger pie for all to succeed, or do you only continually compete? Leaders think strategically: what can we learn to pursue new opportunities and serve our customers? The more creative you are and experiment, the greater success you may experience. (That doesn’t mean chase fifty ideas at a time; focus, prioritize, plan and proceed, or you can spread your resources too thin and fail.)

Q. How do I build stronger connections between my company and the customers we serve?

A. Trust and authenticity evolve based on the communication (in words and actions) and relationships you have. Having conversations regularly with a diverse group of customers can keep you relevant. Many of the greatest leaders spend a minimum of 50% of their time and often 70 to 80% of their time in customer focused meetings and conversations. Understanding and listening to customers helps you create future products and services for current customers and new markets. Unfortunately, too many leaders spend less than 20% of their time really understanding or connected to their customers. If you can host periodic gatherings and learning sessions with your customers, that is powerful.

Marcia’s Leadership Q&A

Q. I’ve had a company for over ten years. We weathered the pandemic, though it wasn’t easy. We’ve never had a Strategic Plan, nor has my Advisory Board. What’s the value of developing one now?

A. There are hundreds of businesses that have grown up and survived without a plan. Generally, those who have been successful have a leader or business owner who communicates directly and with an intense focus on the customer experience. However, it doesn’t mean that managing a company without a Plan is easy, but taking the time allows a team to discuss strategies for the future, not just react to current operations.  Leading with a plan can be challenging, too, but the leaders and boards who create a Strategic Plan go through the process of posing questions that need to be considered and answered; challenges and threats that need to be discussed; and opportunities that need to be defined and pursued.  

Defining the direction of the organization for the next month, year, and five years, allows everyone to be creative and share information and ideas to move forward together. The team can discuss the resources needed and what they want to accomplish together for the customers and developing future services, products, and markets. A Strategic Plan is the foundation for any organization. Without it a business can rapidly flounder, struggle, and react. When the pandemic hit, did your organization have a Pandemic Plan? Some did; most didn’t. For those that did, the team had had the freedom to discuss a crisis calmly and not under pressure or stress; they only had to review and adapt their plan. Creating a Plan together allows a leadership team to learn, work, improve, anticipate, and innovate together. Planning is powerful—if done well. There’s the traditional way of breaking down your organization into parts and silos (vision, mission statements, arbitrary numerical goals, a road map.) There’s a better way: use a Strategic Compass and look at how all of the essential parts of your business need to work together to serve your market. 

Marcia’s Leadership Q&A

Q. Our organization has grown, and now there are more people available to do the day-to-day work that managers used to have to deal with. But many managers still have a strong tendency to take on the tasks. How do we break the “I’ll take care of it” reflex?

A. Great question, and I’m smiling! One of my mentors told me over 20 years ago, “a great leader is a lazy leader.” That’s a pretty surprising yet memorable comment, isn’t it? It’s also powerful. A leader doesn’t do the tasks that can be delegated unless it’s a time when all hands need to work together to get the job done. As people move from a more detailed and sometimes analytic role (like a sales person or an engineer) into management and leadership, it means the mindset and the role of the person also must change. Leaders need to think strategically, create and work ON the systems that the people work IN, anticipate and pursue opportunities, and develop the people. They delegate the work and create the environment where people contribute ideas and are self-motivated to contribute.

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Q. It’s easy to get caught up in everyday work. How do you get off the hamster wheel to make time to plan and do something big or meaningful for the company?

A. Whether an executive, a manager, or a team member, it’s important to have a tentative plan for your day and week. Then adapt as needed. If you know what to need to accomplish, you can focus and prioritize. Look at how you spend your time. If you’re in back-to-back meetings, when do you read and respond to emails ,customers’ requests, think and plan, and do your work? Planning, communicating, reflecting on lessons learned, are part of the job. Schedule time for those essential tasks, too. You might need to schedule 30 or 60 minutes at the beginning and end of the day to keep information flowing. If you don’t Plan, you will be in Do-Do-Do mode all day long, just reacting and feeling drained and stressed by the end of the day. Schedule quiet time to think, plan and focus on the priorities. Use the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycle, a tool to continually improve. You work short term, but think longer term to contribute doing more meaningful and innovative work in the company and for the customers.

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Q. I’m going to step down from the President position for personal reasons. I’m concerned I may miss it, regret my decision, or not agree with some of the decisions my predecessors make, though I’ve been grooming them for months. What do I do if I regret leaving?

