Ordinarily one doesn’t associate the world of physics with the world of business, but yesterday these two spheres collided for me in a wonderful way.
As I noted on my “burning question” post the other day, I recently read a biography of Albert Einstein by Walter Isaacson that fascinated me. I never really got “into” physics in high school – in fact, I hated it. But time and life experience has changed that view, and consequently I was intently curious to find out about what Einstein’s unlocking of the universe was all about, and how he figured it all out.
I’ll write more about Einstein the man in a future post, but today I focus on the physics. And what radical physics it was – it essentially challenged the “common knowledge” that had been accepted for 200 years as to what was “absolute” and what was “relative”.
Here was the bombshell – space and time are relative, and the speed of light was absolute (it was the other way around for those 200 years – since the days of Issac Newton). In other words, time goes slower the faster you go. (note: unfortunately this difference is very, very small unless you are traveling close to the speed of light). And the highest speed is the speed of light- nothing can go faster.
This revelation then led to the most famous equation of all time:
E=MC²
Energy equals mass times the speed of light squared.
The bigger it is the more energy it produces.
Now what does this have to do with business?
Yesterday I was on the road talking to a group of teammates and we were discussing team building and the importance of supporting each other. I made the point that if we could keep increasing the number people really committed to supporting each other to a critical “mass”, there was no telling what we could achieve as a company.
Then I made the connection – more mass brings more energy. The energy that will fuel our engine of success is dependent on the collective mass of committed individuals.
It’s pure physics! I should have paid closer attention in high school.
Imagine the looks on my teammates faces when I then presented this analogy – I guess there are a lot of other people who didn’t pay much attention to their physics teacher.
And I bet there are not a lot of businessmen using this equation as a motivational tool. But I don’t want to be conventional. There are such interesting and amazing out–of-the-box “connections” out there to be discovered, especially when it comes to the laws of the universe.
Einstein knew this when he said “one cannot help be in awe when one contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality”.
Yep. A marvelous structure. All there for the taking – and borrowing – to make an important point in building a powerful team.
Popularity: 8% [?]
Subscribe By RSS
Subscribe By E-mail
{ 1 trackback }
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Terry!
What a great analogy
You just reminded me that I need to get that book!
It wasn’t until recently that I got into physics myself – especially metaphysics.
Can you just imagine if we could get a room full of great customer service reps and start our own company!!??
Great Analogy! I am now curious to read his Biography.
Hi Maria and Mr. Biggs – thanks for stopping by!
Maria, you should read this book – I know you’ll get a lot out of it.
And yes, if we could start our own service company it would be a darn good one, that’s for sure!
Mr. Biggs, as I noted to Maria, get this book. It’s utterly facinating.
All the best to you both.
Einstein is not just a scientist but also a philosopher. And I think each one of us possesses these same characters inside. Your analogy was simple and yet it hit right on the mark. What makes it even more wonderful is that the whole thing just came to you as you were talking with your colleagues.
That is dead on. It’s plain in the business world when you look at the energy (like it or not) that Wal-Mart has in the market. They are a big Mack truck with a lot of momentum. At the same time, it’s hard to make something that big turn fast to make adjustments.
A good team, though, will band together and make a mini-Mack and get tough things done and still be able to break out into fast-moving strategy sessions before linking back up again for some steamrolling.
That’s my analogy for the day, and I’m all worn out now.
Hi Jen and Jesse, thanks for your comments.
Jen, this was indeed one of those cool “connections” that keeps me inspired and positive about what I do – or, to put it another way, they are the liquid that keeps my glass half-full.
Jesse, great analogy – that mental picture of a big Mac truck is an imposing one. No wonder coming up with it wore you out!
All the best to you both.
I think people are turned off oftentimes by traditional team building experiences because the end result is too obvious. I like this approach because it is engaging without pandering to those involved.