My kids love Domino’s pizza. Okay, I also love Domino’s pizza. It’s our tried and true Friday pizza and movie night choice. Every Friday at 5:00 pm I hit one button in the app to reorder a single pizza (for $8.00!) that makes the whole family happy. It also reheats really well.
I’ve been thinking a lot about Domino’s lately. In 2008-2009, Domino’s stock prices were down 90%. They experienced a shock, as many companies are experiencing today amidst the current crisis, and felt it might be the end.
But it was only the beginning of radical innovation and reinvention. When companies experience a shock, as Domino’s had, they are open to test new ideas. Because they were in crisis, they were more open to different methods to test new ideas.
Here are a few of the wild ideas that Domino’s tried in 2009:
- Customized pizza builder (new for 10 years ago!) that you could view live online
- Push button pizza order
- Role playing game-inspired pizza
- Live pizza order via web cam
- Digital pizza payments
- Giant pizzas that were so big they were difficult to deliver
- Pizza drones
- Auto pizza order with zero clicks in app
- Twitter emoji pizza order
Domino’s rebounded faster than any tech company in that decade and grew 10,000%. They pushed hard and they experimented. The state of crisis encouraged them to try every possible option and wild idea. They were fearless.
When companies are doing well, they tend to be complacent and repetitive, and ultimately disrupted. Crisis creates desire to research and experiment. Now is the time to be fearless.
You have permission to be fearless. You have permission to innovate, to fail, to lead, and to save your company.