Episode 48 | Disrupting an Industry with David Cannington

David Cannington  00:00

So ultimately, it’s a balance between data validation and just gut feel and trusting your instincts and your gut to be able to make the right decisions about where the company’s heading.

Voiceover  00:15

Welcome to the “Lead at the Top of Your Game” podcast, where we equip you to more effectively lead your seat at any employer, business, or industry in which you choose to play. Each week, we help you sharpen your leadership acumen by cracking open the playbooks of dynamic leaders who are doing big things in their professional endeavors. And now, your host, leadership tactics, and organizational development expert, Karan Ferrell-Rhodes.

Karan Rhodes  00:51

Hey there superstars This is Karan and welcome to another episode of the Lead at the Top of Your Game Podcast. You know, we all have great ideas at times. But when you find yourself with an idea that totally disrupts an entire industry, you’d better get ready for a wild roller coaster of a ride. You may soon discover that you have a target on your back, not only from the competition, but also from people in forces that were previously unknown to you. However, perseverance and resiliency to see it to the end may result in a few battle scars but the prize when you win the war can be immense and may change the world for good. You never know. Our guest on today’s podcasts knows this all too well. David Cannington is the co founder of a company called Newheara. It is the company that made the first medical device approved by the Food and Drug Administration here in the US. Under the newly established rule for over the counter hearing aids. David shares how he and his co founders started the company in Australia, expanded it into the US markets and other markets abroad, and then flipped an antiquated industry on its ear by transforming a previously categorize electronics company into a medical device company which was able to more broadly expand access to hearing support technology throughout the world. David’s story is definitely a case study, and leading with both intellectual horsepower and leading with intrapreneurship. Now you should be sure to stay tuned for just two minutes after today’s episode to listen to my closing segment called care and stay where I share a tip on how to use insights from today’s episode to further sharpen your leadership acumen. And now enjoy the show. Hey there, superstars, this is Karen and welcome to another episode of the elite at the top of your game podcast. We have a very special guests on today’s episode, an actual leader who has started a co founded a very interesting firm. I don’t want to steal away the thunder just yet. But he’s going to share the ups and downs of starting a new business at a very high level. And some of the good bad and the ugly around it. So we’re very pleased to have with the show, Mr. David Cannington. He’s the co founder of Newheara, I want to make sure I pronounced that right. undefined, which is a company that made the first medical device that was approved by the FDA, under the newly established rule for over the counter hearing aids and we’re going to hear his story. It is absolutely fascinating. And you’re gonna get some great tips on what to do as a leader when you’re starting a new initiative or business and some of the ups and downs and fun along the way. So welcome to the show, David.

David Cannington  04:06

Thanks, Karan. It’s a pleasure to be with you today.

Karan Rhodes  04:11

And would you like to share with us where you’re calling in from?

David Cannington  04:15

I’m calling in from beautiful sunny Perth, Australia, one of the most isolated cities in the world, but we still stay connected globally.

Karan Rhodes  04:26

Why don’t know Perth is pretty popular. You might be isolated but pretty popular around the world. And for

David Cannington  04:32

good reason, Karan. It’s a beautiful place.

Karan Rhodes  04:35

It is a gorgeous place. Wonderful. Well, before we dive into your story, David, I’d love to you to start out by sharing a little bit about yourself. So as much as you feel comfortable. Can you share just a tidbit about your personal life and our passions?

David Cannington  04:52

Oh, yeah, so I’m a global guy. I’ve lived in six different cities and three different countries since the age of 21. Perth is my 16th I lived for 30 years in San Francisco. So it was Melbourne, London, Melbourne, Sydney, L.A, Melbourne, San Francisco and now Perth. So I moved to Perth because Newheara is actually based here in Perth. But when we co founded the business, I was living in San Francisco. I’ve got three wonderful kids, two of them live in Cabo. Two of them live in the US, one in San Diego and one in Denver, and I’ve got a 17 year old son, we down here in Perth, and I think outside of my business life, my passion is cold water swimming. I’m a massive advocate of cold submersion and how healthy that is for you and how it helps you drive your performance at the peak level.

