Momentum is a leader’s best friend.
Momentum also means drive, flow, a winning streak, or energy. It takes a leader to create it. Once it exists, managers can keep it going.
What the Law of the Big Mo means
Harry Truman said: “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.” For leaders, it’s this: if you can’t make the heat, get out of the kitchen.
You can’t steer a ship that isn’t moving. Without momentum, even simple tasks seem insurmountable; with momentum, the future looks bright.
What the Law of the Big Mo looks like in practice
Why Musk lived at the factory
In an email to staff, Elon Musk demands at least 40 hours a week in the office – the more senior, the more visible. He says he lived at the factory so workers could see him working; otherwise Tesla would have gone bankrupt long ago.
From crisis club to 8–2 against Barcelona
When Hansi Flick took over in November 2019, Bayern were in crisis. A 4–0 win over Dortmund sparked a winning streak, the 8–2 against Barcelona made the players feel invincible – and the season ended with the treble.
The memo that sent a nation to the moon
On April 20, 1961, a memo from Kennedy asked Lyndon B. Johnson whether the US was working on the moon goal 24 hours a day. Soon after, Kennedy committed the nation to a moon landing – and in 1969, Apollo 11 touched down.
What the animation shows
The flywheel turns heavily at first, then faster and faster – until it almost runs by itself.
