I’m pleased to announce that my most recent book, PIVOTAL: Creating Stability in an Uncertain World, has been translated into traditional/complex Chinese. You can see the cover on this post or on an IT website in Taiwan that wrote an article based on the book.

Here is the article, roughly translated into English:

The Third Option for Innovation

When we talk about innovation, most people assume there are only two choices: pivot or persist. You either change direction or stay the course. But there’s a third option — one that’s often overlooked: go deeper, anchor yourself, and strengthen your foundation.

The Rise and Fall of Homejoy

For a time, Homejoy looked unstoppable. The platform connected households with cleaning professionals across 35 cities in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., and Germany. Their irresistible hook: just $19 for a first-time cleaning, compared to the $80+ charged by competitors. The low price fueled rapid growth and helped Homejoy raise tens of millions in funding.

Riding this momentum, the company made an ambitious move. It expanded beyond cleaning into other home services — plumbing, electrical work, and more — aiming to monetize its growing customer base. On paper, it seemed like a smart path to scale.

But the result was catastrophic.

The $19 price tag that drove early traction also squeezed margins and worsened customer-acquisition costs. Fewer than 20% of customers returned after their first service. Meanwhile, Homejoy struggled to retain workers. Many found better opportunities elsewhere or became frustrated with company policies.

When Homejoy tried to pivot into new services and territories, the strategy backfired. Instead of strengthening the business, the expansion diluted the brand, weakened service quality, and distracted leadership from fixing the core issues.

Rather than solving the problem, the pivot made the collapse inevitable.

The Power of the “Anchor Foot”

In basketball, a pivot works only because one foot stays planted — the anchor foot. That stable foot allows the player to rotate with power and purpose.

Homejoy didn’t have an anchor foot.

Its low-price strategy attracted customers but didn’t create loyalty, defensibility, or operational stability. Pivoting on a weak foundation only accelerated the downfall.

Contrast this with Mercadona, the Spanish supermarket chain. It also uses a low-price model, but instead of chasing new businesses, it doubled down on its differentiator — investing consistently in the systems and people required to deliver low prices profitably.

During the 2008 financial crisis, while competitors cut wages and staff, Mercadona did the opposite. It strengthened employee relationships, empowered workers to find cost savings, and improved engagement. The result:
• 10% reduction in operating costs
• Market share rising from 15% to 20% in four years

Where others shrank, Mercadona expanded. Why? Because it reinforced its anchor foot — the foundation of its competitive advantage.

Homejoy could have followed a similar playbook: improve staff retention, strengthen quality, and deepen its position with price-sensitive customers. Instead, it chased shiny opportunities, losing sight of the fundamentals.

Why Businesses Need an Anchor Before They Pivot

The anchor foot represents more than stability — it represents identity.
It’s built from:

• Deep customer insight
• Hard-earned trust
• Unique strengths
• Cultural DNA
• Institutional memory

When companies overlook these strengths, they pivot endlessly — not strategically, but reactively.

Since the pandemic, businesses have been pivoting faster and more frequently than ever. But constant motion doesn’t guarantee progress. As Newton’s first law reminds us: an object in motion stays in motion — sometimes spinning in circles.

Pivoting without anchoring leads to:

• Change fatigue
• Volatility
• Confusion
• Loss of trust
• Strategic drift

A pivot is valuable only when the foundation is strong.

The Third Way: Grow Deeper Roots

Innovation isn’t a binary choice between change and stagnation. There is a third way — a more powerful one:

Strengthen your roots before you reach for new branches.

Find the thing you do best.
Fortify it.
Reinforce it with better systems, better people, and deeper customer relationships.

This is how you create:

• DurabilityDifferentiation
• Long-term advantage
• Meaningful customer value

In a world obsessed with constant change, what customers need most is not another pivot — but a partner they can rely on.