CREATIVE FIELDS – Breaking the Mold in Art and Design: Creativity thrives on the courage to abandon a familiar form and try something radically different. When photographers, writers, painters or designers feel stuck, a change in medium or technique can rejuvenate their vision. Practical examples: A photographer who normally shoots in digital might experiment with old-school film or swap color for stark black-and-white, discovering fresh textures and moods. A writer facing writer’s block might switch from typing to handwriting, or try writing from a different character’s perspective, finding the words suddenly flow. A painter used to fine brushes might pick up a palette knife or try finger-painting, unlocking new emotional expression through a different physical approach. A graphic designer could step away from the computer and sketch with pencil and paper, or borrow a technique from architecture or fashion design, sparking original ideas. These shifts in form jar us out of autopilot and force renewed focus on fundamentals—light, composition, narrative, shape—and this is where creative breakthroughs are born.
Historic pivots fueling artistic breakthroughs: Many iconic artists only found their signature genius by boldly changing style. For example, Salvador Dali began as a disciplined Impressionist painter, diligently copying the styles of Monet and Renoir. Then, in 1927, he made a sudden turnaround. Pronouncing that Impressionism was “completely dead,” Dali pivoted to probe the unconscious mind . He immersed himself in Freudian psychoanalysis and the avant-garde Surrealist movement. This radical change of approach unleashed the bizarre dreamscapes we know him for—melting clocks and long-legged elephants—imagery born from “systematic irrational thought” and subconscious exploration . Dali’s transformation shows how switching technique (from capturing outer reality to revealing inner reality) can elevate an artist from competent to revolutionary. In literature, a famous example is Dr. Seuss. When challenged by his publisher to write a children’s book using only 50 different words, Seuss embraced this extreme constraint as a new “technique.” The result was Green Eggs and Ham – a whimsical classic written with precisely 50 unique words . By changing his approach to writing (limiting vocabulary and focusing on playful repetition), Dr. Seuss unlocked a creative superpower: he proved that simplicity and innovation can go hand in hand, and the book became one of the best-selling children’s stories of all time. These cases illustrate a key lesson: if your creative work feels stagnant, deliberately pivot your style or constraints. Paint with your non-dominant hand. Change genres or formats. Imitate a wildly different artist for a day. You may feel uncomfortable at first—good! Discomfort means you’re stretching. As Odilon Redon, Klimt, Picasso and countless others proved, stepping away from your old approach can lead to a breakthrough style that’s entirely your own .
How to apply it when stuck: First, embrace experimentation as play. Give yourself permission to make “bad” art or draft nonsense in service of finding something new. Try the opposite of your usual approach: if your designs are always minimalist, sketch something baroque and over-the-top; if your writing is overly serious, try a comedic piece or a poem. Second, change the tools or medium – it’s amazing how a different instrument coaxes a different creative language out of you. Third, set a bold constraint or challenge (à la Dr. Seuss) – for instance, a painter might use only one color for an entire series, a photographer might shoot an entire project using a single lens or from the perspective of an animal. These self-imposed switches force innovation. Finally, study the rebels of your field: notice how often great creators went through phases and weren’t afraid to scrap their formula and start fresh. Their growth came from iteration—each new style built on lessons of the last . Your creative breakthrough might be one experiment away. Dare to mix it up. The goal is not to abandon your identity, but to evolve it. By continually exploring new approaches, you keep your creative muscles strong and your work alive.
ATHLETIC TRAINING & MOVEMENT – The Power of Unorthodoxy: In sports and fitness, plateau is the enemy of progress. Champions distinguish themselves by adjusting their training, technique, or strategy when others stick to the familiar. If you always train the same way, the body adapts and growth stalls. But when you introduce a new movement pattern or method, you shock the system into new adaptation. Practical examples: A weightlifter stuck at a peak might switch from high-weight/low-rep training to a cycle of low-weight/high-rep endurance training, or incorporate completely new exercises (gymnastics rings, kettlebells, yoga) to challenge different muscles. A runner logging steady miles each week might see stagnating times – until she introduces interval sprints or hill repeats, pushing her cardiovascular system in new ways and suddenly getting faster. A martial artist proficient in one style (say, a karate striker) might start cross-training in wrestling or jiu-jitsu, expanding his skill set and discovering new strengths that improve his overall fighting ability. Even in something like flexibility training, if static stretching isn’t yielding gains, one might try dynamic stretching, PNF (proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation), or even dance classes to loosen up in novel ways. The key is variety: by moving out of your comfort zone physically, you force your body and mind to adapt, grow, and overcome plateaus.