A. It will be natural to miss the leadership you’ve had, the people you interact with, the challenges and routines, etc. Your work and position has been a big part of your life. It’s time to consider your transition. Reflect on your contributions, what you learned and the progress you made, your legacy, and the reality of the emotions (the good and the bad.) You may want to take a break for a few weeks or months before moving on to your new life or encore career. You may feel a loss of what you miss; it’s natural. Grieve what you miss, so you can move forward. Look forward to new opportunities, new routines, new experiences. An important step is to Let Go. Don’t look back or stay involved in the decisions (unless you’re called for advice.). Give the new leader space to lead, to explore, and to make mistakes, too. Most people have a transition time; take that time to adapt, and have some plans so you don’t go from working full-time to having nothing on your calendar. Give your new life space and an opportunity to be very self-satisfying. It has happened, but rarely that leaders are called back into a company to deal with a special project, to save it or turn it around (like Steve Jobs at Apple.). If that happens, assess the situation and consider giving yourself a timeline to make it a temporary time and not permanent. Think about the why before re-entering. Every situation is different, so there is not one answer, but keep in mind why you left and your life goals and stay true to those.

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Send your leadership and team questions to Marcia Daszko at md@mdaszko.com. She works with Boards, C-suite leaders and teams to pivot, innovate, accelerate and achieve bold results never before imagined. A provocative keynote & virtual speaker, strategic Deming advisor/consultant for 25+ years, she is the bestselling author of the book “Pivot Disrupt Transform.” www.mdaszko.com

Marcia’s Leadership Q&A

Q. What traits do you think most great leaders have?

A. There are hundreds of traits that great leaders may have. But the essential focus for leadership is not really about attributes. Thinking about leadership traits is a static approach. Instead, think about people continually developing their leadership as a robust and dynamic process. Leaders are creative, questioning, and continually improving their thinking and their actions.

Define some characteristics of leadership and look at how those can be improved over time. Great leaders have a confidante, a trusted advisor that continually teaches, challenges, and encourages them in a safe environment, yet beyond their comfort zone.

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Q. What kind of duties and responsibilities are best left solely in the hands of a leader and not delegated to a subordinate?

A. Here are a few essential duties of a great leader that they cannot delegate. Leaders are accountable for the system (organization) and they can not hold individuals IN the system accountable for the results of the system. This is a huge differentiator that many leaders don’t get—the difference between accountability and responsibility. Leaders are accountable for the results because only they can change the System. They need to work ON the System to improve or transform it if they don’t like the various outputs and measures. Individuals and teams are responsible to contribute to improving the system (and processes) with management.

Leaders also cannot delegate the organization’s transformation. The CEO/President/Owner leads the transformation and cannot delegate that. CEOs of Ford, GM, Xerox, etc. have owned their own transformation—it’s how they saved and turned around their organizations. Transformation is not easy. The thinking is different and difficult, but also essential and satisfying work. Leaders create the culture through showing their leadership and communicating their values, priorities, and focus. Leaders also create the environment where people are self-motivated; that’s where the power is. Leaders don’t motivate people (sometimes they de-motivate them and let “best practices” and management fads creep into their organization. Those can cause internal competition and dysfunctional workplaces.). Leaders develop and invest in their people and grow the business.

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Q. What’s the best way to cultivate a sense of self-awareness in myself as a leader?

A. As we’ve heard many times, “we don’t know what we don’t know.” It starts with what we believe. Many people believe that when they’ve graduated from high school, trade school, or college, they’ve gotten the diploma and they’re “done” with the bulk of their learning.  But their journey of learning is just beginning. They embark into personal lives and careers—and maybe multiple careers over decades and meet leaders (good and bad) who become mentors. Deep learning begins when people want to explore who they are, what they want, and where they’re going. Leadership develops when they begin to ask more questions.  Ask questions about choices, direction, and how they can contribute. How will they be authentic in words and actions?  

Developing leadership (naturally what each person has within themselves) means continual learning, studying, having meaningful conversations, and most importantly asking questions and challenging the status quo. Great leaders don’t blame, judge, and make excuses. They are creative, search for solving problems with others, and see possibilities and opportunities. People have busy days, productive days, days of struggle, and days to reflect. To become more self-aware, listen more, read more, question more, experiment more, and make more of a difference.  In doing these things, you learn more about yourself—and where you need to push out of your own comfort zone to grow.

