The CX Curve - ARC

The Greased Pig Theory of Innovation

Lessons in Innovation from Mud, Chaos, and Desperation
By Stephen McBride

We were just sitting down for the rodeo at the Alameda County Fairgrounds when the announcer's booming voice cut through the dusty air:

“All 12- and 13-year-old boys, come on down for the Greased Pig Race!”

Since I had just turned 12, my dad’s eyes lit up. He clenched his fist in encouragement. My stomach churned with nerves, but I didn’t back down. I nervously stepped into the pen with over 50 other kids; each of us was handed an oversized T-shirt. Cowboys unleashed a firehose, drenching the dirt and turning it into a slick, sloppy, muddy rink. Then, with a loud clang, they released the beast—a massive pig, head-to-hoof coated in thick, slippery grease, squealing like a banshee.

As soon as the gate opened, chaos erupted. Kids lunged, slipped, and face-planted in the mud. The fastest and strongest reached the pig first, only to slide off its impossibly slick hide, landing in a heap. I was caught in the frenzy, arms flailing, legs churning, feeling like a lost puppy in a mosh pit. I lunged for the pig, my hands grazing its slimy coat, and crashed face-first into the muck. Mud filled my mouth, stung my eyes, and for a moment, I lay there, heart pounding, cheeks burning with the futility of it all. The crowd cheered, delighted to watch us flail. As I spat out mud, something clicked. What if I’m chasing this pig all wrong? I came up with an idea…

Inverting the Problem

I pushed myself up, wiped the mud from my eyes, and did something strange: I turned my back on the herd. While every other kid charged past me, I zigged and zagged in the complete opposite direction. Then I saw it—the pig, barreling straight toward me, while the other kids struggled, grasping and sliding off.

I sprinted, heart racing, and leapt. My legs clamped around the pig’s slick head, and I held onto the beast’s back for dear life, my hands slipping but refusing to let go. The announcer’s voice echoed as he raised my muddy hand in victory.

I’d won—not because I was faster, stronger, or luckier, but because I had inverted the problem. I had stumbled upon what I now call The Greased Pig Theory of Innovation: to solve a seemingly impossible problem, you must stop chasing it the way everyone else does and find a new angle.

The Three Principles of the Greased Pig Theory

As I look back on that experience—standing there, grinning from ear to ear, the pig squirming under my arm and greasing up my shirt—I realize the muddy pen was a masterclass in innovation. This theory has three core principles:

1. Invert to See

Innovators don’t outrun the crowd; they dare to run the other way. Innovation is about seeing the problem differently, not doing what everyone else is doing. In medicine, Viz.ai didn’t chase the slow herd of manual CT scan reviews by radiologists, which often delays stroke detection. Instead, they flipped the approach: their AI automatically spots strokes in brain scans and alerts specialists instantly via mobile, slashing treatment times by an average of 31 minutes and turning a critical delay into a life-saving edge.

2. Embrace the Chaos

Messy, uncertain moments—like a firehose-drenched pen or a failing project—are blank canvases. Chaos hides opportunities, waiting for someone to step outside the stampede. When Amazon launched AWS in 2006, they embraced the chaos of spare server capacity—a wasteful byproduct of e-commerce scaling—and flipped it into a cloud empire generating $107.6 billion in 2024 revenue alone, proving how market uncertainty can fuel explosive growth.

3. Dare to Look Foolish
Inversion takes courage. Running against the crowd felt ridiculous, but it was the only way to win. Innovators like Elon Musk don’t follow the herd; they ask, “What if everyone else is wrong?” and risk looking absurd to prove it. The courage to be misunderstood, even momentarily, is often the price of a breakthrough.

What are your greased pigs?
We all face “greased pigs” in our own lives—slippery, big problems that elude us despite our best efforts. This is where you apply the theory. Ask yourself:

What “greased pig” in your life or work keeps slipping through your grasp, and how could flipping your approach reveal a new path forward? Where are you following the crowd in tackling a challenge, and what bold, opposite move could you try this week to break through?

Here’s how to catch yours:

• Identify a problem you’re stuck on—maybe a business challenge, a personal goal, or a creative rut.
• Write down the “obvious” approach everyone else is taking.
• Invert it: What’s the opposite angle? If you’re struggling to attract customers with ads, try giving away valuable content. If you’re stuck in a career rut, consider a lateral move instead of climbing the same ladder.

Test one inverted idea this week and see what happens.

That muddy race was my first unconscious practice of The Greased Pig Theory. The pig didn’t change; I changed my approach. And that’s the core of the theory: you can't always change the problem, but you can always change your strategy. Innovators turn chaos into advantage by flipping the problem, seeing angles others miss, and making the leap.

“Anyone can chase greased pigs. Great innovators flip the chase, break the model, and walk away muddy but victorious.” — Steve McBride