Karan Rhodes  05:49

So are you one of those individuals that I see in the midst of cold go and splash into the ocean and back out?

David Cannington  06:01

I am. When I was living in San Francisco, I used to jump in the bay almost every day with just just Speedos. No wetsuit all year round. In fact, the colder the better.

Karan Rhodes  06:12

The colder, the better. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Yeah, you know, I’m based in Atlanta and I’m a southern gal. So if you even say the word ice or snow or cold we run the other way.

David Cannington  06:25

Strangely enough down here in Perth. The waters quite warm. In fact, I My only complaint about Perth is the water is too warm, and people look at me and go, Oh my God, you’re crazy. Yeah. So in the middle of winter here, everyone’s wearing wetsuits, and I’m still in my Speedos.

Karan Rhodes  06:40

Oh, that is hilarious. Thank you for sharing that. It’s it’s such an interest. I think that may be one of the most interesting tidbits I’ve heard from a guest!

David Cannington  06:51

I could go on for hours just about cold water swimming, if you want.

Karan Rhodes  06:56

I would love that I would share the least listeners are dying to understand that and learn about your story, because it’s so rare that we have a founder with such an interesting journey. So I want to make sure we dive into that. So without further ado, let’s jump into the story of Newheara. In particular, I want to Well, let me let you start there first, and then I’ll pepper you with questions after that. So can you tell us your launch story for Newheara and how it got to where it is today? Yeah, I know you did an Indiegogo campaign. You really worked in multiple locations to grow the business? Yeah, moved. And so let’s hear all about that. Well, I

David Cannington  07:41

want to start off by saying, you know, we’re probably a great example of an eight year overnight success story. It’s taken us eight years to get to where we are today. And in some strange way, I feel like we’re just starting, mainly because of what we’ve accomplished over the last couple of years to become a medical device company. So let me go back to the beginning, Justin Miller, and myself co founded the business back in, I think that the idea percolated back in 2014, we spent 2015, getting, you know, essentially laying the groundwork for the business. And then we launched the business on the back of an Indiegogo campaign in 2016, where we raised over a million dollars. And essentially, we were successful in the early days, because we were a true innovator in the consumer electronics space as well in the truly wireless earbuds space. So back in 2016, truly wireless earbuds were truly innovative, you know, I mean, people were basically had wired it but buds back in those days. So we were one of the innovative companies that were able to bring out a truly wireless earbuds, no wires. But more importantly, we were the first company to embed some hearing enhancement technology in the white earbuds. So some technology to allow people to control their soundscape to hear better, in a way. So we were really one of the first companies to do that. There are a whole bunch of crowdfunding campaigns that were launched in the two year period around which we launched ours, and we were one of the few that are able to raise enough money and also get the company off the ground and to grow. So heritage as a company is this hearing enhancement technology that we we actually established in a previous company that I won’t go into too much detail. But Newhears came out of an idea where we were selling wired headsets into the industrial sector that allowed people to hear conversations and loud industrial environments. So we knew that there was a consumer application to that. So it is hard to encapsulate a couple minutes but essentially what we’ve done is we’ve done basically moved from a consumer electronics company into a medical device company, which is a massive undertaking. But it was a bit it was a necessary undertaking, because as executives in the company, we really believe that the truly wireless earbud sector would eventually become a race to the bottom. And it would be very, very hard to differentiate yourself as a hearing enhancement product without FDA approval.