Iconic technique pivots in sports: History is full of game-changing technical innovations born from trying a radically different approach in pursuit of improvement. A classic example is Dick Fosbury in the high jump. In the 1960s, high jumpers all used the same basic form to clear the bar (the straddle or scissors techniques). Fosbury was an average jumper struggling to improve using the orthodox style, so he literally flipped the script. He began experimenting with a new, back-first technique—what became known as the Fosbury Flop. At the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, this 21-year-old astonished the world by arching over the bar head-first and backward, a style never seen before – and he won the gold medal . That was the day high jumping “changed forever,” as Fosbury’s utterly revolutionary form allowed him to clear greater heights than traditional techniques . Within a few years, his once-weird flop became the dominant technique used by virtually all high jumpers, because it was simply more effective. Fosbury’s willingness to endure ridicule and try a completely different approach literally raised the bar for what athletes could do. In martial arts, Bruce Lee provided another template for breaking stagnation through change. Originally trained in classical Wing Chun kung fu, Lee grew frustrated with the rigid, ritualized nature of traditional martial arts. He famously declared that fighters should be like water—formless, adaptable—able to flow into any shape as needed. He disavowed the “rigidity of systematized martial arts” and created Jeet Kune Do, a hybrid fighting philosophy drawing from boxing, fencing, wrestling and more . Lee’s approach was to absorb what was useful from anywhere and discard the “rules” that didn’t serve real combat. By abandoning one fixed style and blending many, Bruce Lee revolutionized martial arts training and became nearly unbeatable. Today’s mixed martial arts (MMA) champions echo his legacy: the best are cross-disciplinarians, never relying on a single approach. In Olympic weightlifting, we saw a similar pivot when athletes from Eastern Europe introduced periodization and complex cycling of workouts, versus the old Western method of lifting the same way year-round. The new approach yielded superior results and was widely adopted. The pattern is clear: athletic evolution favors the bold experimenter. The move or method that seems odd at first might just give you a massive edge.
Applying a fresh approach to your training: Start by analyzing where you feel plateaued or one-dimensional, and introduce a targeted change. If you’ve been training alone, try working with a coach or a new workout group to get fresh input. If you always do long slow runs, inject explosive plyometric drills or vice versa. Embrace periodization – cycling different routines over weeks or months (heavy vs light, fast vs slow, strength vs skill) – to keep your body guessing and progressing. Also consider the mental aspect: sometimes a change in approach can be psychological. For instance, many athletes find breakthroughs by shifting focus from pure outcome (e.g., win or lose) to process (the technique, the breathing, the mindset). Try visualization techniques if you’ve never done them, or mindfulness meditation to improve concentration in competition – these are “techniques” too, and switching them can yield performance gains. Importantly, be willing to get worse temporarily in order to get better. When you change your jump shot form or your golf swing, it might falter at first; when you adopt a new batting stance, you might slump before you soar. But stick with it—small adjustments and iterations will refine the new technique until it surpasses the old. Every great coach will tell you: growth begins at the end of your comfort zone. If a training style scares you a bit or challenges your ego, that might be exactly what you need to unlock the next level. And if the new approach doesn’t work? You haven’t failed—you’ve learned. Thomas Edison famously said he didn’t fail, he “just found 10,000 ways that won’t work” . With each experiment, you’re gathering data about what makes you perform best. Keep what works, toss what doesn’t, and soon you’ve engineered your own breakthrough formula.
ENTREPRENEURSHIP & INNOVATION – Pivot to Prosper: In the world of startups, products, and business models, pivoting is practically a superpower. Entrepreneurs often start with one idea, hit a wall or spot a new opportunity, and boldly shift direction to pursue success. Changing course can be daunting, but it’s often the difference between a failing business and a billion-dollar company. Practical examples: A product isn’t catching on with consumers, so the team experiments with a new target market or use-case and suddenly traction takes off. A company’s business model (say, selling a service to individual consumers) stops scaling, so they try a different approach (selling to businesses, or switching from one-time sales to a subscription model) and revenue explodes. An app that was meant for one purpose discovers users love one small feature more than the rest of it – the savvy entrepreneur then rebuilds the whole business around that popular feature. Even on a personal level, someone launching a side-hustle might find their original strategy to get customers isn’t working; by pivoting to a different marketing channel or pricing strategy, they find their audience. The mantra in Silicon Valley is “Fail fast, learn faster.” Try an approach, and if it’s not working, don’t cling to it—iterate or pivot to a new hypothesis. Each change is a chance to find the breakthrough model.
