Surviving and thriving in unprecedented times

Times like the current pandemic can change entire industries and shift business landscapes. They can make or break organizations.

Survival is a priority, but there is a strategy to thriving and surviving. This is not the time for block and tackle. Leaders must be willing to try new things, rethink products and services – basically the entire game of monetization. In other words, survival requires a new mindset to find and capitalize on opportunities and emerge as a leader.

MIT’s EMBA program prepares students not only to manage crises, but to find new paths. It teaches students to think about organizations like a system to understand how they are aligned and how changing one part affects the other parts.

With a strategic mindset, leaders can face these unprecedented times with much better chances for survival.

How is your product or service being used today?

It is important to re-evaluate how your products and services are currently being used. Are they still solving the problem for which they were built to solve? Is the customer using your product in a different way?

Sometimes, customers claim they would never use your product for anything other than its original intention, but all of a sudden, they are asking for something different. Instacart is a great example of this. At the beginning of the pandemic, Instacart focused solely on a primary B-to-C customer acquisition strategy targeting direct purchases of grocery delivery. What the company quickly learned was that there was a growing population of potential customers who were actually looking for alternate grocery delivery services for family members or neighbors not in their household in addition to small businesses.

Although Instacart had an initial framework for this use case, it was not thoroughly built, and they quickly learned through some initial pains how they needed to change their strategy. Their pivot contributed to their growth of over 218% by early May of 2020. By embracing change, your company will be able to build new opportunities for success in the future.

Innovation accelerates during unprecedented times

Anything that previously might have been viewed as a trend, may emerge as the new normal. Crises tend to act as catalysts for trends. Look at Instacart as an example. Before, it was a trendy service. Now, it is a critical service for people with compromised immunity who cannot risk shopping in grocery stores. Think about trends in your industry and how they may alter the current landscape.

Can you move beyond silos?

Competitors may become your best allies during crises. Once you break down the silos of your individual companies, you will discover additional value through collaboration. This could lead to a joint venture or a potential corporate action that was never on the table before. By merging products and services, you may both emerge as leaders in the market together.

Accept change

Expect that things will not return to the way they were and be thrilled about it. We live in a world where change is constant during situations like a pandemic. We are best off embracing change and carving out new paths for our future.

Embrace innovation

Look at how you can change your organization’s culture to embrace every opportunity for innovation. Encourage employees to experiment and find new ways to use your products and services. This is an iterative process, so be sure to outline and test the minimum viable product for at each step. This keeps the cost of failed experiments low and, many iterations later, you will find the key to not just surviving, but thriving.

Christa Babcock, EMBA '18, is Director of Strategic Initiatives at The Switch in New York City.