Persistence and the Art of the Pivot

The idea of pivoting comes from lean startup – starting with a business idea and testing it in the real world with real customers (potential customers at this point) very early and very often. You test and explore and learn as an early step with a Minimal Viable Product (MVP) or just enough to get started. The hard reality is that more ideas fail due to not finding a market than due to poor execution. Build it too fully without testing it with the market and you are likely to miss the mark. You tend to overbuild. You might miss some brilliant insight from a customer that makes a real difference in your product or service; one that you would have never stumbled upon in the inner sanctums of your garage or home office. In lean lingo – one learns quickly, fails fast and avoids the tendency to over-engineer or perfect things before the customer (and their wallet) has their say.

As you test and learn and fail, you “pivot,” or make changes and tweaks that make your product or service or business model better. You don’t lose sight of your goal; you just recognize that the path to get there might look like this:

So today I share with you a real life story of pivots and of persistence. And it is my story.

The Prelude

Evergreen Leadership took shape in the early part of 2011 – first with the competencies that were important to leading well in today’s environment. By mid-year, I had a very clear idea of how to develop those competencies through a leadership development process that was done:

• Over time rather than in a 3 day blitz, so that the learning could be assimilated
• In a circle, drawing on the wisdom of each and every person, not just the leader
• With high levels of accountability to use the skills immediately
• With reading material and exercises that teach, reinforce and make the content real and personal
• With peers across companies and organizations, providing a rich variety of knowledge and viewpoints, while at the same time creating a peer network that is rich and deep
• With experiences that draw on both sides of the brain – our creative, more emotional side and our logical, more analytical side

The First Attempts

Over time, the content was created. The idea got piloted in multiple variations – with a small but fast growing entrepreneurial firm, with leaders all from the same organization, and with a small, but mighty group of women leaders. And of course, in this time, there was still the need to bring home the bacon, meaning the majority of my time and effort was spent in doing the change consulting work I love.

The Big Obstacle

Initial circles only validated how powerful the concepts and methodology were.  I also learned that it was more than a full-time job to do the marketing involved in filling a circle with folks across the community. Instead of one sale inside a company, there were fifteen sales. And filling just one seat meant meeting with at least six people to find someone who was interested and had the time and money. While it was fun to meet that many new people, it was time consuming, expensive, and overwhelming to find and then get to meetings with over 200 folks to fill one circle. And getting enough of the right people out of that 200+ that were willing and able to hit the same starting gate was just about impossible.

The Test

In July of 2014, I decided to blitz it. I’ll get a big group together – in a nice breakfast where I would present, folks could network and learn and then I’d pitch our Leadership Circles. And I would get immediate feedback on the degree of interest to launch in my local area. The breakfast was filled with influential folks across the community. My presentation went well. Other work came to me as a result, but it was clear that I was not going to get the minimum of 10 leaders to get a circle launched here.

Letting Go

And so I let go of the idea for a bit. I focused on client work. I supported my daughter, who gave birth to twins in August. I finished up my book and got it to press. But I still held on to the idea that there had to be a way – I just couldn’t see it.

An Unexpected Encounter

In early November, Elizabeth, a Purdue graduate student reached out to me, asking if I would meet with her. She had seen that I taught a course in consulting – and that was something she was interested in. We met. I shared my work. I mentioned Circles. And then something magical happened.

The Pivot

Elizabeth happened to be on the board of Tippy-Connect, an organization for young professionals in the area. They were looking for opportunities to develop their members. It might be worth a chat with the president and VP.

We met – there was interest on both sides. They had a desire to do professional development for their members and some possible sponsors. We quickly outlined a plan – and it was clear that what I had been unable to do alone, was ripe with possibility that partnerships could bring.

The Breakthrough: Synergies

Tippy Connect had a ready audience and did the lion’s share of the marketing. Duke Energy provided major funding. Tippy Connect and Greater Lafayette Commerce took on the administration of the program. Coyote Crossing and Henriott Insurance Group provided space at no cost. We were off and running.

The Outcome

So on March 18, eleven amazing young leaders from across various organizations in the Lafayette area gathered to begin an 8 month journey to hone their leadership skills, know themselves better, and create a peer group that will support and sustain them far beyond the eight month program.

With this collaborative effort, we pulled together a circle in about 45 days – not months and months. Due to the funding from Duke and Tippy Connect, not having space rental and admin expense – the cost to participate is a mere $250. And due to the support with marketing and administration, I’m able to focus on delivery AND substantially reduce my prices. Funny how things work out.

The Lessons

My story is rich with them… but they include the wisdom of:

• Letting go of things that aren’t working – without letting go of the dream
• The power of partnerships and collaboration
• Being open to possibility – even coming from totally unexpected places
• Of persisting, pivoting and partnering

 And so I end with a question.  Is there a dream you are pursuing where you need to persist AND pivot – find a different path to the same end point? And are there some people that might help you get there? What possibilities might be there that you are not seeing in the moment, as you are locked into only one path forward?