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Send your leadership and team questions to Marcia Daszko at md@mdaszko.com.  She works with Boards, C-suite leaders and teams to pivot, innovate, accelerate and achieve bold results never before imagined. A provocative keynote & virtual speaker, strategic Deming advisor/consultant for 25+ years, she is the bestselling author of the book “Pivot Disrupt Transform.” www.mdaszko.com

Leadership Unites and Partners to Deliver Rare Results

Strange bedfellows have emerged in the past year as the world addressed the pandemic. For example, GM and Ford pivoted their production lines to make ventilators, and beer breweries shifted to produce hand sanitizers.

Pharmaceutical companies around the world began the race to create vaccines to protect society from COVID19 and its variants. Independently, corporations compete to win; they are rivals. First to market, best to market—who will it be?

The pandemic has driven all of the pharma companies around the world to discover vaccines that will be safe and effective.

A Compelling Aim Unites a Collaborative Team

This week we saw the Biden administration and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services identify and supply the funding so two typically rival mega-pharma corporations (Merck and Janssen, a Johnson & Johnson company) would collaborate, unite, and support each other. Together they will accelerate the vaccine production needed. Merck did not succeed in discovering their own vaccine, but they are scaling up their manufacturing capacity to deliver millions of vaccine vials for distribution to the people in need.

Leaders Use a Strategic Compass

The Strategic Compass is a powerful inter-dependent strategy tool that can be used to drive toward and accelerate successful results in any or across organizations and industries. The Compass has five interactive parts. It quickly helps leaders to:

• focus and prioritize

• ask and answer the essential questions, and

• communicate to the teams the extraordinary results they need to achieve.

When the compelling aim is clear, great leadership communicates it to the people who can collaborate and deliver. By what method will they achieve the aim? What values will they stand for in action, not just words? Who will they serve and what do those customers/patients/members/students need? How will leaders measure progress and success?

Strategic Compass

Whether an organization has its annual goals to achieve or a global pandemic and crisis is threatening survival of society as we knew it, leaders can focus and address their issues. The Strategic Compass is an imperative guide.

Win-Win-Win

There are times for competition, but there are more compelling opportunities for cooperation and collaborations. Businesses may compete, but during the times they collaborate, we all may win. When the Compelling Aim is enormous and too large for one organization, leaders who merge resources, creativity, and brain power, create more successes. Another example is climate change. It will take millions of people working together to reverse the impact of global climate change.

When you’re faced with challenges and crises, look at the bigger picture to discover the power of Win-Win-Win results. Use your leadership and courage to answer the questions on the Strategic Compass, and optimize (not merely maximize) your results.

Marcia’s Leadership Q&A

Send your leadership and team questions to Marcia Daszko at md@mdaszko.com.  She works with Boards, C-suite leaders and teams to pivot, innovate, accelerate and achieve bold results never before imagined. A provocative keynote & virtual speaker, strategic Deming advisor/consultant for 25+ years, she is the bestselling author of the book “Pivot Disrupt Transform.” www.mdaszko.com

Q. When should a team prepare for a crisis? Is it too early to plan for the next crisis, especially when we’re still in the middle of this one?

A. Great leaders, at work and at home, anticipate and consider challenges and how they will respond to them. Whether it’s pilots training to deal with a challenge in flight, families preparing for an earthquake or a hurricane, a driver being aware of the traffic, a company preparing for a pandemic or loss of a major client, people do a variety of crisis planning. Some companies had a plan in case they were ever faced with a pandemic. Did your company have a plan? Those that had one had created it with calm rationality and could quickly adapt it. Others had to rapidly pivot, or they struggled.

Thoughtful leaders at home and at work think ahead. They scan their environment for safety. What might they be faced with?  With your team, what do you need to think about, anticipate, discuss, plan and prepare for? It’s never too late to make a plan. That’s what leaders do. When it’s needed, leaders and their rapid action teams adapt and pivot, and respond. If an unforeseen crisis occurs, teams who have a foundation in leadership thinking, will respond rather than react or freeze in fear.

Q. What signs should a leader look out for that signal that they may not be the right leader for the job anymore or should take a different role in the organization and move aside?

