Take your places. Buckle your seat belts. This rocket is about to blast off!
The “Flywheel” and “Doom Loop”
These two concepts represent positive and negative momentum. A flywheel is a heavy wheel that takes a lot of energy to set in motion - to do so usually requires constant, steady work, rather than a quick acceleration. Great companies’ transformations were like this as well. There was no magic recipe or no ‘aha’ moment when everything changed. Rather, with everything in place, lots of hard work slowly but steadily got the great companies going faster and faster, with a lot of momentum. Once it’s in motion, all that stored energy tends to keep it moving in the right direction.Conversely, the “doom loop” is the vicious circle that unsuccessful companies fall into, rushing first in one direction, then another, in the hope of creating a sudden, sharp break with the past that will propel them to success. Some attempt to do this through acquisitions, others through bringing in a new leader who decides to change direction completely, in a direction incompatible with the company. The results are never good. The difference between the two approaches is characterized by the slow, steady, methodical preparation inherent in the flywheel, as compared to the abrupt, radical, and often revolutionary, rather than evolutionary changes within the company.
Thank you...that's a helpful way to remember that perseverance is a significant factor in success...although that's not the complete point of explaining the contrast in approaches, it is something that the HBI, as a fairly young initiative, must heed.
ReplyDeleteAs we think about sustainability, let's think beyond 2013, get a wider vision of how we can best serve the community, and that path of steady, hard work will become clear(er). This is a project that will evolve organically into our bigger vision over time...keep cranking that wheel!