Turn the unexpected into opportunity

Companies of all sizes have converted the unpredictability of our current era into an opportunity to innovate. Here’s how they created their own luck.

Certain businesses have been able to use the unexpected to unleash creativity, ingenuity, and innovation. They created their own “smart luck” by connecting dots in unexpected ways. For example, DAKA, an Austrian snow cannon factory, began producing disinfection cannons for large open spaces.

Key points

Here are 6 steps to help you spread serendipity – the ability to stumble across something unexpectedly and make the most of it:

Steer and unite your employees, while remaining ready for the unexpected.
Reframe a situation – and its possibilities – differently.
See the unexpected as an opportunity, and make the most of it to reshape the corporate culture, creating an innovation culture at all levels of your company.
Place bets by giving free rein to ideas and innovation projects suggested by employees in the field.
Take steps to spot the unexpected and transform it into innovations for your business.
Cultivate the feeling of belonging and socialization, especially when employees are working remotely.

To go further

“6 ways businesses can turn COVID-19 uncertainty to their advantage”

by Christian Busch (World Economic Forum Covid Action Platform, July 2020).

Published by Françoise Tollet

She spent 12 years in industry, working for Bolloré Technologies, among others. She co-founded Business Digest in 1992 and has been running the company since 1998. And she took the Internet plunge in 1996, even before coming on board as part of the BD team. 