A. It is not uncommon for a founder, owner or executive to move aside as an organization grows, needs to scale, or goes through transitions they have no experience in or are uncomfortable with. The enterprise may be moving and growing at a fast pace, building in complexity, or innovating into new areas of expertise. If executives feel overwhelmed, uncomfortable, fearful, or are micro-managing, they need to assess if they are continuing to find joy and satisfaction in their current position.

There are multiple ways to address this situation. Many young founders have a close mentor(s) such as a supportive CEO, Board Director or a professor who guide and advise them as they navigate and develop. Or an executive may have founded an organization and be passionate about product development, but may not have an affinity for running or growing a business. People have natural leadership within them and each person needs to decide where they can best contribute and feel fulfilled.

Pivotal Leadership: Thoughtful Action

2021 will be a year of thoughtful action for leaders and their teams.

Strong Connections

It means creating a stronger link with:

• Customers

• Collaborative team members

• Partners

• Suppliers

• Your coaches and mentors

Investments Are Essential!

2021 will be a Year of Investment! Invest in:

• Yourself; your self-care, your learning; your time to be humble and grateful;

• Rapidly developing your staff, your teams, your colleagues, and your partners; educate, develop skills, and strengthen their communication and team-building.

• Deeper commitment to communicating in multiple ways to all of your team, in every corner of your operation;

• Your systems and processes! What do you need to do to optimize your System (not maximize!) and quickly improve your processes? The status quo and small improvements are not enough.

• Your infrastructure; build out more foundational systems for scaling growth into the future. The time is now!

Reduce the Built-In Flaws, Complexity, and Waste

Organizations are full of waste (estimating 60-80%.) Ensure that you’re reducing waste and increasing productivity:

•  Conduct a Team Audit. Are your teams all focused to support the Aim of your organization? Are they making progress at the speed you need? If you have too many teams that are struggling, you’re zapping the energy of your resources. Focus on a few, and disband those that are unproductive.

• Post-pandemic planning and 2021 Strategic planning are different. Are you ready to implement both—at the speed that you will need?

• Teams are burning out, zooming hour after hour (executives, managers, and employees) are exhausted, and often are too afraid to speak up. I’ve developed new team education, processes, and policies that can increase your meeting time productivity and reduce the time in meetings by 40 to 60%. Help your teams!

6 Executives Use Pivotal Leadership: Pivot, a Powerful Business Strategy

In December, Managing Editor Josh Moss of the Silicon Valley Business Journal invited me to write the cover article for a January issue. We chose Pivotal Leadership as the topic so we could explore and share what pivots executives had made in 2020—and why pivots need to continually emerge for healthy organizations.

If you question how to pivot, to rapidly move your teams and organization forward faster, to capture new markets, and to make a difference with stellar customer experiences, contact us today at md@mdaszko.com. We can help you assess where your barriers are to pivoting and innovating and how to remove them, and achieve rapid growth you never before imagined!

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THE POWER TO PIVOT IN 2021:

Pivotal leadership — the ability to transform challenging crises into bold solutions and a new future — is essential.

The challenges caused by the Covid-19 pandemic demanded unprecedented responses last year that few leaders had ever had to make. Across all sectors, leaders faced new dilemmas on an hourly or daily basis.

Pivotal leadership — the ability of leaders to pivot and adapt as their world is disrupting around them — is essential. What does it really mean?

“Pivot” means to make a fundamental, often abrupt and rapid change in direction.

Leaders had to take the essential step to pivot in 2020, to either survive or thrive, and they’ll have to keep doing it this year.

As Covid hit, some executives immediately closed their companies and furloughed their employees. Others adopted a “wait and see” stance, assuming the pandemic would end soon.

But pivotal leaders quickly assessed the situation, sensed what their constituents needed, and responded. They gathered rapid action teams, brainstormed ideas, and created solutions. They designed, focused and applied on the move.

Pivoting takes vision, rapid decision-making, and ubiquitous communication. It’s a commitment to experiment and take immediate action. Time is of the essence!

Leaders who pivot have a compelling, focused aim, and a solid foundation of management thinking to draw from.

We saw auto manufacturers GM and Ford pivot and produce 100,000-plus ventilators for hospitals. Distilleries made hand sanitizers. Luxury clothing manufacturers produced PPE gowns and masks. Schools pivoted to virtual learning, healthcare to telemedicine, and millions began working remotely.

Why pivot? Current needs aren’t being met. The status quo doesn’t work. Leaders see a need and boldly jump into action.

People who continually generate the most creative ideas are the most resilient and likely to pivot, survive and thrive.