Karan Rhodes  10:35

Can I stop you right there and ask you two quick questions with your Indiegogo campaign. I know a lot of founders go through some sort of fundraising and either trying to seek funds from angel investors or VCs or family and friends, or go the public route with Indiegogo, Kickstarter, all the famous ones out there. Is there any tip that you had? Or that you can give that worked? Well, for you all to raise the type of money you did on Indiegogo? What was a key to your success? Was it having already a good network that you could reach out to? or social media? Or was it something that you did to get people very interested in your Indiegogo campaign

David Cannington  11:19

with crowdfunding campaigns power, the secret is to have a as large as possible engaged database that you can engage when you launch the campaign, crowdfunding campaigns win and lose in the first 12 hours. I mean, the bottom line is, if you haven’t hit the ball out of the park within the first, to be honest with you, even in the first 10 minutes, when you send that launch email to your database, and you’re not getting lots of signups and lots of orders, then you know, you’re probably not you’re really going to struggle for the next 30 days. So it is the veritable launch platform. I love the crowdfunding and we love Indiegogo, in fact, we’re exploring, potentially doing another one with them as well. But the bottom line is you’ve got to have as large as possible engaged database on which you can launch the campaign.

Karan Rhodes  12:19

Fantastic.

David Cannington  12:20

The other tip, one other tip, too, is that you do a crowdfunding campaign just to raise the money. I mean, the reality is, it’s a great market product market fit exercise. And for us, because we did a backdoor listing on the Australian Stock Exchange, a couple of months before we’d launched the campaign, we already had raised $5 million. So we didn’t really need of course, it was wonderful to have it. But it wasn’t, wasn’t our goal, to raise a lot of money so we could get the company off the ground, we’d actually already raised the capital that we required to get product to market, it was really validating a product market fit

Karan Rhodes  13:02

I love that. And then the second question is around your choice, you mentioned their choice to seek to differentiate yourselves. So I imagine moving into the medical devices arena was absolutely huge, like you said, for were there. I know you did research on it. But were there any unforeseen road bumps along the way? Because if you’re trying to get FDA approval, I mean, it seems like they they want you know, your first child as payment now almost to get the approval. So tell us a little bit about as much as you can, without giving away any IP on that journey around getting FDA approval.

David Cannington  13:44

Yeah, I think that the FDA route, which we chose to go down, was a combination of a evolution of the company from those early days of having hearing hansman embedded in a truly wireless earbud to a point where we’ve moved the technology so far, that we couldn’t say no to becoming a medical device and FDA cleared hearing aid, mainly because we’re putting more and more hearing technology into our products over the years. So for instance, we were the first company that put an automatic calibration, technology hearing calibration technology into a truly wild Zerbo. And what I mean by that is with our products and you can do that with our our hearing aid, you can do your own hearing test in your home, and then we we can automatically calibrate those buds to your own personal hearing profile, clinically validated. Yeah, so we’re doing that now with our HP hearing pro hearing aid, but it’s very, it’s complicated technology. We’re using tools and software that most audiology tissues around the world, but we’re enabling the customer to do it themselves. So So the bottom line is, you know, every step of our product evolution was Heading, Heading us into the direction of becoming a hearing aid. So about two years ago, we made a really courageous decision to say, look, this OTC hearing aid category is going to happen. It was delayed through COVID. It was meant to happen about three years ago, but it was delayed through COVID. But we knew it was coming. And we knew we had to play in this category. So we made a very courageous decision to say, okay, as a company, even though we’re a very small company, that we had to go for it. So yeah, that changed everything in the business, to a large degree, you know, to mature from a consumer electronics company, where obviously, you have to have disciplines to be able to run a successful considering the disciplines required in being an FDA approved. Yeah, so fit, OTC hearing aid was just done another completely different level. So

Karan Rhodes  16:12

And did you find that you had the right people and talent within the company to help shepherd you all through this type of change? Or did you also seek for individuals with additional expertise that you needed knowing that you made this pivot?

David Cannington  16:28

Yeah, a bit of both, actually, firstly, you have to have the right people on the team. But more than that, you have to have the right mindset. And again, as a company, we’ve pivoted a number of times, you know, we’re we’ve always been innovating. So our technology team has had the right mindset to say, Okay, we’re going to do this, you know, I mean, bottom line is we’re we’re a relatively small Australian company, who’s been considered to be a true innovator in in our respective segment for eight years. And we took a look, and our team takes a lot of pride in that. So I think we had the right map mindset to say, Okay, this is a mountain to climb. This is actually the biggest mountain we’ve ever climbed since we started the company. But we’re up for the client. So we had the right team internally, we had the right mindset internally, but then we had to call on external resources. We hired some people in the US who had very close relationships with the FDA. We partnered with a leading Hearing Research Company down here in Sydney, believe it or not, which is globally renowned to do all of our clinical certification, trials, etc. So you can’t play alone, you have to engage external partners. But I think ultimately, the success relies on the right attitude from the internal team from the top down to make it happen.

