In reading Jim Collin’s book, Good to Great, he talked about companies not being able to pinpoint a defining moment that turned everything around and make them a great company. Their success came from cumulative and consistent effort in the same direction. As time goes by, the flywheel effect takes place. This is where with the same effort, accomplishments made over time increases.
The opposite is the doom loop. This is where a momentum gets build aiming for a flywheel effect, then changes were made in leadership or structure or process, momentum is lost, disappointing results, and then another round of changes takes place once more. The cycle goes on. For those of us who’ve seen this happened, it is painful to witness what was once a great start, became a disaster.
This is where Peter Drucker’s “The Effective Executive in Action: A Journal for Getting the Right Things Done” came to enlighten. The authority of knowledge is surely as legitimate as the authority of position. However, humility is necessary in recognizing what we only know and proper care be given in the dynamics where we operate. Our wrong actions will have an impact in the area that to repair it or not will eventually hurt.
The least we want is to be remembered in history as the one who messed the whole thing.