Whitney Johnson, Harvard Business Review
We’ve all hit a wall at some point. You may run up against a competitor you cannot beat. You might lose your job despite your best efforts. You could be doing everything you can – but still not getting that promotion. But whatever the cause, what feels like a roadblock could be your first step on a new growth journey – as long as that step is backwards.
When you can’t go forward, the only way to keep moving at all is to take a step back. As entrepreneur Barbara Corcoran shared on the TV show Shark Tank when talking about starting Corcoran Real Estate, the tony residential brokerage firm in Manhattan, “By anyone’s standard I was a success. But I knew I was going bankrupt. And you know what I did – I went out and took a full-time job while I worked my business. There is nothing wrong with stepping back before you go forward.” As we see from Corcoran’s experience, sideways or backwards sometimes turns into a slingshot.
We see this all the time in the corporate strategy world – companies that have hit a wall take a step back, reassess, and then move forward. According to Tufts’ University professor Amar Bhide, 70% of all successful new businessesend up with a strategy different than the one they originally pursued. The sequence of events for these companies is almost always the same: step back, reassess, and then pivot or jump to a new strategy.
So when you feel like you’ve gotten stuck in your own personal growth journey, take a page from their playbook. Ask yourself: why have I stopped growing? What does the data tell me? And what adjacent areas might let me grow again? Then take a deep breath – and a step back. When we’ve gotten too close to a wall, it completely fills our line of sight, preventing us from getting an accurate view of our surroundings.
Many people struggle with stepping back because of the psychological ramifications. For some, stepping back is tantamount to admitting they’ve failed. Others may believe they are tougher than the wall and can simply smash their way through. Still others just want to ignore the reality of their situation, continuing to spin their wheels until they run out of gas.
This type of rigidity can be disastrous, while flexibility and a willingness to pivot can greatly enhance your chances for success.