When To Pivot

Hidden Brain

Hidden Brain Media

Arts, Science, Performing Arts, Social Sciences

4.6 • 40.4K Ratings

🗓️ 10 March 2025

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

When should you stay the course in life, and when should you shift with changing tides? This week, we bring you case studies from the world of business to explore the science of inflection points — changes that dramatically transform the course of events. Researcher Rita McGrath explains why we fail to see impending moments of upheaval, and what we can do to be more adept at spotting them.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is Hidden Brain. I'm Shankar Vedantam.
0:04.2	In the mid-1980s, Coca-Cola was feeling threatened by the growing popularity of its rival, Pepsi.
0:11.3	Executives at Coca-Cola decided to shake things up.
0:14.6	In April 1985, they launched a new product.
0:18.3	The supermarket shells throughout America will have the New Coke by Memorial Day weekend,
0:22.6	summer's kickoff and the soft drink season.
0:25.6	New Coke promised to be sweeter and smoother.
0:28.6	Rounder, yet bolder is a more harmonious flavor.
0:34.6	You're a pretty good copywriter, Roberto.
0:38.8	Sounds great, right?
0:40.8	But not everyone was happy.
0:44.5	Consumers took to the streets to protest new Coke,
0:46.8	pouring out the beverage in defiance. The Coca-Cola company received over 40,000 calls and letters
0:50.9	from angry, dissatisfied customers.
0:53.5	The one that starts, Dear Chief Dodo, what ignoramus decided to change the formula of Coke?
0:59.3	The new formula is unexciting and it's as bad as Pepsi, burn it.
1:04.9	People didn't just take the change seriously.
1:07.6	They took it personally.
1:09.1	That's un-American because we fought wars to have a choice, to have freedom.
1:16.9	New Coke was a disaster. Customers boycotted it. The media marked and criticized the move,
1:23.2	and distributors were reluctant to sell it. Sales plateaued and a rapid decline loomed on the horizon.
1:29.9	The company threw in the towel and switched back to its original formula.
	...

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