I reached out to several executives to find out more about the challenges they faced early on in the pandemic and how they applied pivotal leadership to adapt their organizations. Here are their stories.

Healthcare

“We’re doing things we’ve never done before,” said Chris Boyd, a senior vice president and area manager for Kaiser Permanente, who led Kaiser’s Santa Clara facility when Covid-19 first hit. “For healthcare the pandemic got very real, very quickly.”

Immediately, the leaders at Kaiser identified its needs: Safety, personal protective equipment, a command center, and accelerated and widely dispersed communication.

“At first, the projections were so dire, but we succeeded in doubling the capacity of the hospital,” Boyd said. “By the second surge, we were well prepared.

“Communication was crucial, and it had to be different for everyone. We did video visits with patients to video broadcasts to employees, but we also needed contact with others who were not at a computer. Executives took a beverage/snack cart and visited staff to address their fears.”

Great leaders are always pivoting, creating, innovating — finding new solutions and markets. They see a crisis or amazing possibilities and bold opportunities.

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Serial entrepreneur Toby Corey founded GetVirtual in March 2020. The Santa Cruz-based organization connects small businesses affected by Covid-19 to tech-savvy university students who could help pivot the businesses online with digital tools.

TOBY COREY

Social entrepreneurship

In March 2020, serial entrepreneur Toby Corey founded GetVirtual.

The Santa Cruz-based organization connects small businesses affected by Covid-19 to tech-savvy university students who could help pivot the businesses online with digital tools. Students receive college credits from partnering universities (it started at U.C. Santa Cruz and has spread to other Bay Area universities), invaluable experience in entrepreneurship, and an opportunity to give back to the community.

“The need is extraordinary. Everything is a process,” Corey said. “There are already 100 students working with 100 small businesses. The students want to be social entrepreneurs, be intellectually curious, and experiment.”

Corey said that altruism is important and that Generation Z is especially altruistic.

“Modern thinking is mindful,” he said. “It’s paying it forward; we’re doing that. We inspire greatness, disruption and innovation.”

The mindset of leaders who are able to pivot are focused on growth, the future, and meeting new needs with bold solutions.

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Kavitha Mariappan, Zscaler executive vice president, customer experience and transformation.

SCOTT R. KLINE

Cybersecurity

Leaders pivoted for the safety of their employees, contractors and customers, locally and globally. For Zscaler — a San Jose cloud security company that became 2018’s biggest Nasdaq tech debut — that meant also dealing with a new level of security.

“One pivot has been the rapid, higher-level emergence of IT for business continuity. IT has been a savior,” said Kavitha Mariappan, Zscaler’s executive vice president, customer experience and transformation. “Preventing disruptions, addressing threat activities (the Zscaler cloud processes 140 billion transactions per day), being resilient, and innovating are what we do to protect the ‘crown jewels’ and protect our customers.

“We talk to our customers about transformation, and pivoting is critical, for security, safety and scaling for the future,” she said. “The pandemic was a true test in leadership authenticity and empathy. It’s a time of growth. We accelerated our initiatives and invested more in our people, infrastructure, and customers. We have a ‘rest and recharge day,’ a day to take a break. We’re anticipating, ‘What does re-entry to the office look like?’”

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Executive Briefing Centers

The conferences and trade show sectors, as well as travel and hospitality industries, were impacted or devastated in 2020. The initial impact on global executive briefing centers where sales teams meet with customers was also felt.

Elizabeth Simpson, president of the Association of Briefing Program Managers, reported how rapidly her 600 business members pivoted with each other.

“It was a tsunami of sharing,” she said. “Members immediately asked for resources to go virtual. We didn’t have them, but two members responded with help for the whole community.”

She continued, “One of our members, Pam Evans, senior director of the Executive Briefing Programs at Palo Alto Networks, made a powerful pivot with her team. She met with the VP of sales to say, ‘We’re open for business. We can take care of our customers virtually.’”

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Bob Linscheid, the new CEO of the Silicon Valley Organization, is the past president/CEO of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, as well as CEO of Linscheid Enterprises Inc.

TOMAS OVALLE/ SILICON VALLEY BUSINESS JOURNAL

Business advocacy

Bob Linscheid joined the Silicon Valley Organization last fall to help the wounded organization get on a new path forward.

After an internal upset caused the previous CEO to resign, Linscheid was tapped to be interim president and CEO. He said he is ready to make a pivot that heals the 133-year-old organization.