Famous pivots that led to breakthroughs: The business landscape is rich with now-legendary pivot stories. Instagram is a prime example. It began as a cluttered location-based check-in app called “Burbn” with a jumble of features. Users largely ignored the check-in aspect but loved the photo-sharing component. Founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger noticed this pattern in their analytics and made a gutsy call: they stripped the app down to just photo sharing with cool filters, renaming it Instagram . That singular focus on what users wanted turned a flop into one of the most popular apps in the world. As Systrom said, “Burbn was a false start… YouTube was a dating site. You always have to evolve into something else.” In other words, the willingness to change form made these companies. Similarly, Slack emerged from the ashes of a failed startup. Stewart Butterfield and his team were building an online video game that never took off; nearly out of cash, they noticed their internal communication tool (a simple chat app they’d made for themselves) was incredibly useful. In a last-ditch pivot, they polished that chat tool and released it as Slack. We know how that turned out: Slack became a $27 billion company, while the original game idea was left behind. In fact, Butterfield’s previous success, Flickr, also came from pivoting a game project into a photo-sharing site . These stories show that no effort is truly wasted—even a “failed” approach might contain the seeds of the next big idea if you’re willing to look and adapt. Another well-known pivot: Twitter was born from a failing podcast platform (Odeo). When Apple iTunes began dominating podcasts, Odeo’s team brainstormed a radical shift – a micro-blogging service where users send short status updates. That little side project became Twitter, proving that a sharp turn in strategy can create entirely new markets. And consider Netflix: it started renting DVDs by mail in the late 90s. As streaming technology emerged, Netflix leadership took the bold step to pivot away from their core DVD business toward online streaming. This was a massive change in form – new technology, new distribution method – and it involved discomfort (cannibalizing their own successful DVD service). But that pivot positioned Netflix to revolutionize how the world consumes entertainment. Companies that failed to pivot, like Blockbuster or Kodak (which infamously invented the digital camera but then suppressed it), became cautionary tales of stagnation. The lesson is echoed by startup mentors everywhere: be attached to the problem you want to solve, not the specific solution you first dreamed up. If the approach isn’t working, change it – try a new angle, a new technology, a new business model, until you find the breakthrough.
Frameworks for pivoting and innovation: If you’re feeling stuck or stagnant in a venture, there are some reliable methods to find a fresh approach. One is the Lean Startup methodology, which advocates rapid experimentation, customer feedback, and iterative design. Essentially, treat your business idea as a hypothesis and test it; if the test “fails,” glean the insight and pivot to a new hypothesis. Eric Ries (author of The Lean Startup) would advise entrepreneurs to establish metrics and validate assumptions quickly – for instance, is there truly demand for your product’s key feature? If not, which other feature or target market shows unexpected promise? In practice, this might mean releasing a simplified version of a product (an MVP) to see what users do. The company Eloqua did exactly this: they started as a chat app for financial services, found that wasn’t working, but noticed clients were excited about their email follow-up feature. They pivoted to focus entirely on that, becoming a marketing automation giant . The data revealed where the real value was. Entrepreneurs should be scientists: run experiments, be “extremely honest with the data,” and follow it to a better approach . Another method is the SCAMPER technique for ideation: take your product or process and try to Substitute something, Combine it with something else, Adapt it to a different context, Modify it, Put it to another use, Eliminate something, or Reverse certain elements. These prompts can jar your thinking into a new configuration. Importantly, foster a mindset that embraces failure as learning. Create a culture (even if it’s just you and a partner in a garage) where trying new things is encouraged, and “failures” are celebrated for the information they yield. When you pivot, do it decisively—go all in on the new approach and give it your best, as Slack or Instagram did. Lastly, keep the ultimate purpose in mind: pivot toward your vision, not away from it. The form may change, but the core mission (connect people, simplify something, solve a problem) stays your north star. That alignment gives you both flexibility and consistency. In sum, in entrepreneurship the biggest risk is often not taking a risk on a new approach. Those bold course corrections can seem crazy, but they just might be your breakthrough.
