During the Olympic Games in 1968, Dick Fosbury surprised the world with a completely new style for the high jump, which revolutionised the sport. That ‘Fosbury Flop’ is often used as an example of successful innovation, but some crucial success factors are usually left out of the story. Innovation expert Simone van Neerven delves into the case and provides some valuable lessons for organisations.
High jump changed forever
It is 1968, Mexico City, and the Olympic Games are in full swing. On the day of the high jump, there are about 80,000 spectators in the stadium. The stadium is bustling with activity; besides high jumping, also the relay races for men and women, speed walking and the marathon are taking place.
As more and more people notice that something special is happening with the high jumping, the tension increases, and the stadium gets quieter and quieter. Eventually, only two jumpers are left competing for the coveted gold medal: Edward Caruthers, who uses the standard straddle technique and rolls with his belly over the bar, and Dick Fosbury, who jumps with a technique he developed himself and goes over the bar with an arched back.
At that moment, the marathon runners enter the stadium to finish, which is normally welcomed with loud cheers. But this time, it remains completely silent because everyone focuses on the high jump. The bar is set at 2.24 meters. When Caruthers jumps, the bar falls. And then it is Fosbury’s turn. He gets over it and wins the gold medal with a new Olympic record. The spectators go wild.
Fosbury revolutionised the high jump with a completely different style, and the Fosbury Flop is often used as an example of a successful innovation. By now everyone knows the story, but many factors that made it a success are untold. Until now.
Strong personal drive
In his youth, Fosbury was cycling with his younger brother when they were hit by a drunk driver. His brother died, and Fosbury blamed himself. He sought solace in sports, but there was a problem. He sucked at it. He failed to make it to the basketball and baseball teams at his high school and eventually ended up on the track and field team. But he wasn’t that good at it either.
He ended up in the high jump team but could not master the then-common straddle technique. “I was the worst high jumper of the entire school”, he once said. But giving up was not an option for him. He started experimenting with other jumping techniques to avoid being kicked out of the team. “I didn’t want to win. I just tried not to lose”.
He has gone crazy
He tried everything to get over the bar, and his jumps looked strange to others. People said he had gone crazy and that he would never be successful. “I was called a two-legged camel.” Coaches from other teams tried to exclude him from matches by saying that his jumping was not according to the rules. But that did not deter him, and with the support of his coach, he just kept going.
Knowledge from outside
He studied Civil Engineering and used this knowledge to perfect his jumping technique. For example, he discovered that if he arched his back enough, his centre of gravity remained under the bar while he still managed to clear the bar. He also learned that a longer run-up with a curve towards the bar gave him extra speed and made him jump higher.
Because he was doing something completely new, Fosbury had no inspiring examples he could learn from; he had to figure it out all by himself. But the advantage was that no one took him seriously, and they left Fosbury alone. He was able to perfect his technique in peace.
The perfect timing
Often, the success of an innovation coincides with another development. For example, YouTube only took off when cameras were added to our mobile phones. That was also the case with Fosbury. Jumping over the bar backwards was not new and had been tried before, but landing on a pile of sand or wood chips was just too painful. They started to replace this with thick foam cushions around the time that Fosbury was trying out new jumping styles. His high school was one of the first to buy it, which gave him the opportunity (and a head start) to perfect his technique.
Eccentric
Fosbury was not only an oddball because he jumped in a completely different way. While other athletes were training continuously, he wasn’t fond of it. The evening before the official start of the Olympics, he and a teammate rented a Volkswagen minivan. They went to the pyramids to celebrate with the locals the reception of the torch with the Olympic flame from Greece. He missed the official opening because of that. But what caused the most commotion was that he wore two different shoes during the final, a blue and a white one.
The sport turned upside down
Although Fosbury convincingly won the gold in 1968, he didn’t qualify for the Olympic Games four years later. In the meantime, other high jumpers had mastered the technique and became better at it. Fosbury did not win because he was the best jumper but because he courageously tried something completely different. His mindset was his advantage, not his physics.
However, he did start a revolution. While the successful athletes stuck with the conventional straddle technique, the lesser-known athletes and emerging talents dared to take the risk and embraced the new style. During the 1972 Olympic Games, 28 of the 40 athletes jumped with the Fosbury Flop and today, everyone jumps like this. It’s just like with the clap skate (‘klapschaats’); everyone thought that was crazy but now we don’t know any better.
Too dogmatic
Many organisations try to structure innovation in processes, departments and frameworks. They create an innovation department and manage it just like the others. But all that bureaucracy stifles creativity and innovation.
All too often, people strive for the biggest, the best, the most. It’s called the Big Hairy Audacity Goal. But almost all revolutions didn’t start like that at all. They became successful because of an enormous personal drive, usually from someone who is an outsider, which is often difficult to reconcile with organisational goals. And that is precisely why innovations so often fail, especially in organisations.
Because innovation is magical and has something elusive, it is just the right person at the right time in the right context. But unfortunately, oddballs are often bullied and not taken seriously, especially in large organisations.
This article was originally published in Dutch on MT/Sprout, the most popular business and management platform in the Netherlands.
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