“My job is to find the SVO’s path to reconciliation. As the No. 1 most innovative city in the U.S., San Jose is expressing its needs.” Linscheid said. “I’m doing a massive amount of listening to 1,200 diverse members’ voices and processing a lot of information. We have problems to solve, and we’ll be stronger as a group to make a difference. Great leaders hang out in uncertainty, but will be the most innovative.”

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San Jose State head coach Brent Brennan with linebacker Isa'ako Togia at CEFCU Stadium.

TOMAS OVALLE

Sports

From his first day four years ago, Brent Brennan, San Jose State University’s head football coach, began a holistic approach to develop the young men on the team.

In his first two years, the Spartans won just three games. This season, he took the team to the Mountain West Conference championship and won — something that hadn’t been done in nearly 30 years.

With 110 players, Coach Brennan defined success by many measures, not just on the scoreboard. They focus on academics, health, training, and engaging with the campus and community. The team supports other athletic events, delivers dinner kits, and visits schoolchildren.

“Football is the best sport to learn about systems and holistic thinking. The game is a good training ground to pivot. It’s the process, the struggle. The players need to lean on each other. The pieces come together,” Brennan said. “The mindset is (to) keep moving forward: Go to class, get stronger, make good choices, contribute to the community, deal with setbacks together. Their pivotal growth as a team came when they each started caring more about each other and giving to the team. They are more connected.”

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2021 pivots

What do you anticipate in 2021? Are you ready to pivot at the speed you will need? What leadership strategies and creativity do you need? Have you assessed your ability to lead and done your pivot audit for 2021? It will not be business as usual.

Pivoting means that leaders will transform and go where they never before imagined!

Marcia Daszko has been working with senior executives for more than 25 years. She guides leaders to pivot to survive, rapidly scale, and achieve bold results. The bestselling author of “Pivot, Disrupt, Transform,” she serves on various boards and has taught MBA classes at six universities. Contact her at md@mdaszko.com.

TOMAS OVALLE/ SILICON VALLEY BUSINESS JOURNAL

Pivotal Leadership for 2021

The challenges caused by the 2020 pandemic demanded unprecedented responses that few leaders had ever had to make. Across all sectors leaders from business to healthcare to education to non-profits, faced new dilemmas on an hourly or daily basis.

 Pivotal leadership--the ability of leaders to pivot and adapt as their world is disrupting around them--is essential. What does it really mean?

Pivot means to make a fundamental, often abrupt, and rapid change in direction.

 Pivoting is essential to survive or thrive. Leaders had to pivot in 2020 and will continue in 2021.

 Some executives immediately closed their companies and furloughed their employees. Others adopted a “wait and see” stance, assuming the pandemic would end soon.

 But pivotal leaders quickly assessed the situation, sensed what their constituents needed, and responded! They gathered rapid action teams, brainstormed ideas, and quickly created solutions. They designed, focused, and applied on the move! 

 Pivoting takes vision, rapid decision-making, and ubiquitous communication. It’s a commitment to experiment and take immediate action. Time is of the essence!

 Leaders who pivot have a compelling, focused aim and a solid foundation of management thinking to draw from.

 We saw auto manufacturers GM and Ford pivot and produce 100,000-plus ventilators for hospitals. Beer distilleries made hand sanitizers. Luxury clothing manufacturers produced PPE gowns and masks. Schools pivoted to virtual learning, healthcare to telemedicine, and millions began working remote.

Why pivot? Current needs aren’t being met. The status quo doesn’t work. Leaders see a need and boldly jump into action.

 People who continually generate the most creative ideas are the most resilient and likely to pivot, survive, and thrive.

 Pivots Drive Transformation in Healthcare

As with any pivot, Chris Boyd, senior vice president & area manager at Kaiser Permanente, Santa Clara said, “We’re doing things we’ve never done before! For healthcare the pandemic got very real very quickly.” 

 Immediately the leaders at Kaiser identified its needs: safety; PPE; a Command Center; and accelerated and widely dispersed communication.

“At first the projections were so dire, but we succeeded in doubling the capacity of the hospital,” Boyd said. “By the second surge, we were well prepared.”

“Communication was crucial, and it had to be different for everyone. We did video visits with patients to video broadcasts to employees, but we also needed contact with others who were not at a computer.  Executives took a beverage/snack cart and visited staff to address their fears.”

