Originally published by Laura Desmond on LinkedIn: Scared of Change? Get Over It Already

What Oscar-nominated filmmaker Gigi Pritzker can teach executives about reinventing a company and powering forward

Last month, we talked about the importance of speed in business. To stay competitive, an organization must fail fast and forward. Its leaders also must be willing to rethink and challenge their company vision to keep ahead of emerging trends and business models.

Independent filmmaker and theater producer Gigi Pritzker is a perfect example of an executive who did just that.

In early 2017, Gigi knew she needed a new, bold vision for her 20-year-old media and entertainment company. One year earlier she had changed her company’s name from OddLot Entertainment to Madison Wells Media -- MWM, repositioning it for growth in not only films, TV and theatre, but AR/VR and cross-screen content development. Her first pivotal decision was to hire Clint Kisker, who became her co-founder in the new company and her critical partner on this journey.

Gigi named MWM after the Chicago street corner where her great-grandfather had sold newspapers as a 12-year-old boy to help his family make ends meet. The new name resonated strongly with her, but she knew she needed to do more to transform her company. She had to rethink everything: the business model, where entertainment was heading, the investment targets, and how MWM would integrate new technologies like augmented and virtual reality into traditional forms like TV, film and theatre where she had long-time success.

The good news is that Gigi and Clint were hungry to reinvent and challenge convention. They had done a lot of thinking about the future of the entertainment business and believed something really had to be changed to create a company that would flourish in an array of cross platform offerings & with a new generation of creators. She and Clint had the exact mindset needed to radically change the vision of the company.

So that’s exactly what we did together.

Over the course of eight weeks, my firm -- Eagle Vista Partners -- worked with Gigi, Clint and their team to create their overall brand strategy and organizational design, that included a new brand identity and go-to-market strategy for MWM. Additional outcomes later included a new logo design, new name articulation form, a new communications strategy, a new website design and a stronger approach to talent recruitment and development.

How?

For starters, Gigi allowed herself as CEO to get uncomfortable and question everything about her business. This is essential to rethinking a brand vision.