The flywheel

• a “massive metal disk mounted horizontally on an axle” it weighs 5000 pounds and is difficult to move
• Rotation build momentum
• Good to great is a cumulative process

It simply was no miracle

• Media can skew the success of a company like it was one decision
• Circuit City didn’t have articles written about it until the transformation
• Nucor also did not appear until thirteen years after the start of their transformation
• Kimberly-Clark's transformation was not recognized for twenty one years

• Companies sometimes are not even aware the transformation is happening
• John Wooden and the Bruins
• Subject to the same pressures as others
• Problems of commitment alignment motivation and change take care of themselves

• Follow a pattern of buildup
• Accumulation of steps
• Confront the brutal facts
• Attain consistency
• Disciplined people
• Harness appropriate technologies
• Make acquisionts after breakthrough
• Spend little energy trying to motivate people

• Skip buildup
• Implement big programs, radical change etc.
• Embrace fads
• Demonstrate chronic inconsitency
• Jump right into action
• Run about like Chicken Little
• Make major acquisitions before breakthrough
• Spend a lot of energy on motivating

The Danger of the Doom Loop

• The Doom Loop is characterized by the misguided use of acquisitions and the selection of leaders who undid the work of those who came before
• Using acquisitions after the hedgehog concept and flywheel is already in place instead of jumping in like comparison companies
• Stopping the flywheel
• Harrison corporation and Joseph Boyd

The Flywheel as a Wraparound Idea

• The principle of Cohesion
• Level 5 leaders gravitate towards this
• Go from great to enduring great