Great leaders are always pivoting, creating, innovating—new solutions and markets! They see a crisis or amazing possibilities and bold opportunities.

Pivot to Social Entrepreneurship and Survival

In March 2020, serial entrepreneur Toby Corey (US Web founder, Solarcity, Tesla) founded GetVirtual.  The Santa Cruz-based organization connects small businesses affected by Covid-19 to tech-savvy university students who could help pivot the businesses online with digital tools. Students receive college credits from partnering universities (it started at UC-Santa Cruz), invaluable experience in entrepreneurship, and an opportunity to give back to the community.

 “The need is extraordinary. Everything is a process,” Corey said.  “There are already 100 students working with 100 small businesses. The students want to be social entrepreneurs. Be intellectually curious and experiment. Altruism is important. Generation Z is very altruistic. Modern thinking is mindful. It’s paying it forward; we’re doing that. We inspire greatness, disruption, and innovation.”

 The mindset of leaders who are able to pivot are focused on growth, the future, and meeting new needs with bold solutions.

IT Pivots As Saviors for Business Continuity

Leaders pivoted for the safety of their employees, contractors, and customers locally and globally. For cloud security company Zscaler, that meant also dealing with a new level of security. “One pivot has been the rapid, higher-level emergence of IT for the business continuity. IT has been a savior,” Kavitha Mariappan, executive vice president, customer experience and transformation, said. “Preventing disruptions, addressing threat activities (100 billion per day), being resilient, and innovating are what we do to protect the ‘crown jewels’ and protect our customers.”

 “We talk to our customers about transformation, and pivoting is critical, for security, safety and scaling for the future. The pandemic was a true test in leadership authenticity and empathy. It’s a time of growth. We accelerated our initiatives and invested more in our people, infrastructure, and customers. We have a ‘rest and recharge day,’ a day to take a break. We’re anticipating, ‘What does re-entry to the office look like?’” 

 Executive Briefing Centers (EBCs) Go Virtual

Industries such conferences, trade shows, travel and hospitality were impacted or devastated in 2020. The initial impact on global executive briefing centers where sales teams meet with customers was also felt.

 Elizabeth Simpson, president of the Association of Briefing Program Managers, reported how rapidly her 600 business members pivoted with each other, “It was a tsunami of sharing! Members immediately asked for resources to go virtual. We didn’t have them, but two members responded with help for the whole community!” She continued, “One of our members, Pam Evans, senior director of the Executive Briefing Programs at Palo Alto Networks, made a powerful pivot with her team. She met with the VP of Sales to say, “We’re open for business. We can take care of our customers virtually.”

 Pivot to Healing and Innovation

Interim President & CEO Bob Linscheid joined the Silicon Valley Organization (SLO) to help the wounded organization get on a new path forward. After an internal upset caused the previous CEO to resign, Linscheid is ready to make a pivot that heals. He is listening to the 1200 diverse voices of the members in the 133-year-old organization.

 “My job is to find the SLO’s path to reconciliation. As the No. 1 most innovative city in the U.S., San Jose is expressing its needs.” Linscheid said. “I’m doing a massive amount of listening to 1,200 diverse members’ voices and processing a lot of information. We have problems to solve, and we’ll be stronger as a group to make a difference. Great leaders hang out in uncertainty, but will be the most innovative.”

 Pivoting a Football Team

From his first day four years ago, Brent Brennan, San Jose State University head football coach began a holistic approach to develop the young men on the team. In December 2020 they won the Mountain West Championship (for the first time since 1991.)

 With 110 players, Coach Brennan defined success by many measures, not just on the scoreboard. They focus on academics, health, training, and engaging with the campus and community. The team supports other athletic events; delivers dinner kits, and visits schoolchildren.

 “Football is the best sport to learn about systems and holistic thinking. The game is a good training ground to pivot. It’s the process, the struggle. The players need to lean on each other.  The pieces come together. The mindset is keep moving forward: go to class, get stronger, make good choices, contribute to the community, deal with setbacks together. Their pivotal growth as a team came when they each started caring more about each other and giving to the team. They are more connected.”

 2021 Pivots

What do you anticipate in 2021? Are you ready to pivot at the speed you will need?  What leadership strategies and creativity do you need? Have you assessed your ability to lead and done your Pivot audit for 2021? It will not be business as usual.

Pivoting means that leaders will transform and go where they never before imagined!