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  • September–October 2020
  • Article
  • Harvard Business Review

When It's Time to Pivot, What's Your Story?: How to Sell Stakeholders on a New Strategy

By: Rory McDonald and Robert Bremner
  • Format:Print
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Abstract

To succeed, a new company must rally investors, staff, customers, and the media around a good story. But often that narrative turns out to be wrong, and entrepreneurs realize they need to change direction. How that shift is communicated can have a huge impact on a venture’s future. Through extensive research with founders, innovation chiefs, analysts, and journalists, the authors have identified stratagems for maintaining stakeholder support during pivots. Early on, entrepreneurs should avoid a focus on overly specific solutions and instead present the big picture. When changing course, they can then signal continuity by explaining how the new plan fits with the original vision. Once the reboot has happened, it’s critical to be conciliatory and empathetic to stakeholders who may feel abandoned. Employees and customers are far more willing to remain loyal if given guidance about how they’ll be affected and if leaders seem to genuinely care about their situation.

Keywords

Entrepreneurship; Business Model; Strategy; Change Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Communication Strategy; Business and Stakeholder Relations

Citation

McDonald, Rory, and Robert Bremner. "When It's Time to Pivot, What's Your Story?: How to Sell Stakeholders on a New Strategy." Harvard Business Review 98, no. 5 (September–October 2020): 98–105.
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About The Author

Rory M. McDonald

Technology and Operations Management
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    Productive Tensions: How Every Leader Can Tackle Innovation's Toughest Trade-Offs

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More from the Authors
  • Mastering Innovation's Toughest Trade-Offs By: Christopher B. Bingham and Rory M. McDonald
  • Disrupting Defense at Anduril Industries By: Rory McDonald, Timothy Buehn, Aditi Ghai and James Heffelfinger
  • Productive Tensions: How Every Leader Can Tackle Innovation's Toughest Trade-Offs By: Chris Bingham and Rory McDonald
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