Stanford Graduate School of Business with Allison Kluger and Alex Rodriguez

The Course

Since 2019, Pivot has been the course textbook and curriculum framework for Allison Kluger’s Stanford Graduate School of Business course, Strategic Pivoting—one of the most popular seminar series at the GSB.

Featuring former Yankees’ star Alex Rodriguez and Jenny as guest lecturers, this two-week course allows students to immerse themselves in the Pivot Method and hear from several other guests sharing their dynamic career pivots—and the ups and downs along the way. 

Because the course is geared toward business-oriented graduate students, Professor Kluger structured the class specifically for those who already intend on pivoting upon graduating: students who have outgrown their position or business, feel called to a new interest or professional area, or seek to make a strategic shift for reputation reasons. 

As a two-week course, Kluger teaches a robust and compact approach compared to the traditional months-long semester or trimester set-up. Students meet for six days over the course of two weeks, for ~3 hours per class. Classes focus on each stage of the Pivot Method, feature specific examples from guest lecturers, and introduce activities to guide students with their own Pivot plans. 

At the end of the course, students pitch their Pivot plans—presenting who they are, how they are pivoting, and their next pilots (small experiments). Evaluation focuses on communication, business plan, and integration of Pivot Method concepts. 

Sample Two-Week Syllabus

Session 1: Plant—Establish a foundation of values, strengths and interests.

Class Discussion & Activities: 

  • What is a career plateau?

  • Introducing the Pivot Method at a high-level, and defining the plant stage

  • Taking stock of your strengths and values

  • Reverse engineering a pivot

Homework:

  • Write your 1-year vision

  • Create a mind-map of your values and priorities

Session 2: Scan—For people, skills, and projects that are compelling to you

Class Discussion & Activities: 

  • Mentors and networking

  • Creating a public-facing platform to make yourself discoverable

Homework:

  • Share your pivot plan to 15 friends and family

  • Set up 2-3 friendtor or networking calls

Session 3: Pilot, Part 1—Generating Ideas, Small Experiments, and Gathering Data

Class Discussion & Activities: 

  • What makes a good pilot? The three Es. 

  • Share real-world examples of pilots 

  • How to start piloting

Homework:

  • Start practicing the narrative of your pivot pitch 

  • Schedule an interview with someone who pivoted in the career/industry you’re interested in 

Session 4: Pilot, Part 2—Beginning to Launch 

Class Discussion & Activities: 

  • Piloting as a continuous process

  • Navigating failure 

  • The benchmarks for when to launch 

Homework:

  • Continue working on previous assignments

  • Identify three outfits to wear on-air 

Session 5: Pitch Prep & Media Training Workshop

Class Discussion & Activities: 

  • Mastermind group review of pitches

  • Media training & messaging 

  • Visual brand consult 

Homework:

  • Practice your pivot pitch

[Live Broadcast of Pivot Pitches] 

Session 6: Synthesis and Moving Forward

Class Lecture/Discussion: 

  • Reviewing pitches and getting feedback 

  • How to know when a launch works

  • Pivot as a continuous process 

Homework:

  • Final paper 

Inside the Classroom

For a peek inside the classroom, check out Alex Rodriguez’s Facebook Lives:

Strategic Pivoting at Stanford Ep. 4: Piloting Your Career Pivot

And here’s a recording of Pivot Pitch Night for a local Mountain View TV Station, where we each give the students feedback on their career pilots Shark Tank-style! You can see how each of the pitches mirror the Pivot Method framework.

You can also check out the student panel with Alex and Jenny, from our Spring 2020 class: