Pivot! When Influencing Change Feels Like Moving a Couch
If you’re a Friends fan, you probably remember the episode where Ross buys a new couch and convinces Rachel and Chandler to help carry it up a narrow staircase. He insists it’s possible - if they just “pivot!” His relentless (and increasingly desperate) shouts of “PIVOT!” are now sitcom legend.
It’s funny on TV, but in real life? That scene feels familiar to anyone who’s tried to lead (or even persuade themselves) through change.
Why Pivoting Feels So Hard
Pivoting sounds easy in theory - change direction, adjust course, find a better angle. But when you’re already carrying the metaphorical couch (the workload, the pressure, the stress), a pivot can feel awkward, heavy, and inconvenient. Add in resistance - your own or others’ - and suddenly the “simple” adjustment feels impossible.
In VUCA conditions (volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous), resistance to pivoting is common. People cling to the familiar, even when it’s clearly not working, because:
✅ Change feels risky.
✅ The unknown feels scarier than the stuck.
✅ Pride makes us want to prove our original plan can still work.
Influencing Yourself (and Others) to Pivot
Here’s the key: successful pivots require both influence and mindset. You have to convince yourself first, and then others, that a shift is not a failure - it’s progress.
3 ways to make pivoting easier:
⭐ Reframe it. Remind yourself (and others) that pivoting isn’t abandoning the goal, it’s finding a smarter way to reach it.
⭐ Start small. You don’t have to flip the entire strategy—sometimes one degree of change is enough to avoid a dead end.
⭐ Model it. If you want your team to embrace pivots, show them you’re willing to adjust your own approach when the situation demands it.
The Bottom Line
Like Ross’s couch, big change often won’t fit by brute force alone. Pivoting - however awkward - creates the possibility of progress. And unlike a sitcom, the stakes are real: your willingness to influence yourself and others to shift course can be the difference between getting stuck in the stairwell of status quo… or making it to the next level.