Karan Rhodes  17:59

It absolutely does. And for our listeners, if you didn’t get that, I want you to remember that you can’t do it alone. You have to have the right team members skill sets and everything at the table in order to you know, achieve the type of success David and his team were able to do. Now, do you market globally? What markets are you all in?

David Cannington  18:22

So with the FDA cleared hearing, so the OTC hearing aid market is only in the US at the moment. So that was enacted in October of last year, so fundamentally changed the hearing, health industry. So now you can go into a Best Buy or other major retailers and buy an FDA cleared over the counter hearing aid off the shelf. And you don’t necessarily have to go to an audiologist. So long as you have saved mild to moderate hearing loss can fundamentally change the whole industry, which is super exciting, because it’s 38 million people in the US that have got some sort of hearing challenge. They’ve been somewhat restricted over the years because they had to go and see an audiologist to get a prescription prescribed hearing aid. And as you probably know, historically, hearing aids have been very expensive, expensive. The average cost of the hearing aid is about $4500 from an audiologist. So really restricted those 38 A lot of those 38 million people from finding solution.

Karan Rhodes  19:28

You took the words right out of my mouth because a bit I remember helping my mother search for hearing aids um, she’s unfortunately passed away now but it was probably what is this 23 A little over 10 Maybe 12 years ago. It was hard and expensive. And she was on a you know, retired on a limited budget and you’re right, they invest we invested in it because she needed it. Yeah, but this has made it more attainable for everyone and I’m so personally thankful that you all are doing this?

David Cannington  20:01

 Well, it’salso not just older people, what we’re finding now is that people are getting hearing loss at a much younger age now, you start to experience hearing loss probably in your mid 30s. And it’s there’s a number of reasons for that we live in a noisy world, but also people are, the kids are blasting the ears with with music at volumes that they shouldn’t be doing. You shouldn’t be listening out. And that’s causing news, noise induced hearing loss. And so the average age of our customer is about 50, low 50s. Whereas the average age of a hearing aid customer historically was low 70s.

Karan Rhodes  20:40

Amazing. And so tell me about, you know, we’re just not just we’re out of kind of the height of COVID. But with all the supply chain challenges, did you all have something similar?

David Cannington  20:52

Yeah, we’ve got an interesting story around COVID, probably different from most companies. We did really well through COVID. And there’s a couple of reasons why that happened. Number one was that we had invested in our direct to consumer business. So we could, you know, we could do business anywhere in the world, and anyone could buy a product no matter where they weren’t. So when people were at home spending a lot more time at home, they still had accessibility to a hearing device that they could order online. So we were able to navigate the the really challenging waters of supply chain, there are a couple of periods there where it impacted our business. But overall, that two year period, we saw tremendous growth, mainly because of our direct consumer business. Fewer people were going into hearing clinics, and more people were looking at alternatives on how they can help the hearing. And we actually benefited from that.

Karan Rhodes  21:50

That’s amazing. Yeah, well, I know it everything wasn’t whether they call it unicorns and strawberries, or whatever that phrase is. Oh, so you got to share with us at least one challenge that you and your co founders had with Newheara, especially in in this latest journey? And how you all overcame it? Or did you overcome it? Were there lessons learned, you know, from it, or just an obstacle that you all face that you were either able to overcome or weren’t able to overcome, but got a great lessons learn out of it? Can you share one?