LEARNING & MINDSET – New Perspectives, New Results: The way we approach learning, problem-solving, and personal growth can either trap us or launch us to new heights. When you feel you “just aren’t good” at a subject or you’re stuck on a problem, often it’s not a permanent ability issue – it’s the strategy you’re using. Change your strategy, and you change your outcome. Practical examples: A student struggling to memorize dense material might discover that drawing visual mind maps or teaching the content to someone else suddenly makes it click. Someone trying to learn a skill (like playing guitar or coding) who’s hit a plateau might try a completely different practice routine – for instance, instead of grinding for 2 hours straight, switch to short 20-minute focused bursts with breaks (the Pomodoro technique), or vice versa, to see if retention improves. Or consider a person who keeps failing to solve a certain type of math problem. They might try approaching it from the end (what would the answer look like?) or simplifying the problem, or even walking away and coming back after a rest – these are all changes in approach that can yield that “aha!” moment. Sometimes even changing mindset is itself the technique: if you shift from a mindset of “I can’t do this” to “I can’t do this yet,” you open yourself up to learning rather than shutting down. This domain is a bit abstract, but it underpins everything else: it’s about how we frame challenges and how we adapt our thinking.
Iconic shifts in mindset and problem-solving: One of the most powerful examples is the concept of the growth mindset. Psychologist Carol Dweck famously showed that people who believe abilities can be developed (growth mindset) outperform those who believe abilities are fixed traits. Why? Because when you think you can improve, you try new strategies when you’re stuck instead of giving up. With a growth mindset, setbacks are not failures—they’re information and opportunities to adjust . On the other hand, a fixed mindset makes you approach problems in one rigid way and feel defeated when it doesn’t work. History is rich with breakthroughs attributable to perspective shifts. Albert Einstein said he often thought about problems in pictures or used thought experiments (like imagining riding a beam of light) to escape the conventional approach – leading to revolutionary ideas about space and time. Thomas Edison, as mentioned, saw each unsuccessful experiment as “discovering something that doesn’t work” rather than failure, which kept him iterating inventively . In the realm of personal learning, consider Barbara Oakley – an engineer who openly talks about how she hated math in her youth and was terrible at it. Later, she changed her approach to learning math by treating it like a language, practicing a little each day, embracing mistakes as part of learning. She eventually co-created one of the world’s most popular online courses (Learning How to Learn). Her story proves that by altering your learning technique and attitude, you can master things that once seemed impossible. Another example: the Apollo 13 crisis. When NASA’s stranded astronauts were running out of air due to CO₂ buildup, the problem was that the only spare filters were square-shaped and the receptacle was round. The engineering team on the ground had to reframe the problem (“How do we fit a square peg in a round hole using only what’s on the spacecraft?”) and improvise a new solution. By dumping a pile of odd materials on a table (socks, duct tape, plastic bags) and working creatively, they designed a makeshift adapter that saved the astronauts’ lives. This “lateral thinking” under pressure became a legendary case study in creative problem-solving. It highlights that sometimes the technique to solve a problem is to change how you define the problem itself.
