***This is the last post I’m going to dedicate to the 7 principles of the book Good to Great.***
The principle of the flywheel and doomloop is simple. Imagine a giant flywheel suspended on it’s axle that is about two feet thick, twenty feet in diameter, and weighing close to two tons. Getting this wheel to spin requires a great amount of effort and determination. However, once enough momentum is generated the gigantic wheel requires less effort and can spin faster and faster. The wheel gradually builds momentum until it has a breakthrough moment of continual motion with minimal effort. Great organizations follow this same pattern of buildup that creates breakthrough.
The transformation from good to great can often look like a dramatic single-event success story to those observing from the outside. It looks like breakthrough is the only event responsible and there was no buildup. However, to those on the inside of the transformation it feels like an organic string of events. Success is never the result of one single event or one magical act. Those who do not understand that greatness comes from hard diligent work can find themselves failing to achieve it because they’re looking for the short cut to success; they want the breakthrough without the buildup.
Organizations that don’t achieve greatness follow a different pattern than buildup to breakthrough – they experience the doom loop. Rather than doing the hard work required to achieve buildup, these organizations try to skip buildup and get right to breakthrough. This leads to disappointment. There is no get rich quick scheme. There is no way to honestly become great without hard work and no one can give you greatness no matter how honorable their intentions. Following their initial failure to achieve success these organizations lurch back and forth failing to maintain a consistent direction or build sufficient momentum. They fall into a doom loop constantly trying to find a rhythm of success that avoids the disciplined effort required to get a heavy flywheel moving towards greatness. It’s like another great saying, a sign of mediocrity is chronic inconsistency.
“You Can’t Write” and Now a Blog
Reenactment of my academic adventures.
I didn’t get in to graduate school the first time I applied. I had to take a few courses and prove myself to the faculty and then reapply hoping my performance proved my worth. While I was taking those first few classes I was extremely self-conscious about my abilities to perform at the same level as my peers. I mean, they all got into the program and I didn’t. So when I sat down with one of my professors to talk about a writing assignment I had done he basically told me “you can’t write.” No surprise, I was really concerned. I wondered, how did I get through high school and college without anyone catching this? How am I going to get into this program if I can’t demonstrate I am capable? But, the important part of this story is that I didn’t let his comment keep me from doing what I wanted. I knew that writing is something I have a burning passion for and that this one moment wouldn’t keep me from pushing forward no matter what this professor thought. I asked my professor for guidance and how I could improve and then I kept plugging away at it, like I was pushing my own flywheel. A graduate degree later and a few years working in the big world helps me to smile at this memory every time I mention it.
However, today I don’t feel I have reached the breakthrough moment yet. I feel like I’m still in the buildup stage when it comes to writing and my own personal pursuit for “greatness.” As I write this I realize I unknowingly started this blog as my own flywheel. My passion for writing and sharing ideas motivated me to engage in the diligent labor of writing a blog with no clear goal in mind other than to create momentum. This is also my way of giving a slight wink to those who told me in the past that I can’t write. Believe me, that professor in graduate school wasn’t the first and I highly doubt he’ll be the last to criticize my work. In hind sight, I think their comments and my passion gave me the motivation I needed to push my flywheel that much harder. And knowing this principle and all the others in Good to Great I’ve written about give me hope that I am on the right path to achieve breakthrough after I put forth the effort to achieve buildup.
Up Next
A post about my selection to review a new book by Daniel Pink to be released in late December and a post on a documentary project being done by Nathaniel Hansen regarding the older generation of people in the small town of Laie, Hawaii.
Leave a reply