David Cannington  22:29

Yeah, I could share one. But I think it’s a theme right across the eight year journey. And that is managing change. I think change is a constant. In a startup business, you’re always considering a pivot. In our case, we’ve probably done three or four major pivots in our journey just in four years, obviously, the biggest pivot was becoming an FDA approved OTC hearing aid. But change is enabled by ensuring that everyone buys off on the vision of the company. And the vision of the company is very aligned with your mission and your values, right and with old with always, as a company, believe very strongly that we are a company with purpose, we fundamentally are helping people improve their lives, you know. And we’ve taken tremendous pride in capturing those quintessential moments of people where they’ve really felt like their life has been improved by our products. So as a company, we constantly remind ourselves that this is the impact we’re having on people. And embedded in that is the motivation to overcome these challenges. And these, these change paths that you have to go through to be able to be successful. So the story there is, make sure you clearly define your vision and ensure that everyone within your company and also outside of the company, understand and buy off on that vision. And that’s about leadership. Leadership is about you know, having a strong vision for the future. But most importantly, getting everyone around you to buy off on it to come along on the journey had to seek pride and satisfaction of being able to achieve the goals during that journey. So yeah, I think that’s probably the the answer to your because every day is got its challenges. You know, when you’re in a start up, the everyday is prize. Yeah, every day is different. You’ve got a new challenge. And yeah, it’s, I could write a 10,000 list of all the challenges that we’ve had to deal with. But change is that fundamental theme that exists Since startups like as

Karan Rhodes  25:01

I definitely can imagine that and so now, you know, it makes a lot of sense. You know, listeners know, I always like to ask the guests, you know which one of the leadership tactics that came out at our research really resonated with you. And now it really makes sense around your selection because you select that courageous agility. Yeah, for those audience members who haven’t been listening, who are new to the podcast, courageous agility is all about having the courage and fortitude. Do what you think is right and move forward, even when the features certain is uncertain or unclear. And so, your story of Newheara is the epitome of having courageous agility. And even with data and information and your personal expertise, still moving forward, even though there’s a lot of complex things that are go on, especially like the FDA approval, but tell me why Why am courageous agility really resonated with you?

David Cannington  26:01

I think that you know, as a startup, you can you obviously have to use data, as a startup, you probably never have enough data, to validate Yeah, to validate your decision. So ultimately, it’s a balance between data validation, and just gut feel, right, and trusting your instincts and your gut to be able to make the right decisions about where the company’s heading. And that instinct comes from all the experiences you’ve had before starting a company. In our case, we had experience building another hearing tech company. So from an engineering perspective and a technology perspective, we were hit, we were ahead of most of our competitors. So that gave us a distinct advantage. But also, you know, I’ve got some gray hair and Justin’s now 54. So we were experienced executives selling product into a market that we could relate to, and Justin had a hearing issue before we started the business. So you bring all these factors together, it enabled us to make good decisions and better decisions based on our gut at times rather than the data and also just in terms of the agility. And we’ve pivoted, as I said, four times in eight years. And so you’ve got to be agile. And I’ve got to compliment our team around this concept that our team is in it, they’ve always taken the challenge on and they’ve always been able to, to adapt to do things that we’ve asked of them. And so agility, agility is a really critical characteristic of a team that we have had you here. And it’s enabled us to be successful over the years.

Karan Rhodes  27:49

That’s amazing. So I’m just curious, David, just for you, because you have had such a journey at your journey with this particular business. What does it take for you to lead at the top of your game? How do you stay focused and available in Agile for your leadership team and those that work for you all,

David Cannington  28:16

I think we’re doing a full circle in this conversation Karan. I start every day, with a cold water swim, or most days with a cold water swim. And it stimulates my endorphins. it crystallizes my mind, it enables me to take on challenges that I don’t think I would have taken on if I hadn’t had that stimulus of jumping in cold water for half an hour to an hour every morning. So I think you have to be at your peak game, right all the time. And you’ve got to find a way to be able to maintain that. Some people do kickboxing some people do spin classes. For me. It’s cold water swimming. And so I really put that down to how I’ve been able to manage the challenges and the pressures and the stresses of starting a new business because you have to be on top for every day. And so that was the way I’ve been able to manage it.