Methods to try when you’re stuck: The first step is awareness – recognize when you’re in a rut or hitting a wall. That’s your cue to pivot your approach. Here are some actionable techniques: (1) The Feynman Technique – if you can’t grasp something, try to explain it in plain, simple terms as if teaching a child. In doing so, you force yourself to identify gaps in understanding and new analogies, often leading to insight. (2) Active Recall and Testing – instead of repeatedly reading or passively reviewing information, quiz yourself and actively retrieve it from memory. This might feel harder (it is uncomfortable to test yourself and get things wrong), but research shows it dramatically improves learning. In one study, students who repeatedly self-tested doubled their correct recall on final exams compared to those who only reread the material . The act of retrieval is a form of changing study technique that boosts retention – it’s basically learning by doing, even if only in your brain. So, if re-reading your notes isn’t sinking in, try flashcards, practice problems, or teaching the concept aloud. (3) Perspective Shifting – consciously look at the challenge from a different angle. If you’re stuck on a personal problem, imagine what advice you’d give if a friend were in your shoes (this trick often yields surprisingly clear answers because it removes your emotional blinders). If you’re solving a work problem, consider how someone from a completely different field might approach it – “What would an engineer do? What would an artist do? What would Elon Musk try here?” By adopting different lenses, you break the mono-focus that’s holding you back. (4) Embrace “beginner’s mind” – sometimes we’re stuck because we “know too much” about the conventional solutions. Try approaching the problem as if you have no preconceived notion. Ask the basic questions that experts might dismiss. Children are great at this; they’ll ask “Why not do it another way?” since they aren’t bound by expertise. Give yourself that freedom to ask fundamental questions. (5) Incremental iteration – if a method isn’t yielding results, tweak one variable at a time and test again. This is like A/B testing your life or studies. Not effective cramming the night before? Next time, try spaced-out mini-sessions. Still no good? Maybe study in the morning instead of late at night, or try group study instead of solo. Treat it like a scientific experiment where each iteration gets you closer to what works. The mantra here is “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always gotten.” Break the pattern. Yes, it’s uncomfortable to alter how you’ve always done things, but that discomfort is the price of growth. As one Stanford psychologist put it, “If you are willing to learn the technology of changing your mindset… you can have significantly more happiness” – meaning, we have the power to change how we think and thus change our results. Every time you consciously shift your approach to learning or thinking, you’re effectively upgrading your mind’s software to tackle the next challenge better.
COMMUNICATION & LEADERSHIP – Adapting Your Style for Impact: Communicating and leading effectively often means knowing when to switch up your style. Many people fall into a default way of interacting—some always push hard, others always accommodate; some leaders always dictate, others always defer. But true influence and inspiration come from range. By changing your approach to fit the audience or the goal, you unlock the ability to persuade and motivate in any situation. Practical examples: If you’re a manager who usually gives detailed instructions, you might try a different tack for a creative team—step back and empower them with autonomy, acting more as a coach than a boss. You may find your team’s innovation soars once you stop micromanaging. Conversely, if you tend to be hands-off but notice projects floundering, you could temporarily tighten your approach—set clearer directions or more frequent check-ins—and see better alignment. In public speaking, a person who normally relies on slides and data might experiment with storytelling and emotion to engage the audience on a human level. A sales professional stuck in a rut with a script might try listening more and tailoring each conversation spontaneously to the customer’s cues. Even in personal relationships or team dynamics: if constant arguing isn’t resolving anything, try a different method—maybe active listening and restating the other person’s points (to make them feel heard) before inserting your own. Changing how you communicate—tone, medium, body language, level of directness—can completely change the response you get.
Iconic shifts in leadership approach: Great leaders are almost always great communicators, and they often had to learn to pivot their style. Consider Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, who took over a company with a combative, know-it-all culture and transformed it by doing something unexpected: he encouraged empathy, learning, and listening at all levels. He told managers to “listen more, talk less,” shifting the company from a proving culture to an improving culture . Under Nadella, employees were rewarded for sharing ideas and learning from failures rather than for one-upping each other. This cultural pivot from arrogance to curiosity (“learn-it-alls instead of know-it-alls”) is credited with reviving Microsoft’s innovation and team morale. It tripled the company’s market value and made it a place where collaboration thrives . The lesson: by changing the approach from top-down directives to empathetic coaching, a leader can unleash an organization’s potential. Another example: Abraham Lincoln in the Civil War started with a very legalistic goal (preserve the Union), but partway through, he reframed the war as a fight for human freedom with the Emancipation Proclamation. That shift in narrative gave the Union a moral purpose that inspired greater dedication and also kept foreign powers from siding with the Confederacy. It was a communication pivot that had massive strategic impact. In the realm of speeches, Martin Luther King Jr. initially prepared a standard political speech for the 1963 March on Washington. Partway through, sensing the crowd’s energy flag, gospel singer Mahalia Jackson famously called out, “Tell them about the dream!” King set aside his script and launched into the improvised, soaring “I have a dream” refrain. By switching from a standard speech to the cadence of a sermon rich with imagery, he delivered one of history’s most influential speeches. It’s a dramatic example of a communicator adapting form in the moment for maximum impact. We also see this in everyday leadership: a sports coach in a championship game might realize his usual fiery motivational style isn’t reaching a tense, nervous team. Perhaps he pivots to a calmer, confidence-instilling approach—and the team responds with composure and a win. Or vice versa, a normally reserved coach might deliver an impassioned, no-holds-barred challenge to spark a sluggish team. The best leaders have an array of approaches and the wisdom to deploy the right one at the right time.
