Newton’s 1st Law of Motion:
“Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it.”
Newton’s 1st Law,rephrased for Business: Organizations tend to do the same thing the same way for as long as they can. This also means that,if they are not doing anything in a particular area,they tend to keep not doing things in that area. Thus,it is rare for them to lead anyone anywhere;but when they do lead,it’s hard for them to stop,so they’d better hope they’re headed in the right direction.
One example of an organization who repeatedly overcomes this tendency is Google (like them or not) who makes sure each engineer in the organization dedicates as much as 20% of their time to creating and developing new ideas. The guidelines given are something as simple as,“Work on whatever you want.”
Google’s competitors find it ludicrous to think that employees actually know what might make the company more successful without guidance from the “senior visionaries”of the company. Those same companies are stuck in Newton’s 1st Law.
It is difficult for companies to think outside the box when,in fact,they are the box. Employees given permission to have passion about what they do,and encouraged to expess ideas on how to improve the business,improve relationships with customers,and improve the company’s products and services,are the most loyal and successful employees working for successful and innovative companies.