Karan Rhodes  29:17

I love that. Yeah, you’re right. We had a chance to talk about that pre interview but I wanted to get pull that out of you for our audience and reverse it because it’s so much but I think the takeaway for you audience is to find what works for you. something physical, maybe something mental, emotional, that helps center you, whatever that is, you know, for me, it’s speed walking and organic gardening. That’s my release to get me re Sen focus a few other things, but you know, those are the top two that are always made sure to do but yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Well, I have one more question for you, David. Okay. But the next question I have for you. We’re gonna move away from new harem. But I want you to we talked about how you all decided to differentiate yourself. So I want you to think about a leader that has also differentiated themselves in your mind. And when I say later, it can be a person, it can be a business, it can be an entity, it can be a charity. But I’m just curious about one entity person, place or thing that has differentiated themselves in your mind. Who are what is it? And what about them really differentiated themselves to you?

David Cannington  30:44

 Has to be a business?

Karan Rhodes  30:46

No, it can be a person it can be an entity, you can business and be anything. Copy My wife Kennett? Absolutely, can you share what made her so special to you? In your mind,

David Cannington  31:03

I, I’ve been with my wife for 25 years now. And we quite often talk about why it works, that seems to work organically. And I think that one, one thing that I really admire around about people is if they have an appreciation of the journey, that a life is an adventure, and B life is a journey. And the journey will only be exciting. If you consider it to be an adventure, if you maintain a curious mind, if you’re open to new experiences, if you’ve got enough energy to move forward, and not be stagnant. Those characteristics are what and enjoy it completely so lots of laughter. So those four characteristics, what I see in my wife, and also that’s sort of very similar to my basic principles in life. So I think they’re characteristics that are really embedded in the entrepreneurial DNA, to be honest with you, I think that the, you’ve got to be a journey person, you got to love the journey. Most entrepreneurs don’t start businesses to make a hell of a lot of money. They start businesses because they want to solve a problem and they believe in the journey, you know. And if you don’t see life as a journey, then it will always catch up with you. Yeah, so I shouldn’t be talking about my wife like this, I should be talking about. I mean, so

Karan Rhodes  32:32

Lots of guests do that as well. They talk about their partners or significant others or, or their dads or family members, or sometimes they pick a brand out there. But I always love to ask the question because it gives so much insight because it’s something that’s meaningful to you and passionate. And then it helps bring it home for the audience. So

David Cannington  32:53

I think in the context of our conversation, Karen, she’s put up with me for the last eight years in this new hero journey. So that takes all that takes a lot of appreciation and recognition as well.

Karan Rhodes  33:08

So that’s why I want to give her a virtual award for leading at the top of her own game. For being a great support for you.

David Cannington  33:17

Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah.

Karan Rhodes  33:20

Well, David, I literally blanked and time has passed by we could talk for hours. I know. But

David Cannington  33:26

Can I just say one more thing, Karen, sorry to interrupt you. So just for your viewers, it’s really important that they understand that whole ot this new OTC category, one thing we didn’t touch on is that we’ve done a licensing deal with HP. So you could net you can now go into Best Buy or go online at CVS or Crutchfield and buy an HP over the counter selfie hearing aid. Now for well less than $1000. $699. So I encourage any of your listeners that are considering a hearing aid to have a look at the HP hearing aid OTC hearing aid. It’s called HP hearing pro. Hearing I had to get I had to get the plugin.

Karan Rhodes  34:14

Sorry, I told you at the beginning of the podcast, I run my mouth so much sometimes I forget. So what we will do the David will find it and also include that as a link in the show notes as well. So our audience members can check it out and support Newheara Yeah, and then other things that you want them to know we’ll have how to find you, but anything else you want to leave them with?

David Cannington  34:39

Like you go to hp hearing pro.com. What’s unique about the product is it’s an earbud form factor just like I’m wearing right now. It’s a hearing aid that looks like an air but it has all the great qualities of a high ear bud but made with medical grade hearing technology embedded in it. So that’s that’s my 10 second pitch. Awesome.

Karan Rhodes  34:58

Well, thanks again. David, for the gift of your time, you’re a fantastic guest. And we appreciate you coming on the podcast.

