When Challenges Become Opportunities

In the business world, we often fear change and uncertainty. Yet, as the iconic Montreux Jazz Festival demonstrated, sometimes our greatest innovations emerge from our biggest challenges. When faced with both a global pandemic and the renovation of their primary venue—the 2m2c congress center—the festival organizers didn’t just survive; they thrived by creating something unexpectedly magical.

Embracing Uncertainty as a Catalyst for Innovation

When COVID-19 hit alongside the planned renovation of the 2m2c congress center, organizers reimagined the festival experience by creating an open-air stage partly built on Lake Leman itself. This bold move transformed a potential crisis into an opportunity. The lakeside stage offered breathtaking views of the Alps and the shimmering waters—a setting no indoor venue could match. What began as a temporary solution quickly became a beloved feature of the festival.

Customer-Centric Thinking: The Unexpected Upgrade

The festival’s adaptation reveals a crucial business lesson: when forced to think outside the box, organizations that remain customer-centric often discover innovations that enhance rather than diminish the experience. By asking, “How can we make this work for our audience?” rather than “How can we minimize the damage?”, festival organizers uncovered a solution that many now consider superior to the original.

The open-air venue created a completely different festival atmosphere—more accessible, more connected to Montreux’s natural beauty, and more immersive. This wasn’t merely a substitute; it was an evolution that highlighted previously underutilized aspects of the festival experience.

The Over-Delivery Principle: Exceeding Expectations in Crisis

What the Montreux Jazz Festival demonstrated brilliantly is exactly what we teach our students at HIM Business School: the principle of over-delivery. When faced with constraints, mediocre organizations cut corners, while exceptional ones innovate and exceed expectations.

In our Customer Experience classes at HIM, first-year students learn that true customer loyalty isn’t built on meeting expectations but on exceeding them—especially when circumstances make that seem impossible. The festival’s success story perfectly illustrates this principle in action.

The Bittersweet Return to “Normal”

As the 2m2c congress center prepares to reopen next year, many festival-goers are expressing sadness that the lakeside stage will be discontinued. This paradox—that what began as a compromise is now cherished—contains perhaps the most important lesson: sometimes our greatest innovations come not from careful planning but from bold responses to unexpected challenges.

While the indoor venue offers practical advantages in terms of cost management and weather protection, many will miss the magic of music under the stars with Lake Leman as a backdrop.

The Business Lesson: Don’t Wait for a Crisis

For business students and professionals alike, the Montreux Jazz Festival’s story offers a compelling reminder: don’t wait for a crisis to innovate. If a forced adaptation can lead to such remarkable improvements, imagine what might be possible when we voluntarily question our assumptions.

At HIM Business School, we encourage students to adopt this mindset of continuous reinvention. Rather than seeing constraints as limitations, we teach them to view challenges as invitations to discover better ways of delivering value.

After all, as the festival demonstrated, sometimes the most magical experiences arise not from perfect conditions, but from our creative responses to imperfect ones.