The Idea in Brief
Crisis breeds opportunity, as the history of business shows in spades. The most innovative entrepreneurs know how to turn adversity into competitive advantage.
Capitalizing on adversity means finding solutions in unlikely places: resources that nobody seems to need, people and partners who don’t fit the usual bill, elegantly small answers to big dilemmas, and multidimensional platforms that transcend narrowly defined products.
The innovators who succeed as the “new normal” takes root will be those who discover opportunity in the seemingly inopportune. Call them the “new abnormals.”
Jonathan Bush saw the opportunity to dramatically change how obstetrics practices function. He and his partner set out to build a medical business whose objective was to incorporate both traditional and holistic care options for mothers-to-be. Their aspirations were grand, and demand for their services rapidly grew. But when reliance on slow-paying insurers strapped the practice for cash, Bush’s vision got tangled in red tape.