David Cannington  35:06

It’s an absolute pleasure spending breakfast with you Karan.

Karan Rhodes  35:11

Absolutely. Now I’m about to go cook dinner.

David Cannington  35:15

Know where I’m going right now?

Karan Rhodes  35:17

To get a dunk and the water.

David Cannington  35:20

Exactly. I’m going for a cold water swim. Okay,

Karan Rhodes  35:24

Awesome! Well, listeners, thank you so much for listening to another episode of the elite at the top of your game podcast. You know, I only ask one favor of you. And it’s to like and subscribe to the podcast, as well as sharing it with just one friend, because that helps us extend our reach, and helping others to lead at the top of their game. Thank you all so much, and see you next week. Well, I hope you enjoyed our conversation today with David Cannington, co founder of Newheara. Links to his bio his entry into our leadership playbook. And additional resources can be found in the show notes, both on your favorite podcast platform of choice and on the web at lead your game podcast.com. And now for Karen’s take on today’s topic of disruption in the world of work, well, most of us won’t have the opportunity to totally disrupt an industry like David did. Sometimes you may find yourself required to lead an effort or initiative that disrupts you know previous norms or the status quo. And while this is exciting, the venture is likely to be fraught with ups and downs. So it’s important to understand some of the challenges that you may face when leading disruptive actions and allow me to share a few with you. The first challenge you’re going to probably face is resistance from stakeholders. many stakeholders including team members, clients and even higher ups may resist the disruption to the existing processes or systems. Therefore communicating how the change will fulfill an urgent need and why they should care will be absolutely essential. A second thing you might face is change management. Since resistance will probably be the your norm, being proactive about creating a well structured change management plan to address issues like technology requirements, employee morale, skills, gaps, cultural shifts, anything like that should be a first priority. Another challenge you might face is around uncertainty and risk disrupted projects often involve a high level of uncertainty and risks. Leaders must manage these risks effectively in both the terms of project execution, as well as understanding how it will impact potential business operations. Another challenge I wanted to call your attention to is resource allocation. shifting resources from existing projects or systems to the disruptive ones can be contentious and leaders must balance the demands of ongoing operations with those the need for the disruptive project to be successful. Also know that you may not have the talent currently in place with the skills that you need. So you might need to factor in extra time to search for new experts to bring them to your teams. Another challenge you might face is financial constraints. The financial implications of disruptive projects can be substantial, depending upon you know what you’re working on. So as a leader, you need to secure funding or manage budgets, and demonstrate a clear return on investment. And then the last challenge I want to bring to your attention is competitive pressure peers and competitors are watching us. So they’re going to respond aggressively to any disruptive initiatives that are affecting them. So plan or pivots that you might need to take by definitely having a plan B, C, D and E. In a leading a project This disrupts the status quo can be particularly challenging due to the resistance to change and the need to navigate unfamiliar territory. However, with a combination of strategic thinking, change management skills, effective communication, and the ability to pivot along the way. You know, if you master those, I know you can be very successful. So that is it for today everyone. Please remember to subscribe to the podcast and radius. If you please, we’ll make additional time to do so. And just share with our podcast with just one friend. You know performing this one selfless act will empower you to help others to also leave at the top of their game. Thanks again for the gift of your time for listening to the podcast. See you next week. And that’s our show for today. Thank you for listening to the lead at the top of your game podcast, where we help you lead your seat at any employer, business, or industry in which you choose to play. You can check out the show notes, additional episodes, and bonus resources, and also submit guest recommendations on our website at leadyourgamepodcast.com. You can follow me on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn by searching for the name Karan Rhodes with Karan being spelled K a r a n. And if you like the show, the greatest gift you can give would be to subscribe and leave a rating on your podcast platform of choice. This podcast has been a production of Shockingly Different Leadership, a global consultancy which helps organizations execute their people, talent development, and organizational effectiveness initiatives on an on-demand, project, or contract basis. Huge thanks to our production and editing team for a job well done. Goodbye for now.