How to broaden your communication toolkit: Start by reading the room and honestly assessing when your default approach isn’t effective. Are people tuning you out during presentations? Try introducing a story or surprising statistic early on to grab attention. In fact, cognitive research by psychologist Jerome Bruner shows that facts are 22 times more likely to be remembered when wrapped in a story . That’s a huge boost in impact just by changing form. So if you normally bombard your audience with data, consider sharing a narrative or case study that illustrates your point – you’ll be far more memorable. If you feel your team isn’t candid with you, maybe you need to change your listening technique: practice asking open-ended questions and just listen, really listen, without jumping in with solutions. Often leaders discover they’ve been communicating in a one-way broadcast mode; flipping to a listening mode can unveil a wealth of insight and build trust. Another powerful method is to switch from directive to coaching. Rather than always telling employees what to do, start asking them what they think should be done or how they would solve the problem. This not only empowers them, it might reveal ideas better than yours and increases their buy-in. On the other hand, if you’re always the quiet listener and your voice isn’t heard, try stepping up and being more assertive – perhaps in one meeting you challenge yourself to be the first to speak on an issue. You might be surprised at how positively people respond when you adapt in this way; they’ve been waiting for you to share more. Also, don’t underestimate the power of body language and setting as part of your technique. If discussions in the office always turn tense, maybe invite the team outside for a walking meeting – the informal setting can ease communication. If you usually communicate via lengthy emails, try a quick phone call or face-to-face chat; a human voice can prevent misinterpretation and build rapport faster. Leaders and communicators should be experimenters. Think of each interaction as a chance to learn what approach connects best with that person or group. Did the humorous analogy in your speech get laughs and buy-in, or fall flat? Did delegating that decision energize your team or cause confusion? Use the feedback to iterate. Add the successful techniques to your repertoire. Over time, you build flexibility: you can be both firm and fair, both storyteller and number-cruncher, both active listener and compelling speaker, depending on what the situation calls for. Finally, cultivate a bit of vulnerability and authenticity in your communication. Sometimes the pivot needed is to drop the formal corporate-speak and talk person-to-person. Share a personal anecdote to illustrate a point; admit if you don’t have all the answers. This can flip the dynamic from resistance to trust. People are highly responsive to genuine human connection – and achieving that might simply be a matter of changing your tone from authoritative to empathetic. In summary, the more approaches you try, the more skilled you become at reaching hearts and minds. As a leader or communicator, your influence is directly related to your willingness to adapt and grow your style.
Conclusion: Across these diverse domains—creativity, athletics, entrepreneurship, learning, leadership—a consistent truth emerges: breakthroughs are born at the intersection of courage and change. It’s the courage to question your current approach and the willingness to venture into the unknown with a new technique or perspective. The process isn’t always comfortable. In fact, it’s often awkward, humbling, even frightening to alter what’s familiar. But high-impact people embrace that discomfort as the precursor to growth. They know that every master was once a beginner at something new, every record-breaker once had to experiment with a technique deemed “crazy,” every great innovator had to scrap an old plan to make way for a better one. The invitation to you is clear: when you feel stuck, pivot. Try the unexpected. Mix disciplines. Reverse your assumptions. Do the thing that scares you not because you aim to fail, but because you know even if you do, you’ll learn something invaluable. Each domain we explored shows that on the other side of a change in approach lies transformation—paintings that redefine art, athletic feats that redefine physics, companies that redefine industries, mindsets that redefine self, and communication that redefines what’s possible in groups. So be bold. Use experimentation as your engine and iteration as your compass. View challenges as questions asking for a new answer. And remember that the breakthroughs of tomorrow are hidden in the methods we haven’t tried yet. Switch it up, and unleash your next breakthrough.
Sources: Dali’s stylistic shift ; Dr. Seuss’s 50-word challenge ; Fosbury’s high jump revolution ; Bruce Lee’s adaptive combat philosophy ; Instagram’s pivot from Burbn ; Slack’s origins in a failed game ; Lean startup pivot lessons ; Growth mindset vs. fixed mindset ; Testing effect in learning ; Nadella’s leadership transformation ; Power of storytelling in communication .