From Saints to Skinny Jeans: The Catholic Church’s Strategy and What It Means for Your Business, Love Life & Waistline
#SameForest #DifferentMonks
Carlo Acutis with Pope Francis — © Vatican Media / Getty Images (used here for editorial purposes)
The Catholic Church Pivot
When Pope Leo XIV canonized 15-year-old Carlo Acutis before 80,000 people in St. Peter’s Square, the world took notice. Headlines called him “God’s Influencer.”
To Catholics, he’s the first millennial saint.
To those of us who study sales & distribution, he’s a case study in one of the smartest go-to-market pivots in modern history.
And before you start throwing stones and accusing me of blasphemy, using the church’s name in vain, being a heretic, etc. etc. — please read the story to the end …
The Church has always understood distribution:
The Bible was the first mass-market content product.
Hymns became the soundtrack of a global movement. (product enhancement)
The Swahili Mass iteration localized the brand for African markets. (Think of East Africa as a pilot)
Dropping the Latin liturgy was another iteration to make Mass more “accessible”. (non-Catholics at weddings still say: “Catholics are very efficient — one hour Mass, very strict.”)
And now? A saint of the digital generation.
Carlo Acutis (I pronounce it ah-CHOO-tis — like the ankle pants guys wore in the 80s).
“Saint GenZ” didn’t start a company, but he behaved like a founder. At 14 he was coding websites cataloguing Eucharistic miracles. At 15 he died of leukemia — and today he stands as the patron saint of the online generation.
The Church packaged him as a relatable model:
Jeans, PlayStation, and Jesus.
It worked. Attendance spiked, digital buzz exploded, and Catholic youth finally had a saint who looked like them.
Fact: Catholicism is the fastest-growing faith among the youth —
“According to Springtide, 28% of young U.S. Christians aged 13-25 identify as Catholic, and among young Catholics, 87% consider themselves religious and 55% attend services at least monthly.”
That’s what a pivot looks like.
The Business Lesson: Product Life Cycle
Back during my MBA attempt (the only marketing class I stayed awake in), we studied the Product Life Cycle (PLC):
Introduction – High marketing cost, low adoption.
Christianity in its earliest days: 12 in-house sales reps (disciples), customer care staff (martyrs), external agents, dealers, partners, brokers (missionaries). Tiny market share.
Growth – Uptake rises, brand spreads.
Expansion across Europe, Africa, Asia. Printing press = traditional media. Distribution supercharged.
Maturity – Market saturates, competition intensifies.
The Protestant Reformation. Secularism. Yesu wa Tongaren. Crowded faith marketplace.
Decline – Falling numbers, consumer tastes shift.
Empty pews in the West. Competing “products” like wellness, entertainment, TikTok.
But here’s the twist: smart brands don’t accept decline — they innovate.
The Church pivoted. By canonizing Acutis, they relaunched the product for Gen Z with new packaging, a digital story, and verified miracles as “customer testimonials.”
That’s how a 2,000-year-old multinational hit refresh.
The Sports Pivot: Springboks & the Backline Shift
Sport is full of pivots — sometimes literally.
On Saturday, South Africa handed New Zealand their worst defeat in history.
The pivot?
A bold backline shuffle with eight players under 10 caps. Damian Willemse (normally a utility back) moved into midfield alongside Canan Moodie (usually on the wing, centre at the Bulls). Add a 6’4 debutant on the wing whose surname once lit up a Kenyan billboard in a cheeky airline stunt, plus The Little Helmeted Wizard on the other, The Hot stepper.
Backs that shouted “GWARA” (I have to avoid Poghie and Bokke gang till next week)
Avoid the Boklash at all costs.
And suddenly the Boks had magic.
The result wasn’t just a win, it was history. By changing one piece of the puzzle, South Africa unlocked a whole new gear.
Sport reminds us: you don’t always need a whole new team. Sometimes you just need the courage to change who holds the ball — and trust the pivot to create something unforgettable.
Rassie put it best post-match:
“If you want to fall… you’re best falling on your own sword!”
The Mubaba Pivot: From Corduroy to Cadet Sneakers
Now let’s laugh at ourselves.
Mubabas (men of my generation) are pivoting too — especially in fashion. The old playbook was clear: roomy 90s jeans, peaked caps, corduroy jackets that smelled of mothballs.
But the game has changed. Today’s playbook says:
Trade the corduroy jacket for a sleek windcheater layered over a tee.
Swap room-cut jeans for slim or straight fits. (Skinny jeans if you dare…I have a story about those)
Add cadet sneakers — and yes, every over-40 dude seems to buy from the same TikTok vendor.
Brighten up. Stop showing up in black every Friday. Life is for celebrating, not mourning.
Fashion isn’t just vanity — it’s market positioning. Pivot wrong, and you look outdated.
Pivot right, and you buy yourself relevance in the room.
The Relationship Pivot: Facelift or New Model?
Relationships follow the same product cycle: introduction, growth, maturity, and sometimes decline.
Some couples facelift the old model — date nights, travel, counseling.
Others ditch it for a “new shape Discovery” or the new V8.
The analogy writes itself:
iPhone 16 or Samsung Galaxy X5 = the new partner with all the features.
Refurbished laptop with limited RAM = the old relationship still running, but can’t handle new apps
Memory vs Processing: The old model has all the history, but sometimes freezes when asked to adapt (hehe). The new one has speed but none of the archives.
Every relationship has to decide: facelift or trade-in?
Life Pivot: Ozempic & New Habits
Life pivots don’t stop at fashion or love. We pivot with our habits too:
Quitting drinking or smoking.
Starting a new workout + diet.
Or the most 2025 pivot of all: Ozzzzzz… (that one 😉).
The product is marketed as painless weight loss — “get slimmer without trying.”
For many, it’s the miracle Carlo Acutis never coded.
But the question lingers:
If the pivot is this easy, why didn’t we act sooner?
This Week’s Focus: Pivot or Perish
From Saints to Skinny jeans, from Springboks to Ozempic, pivots are everywhere.
The Catholic Church proved even the world’s oldest multinational can innovate.The Springboks showed that teams win by trusting a bold pivot. Mubabas proved even corduroy can be traded in for cadet sneakers.
And in love, sometimes a facelift isn’t enough — you need a new model 😉.
👉 The lesson? Every product, every business, every life has a cycle.
Decline is not destiny.
Pivot early, pivot smart.
#SameForest #DifferentMonks
Will you pivot, or perish?
Share this with three people who need to make a bold move.”
Oriti……
Great piece, keep em coming
Hehe ... I'm on the pivot bus, unbeknownstly...