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Bad results trigger doom loops
The doom loop
The doom loop is the inverse of the flywheel. Something happens that produces disappointing results: a random event, something outside your control, or a mistake. A company that reacts without understanding why panics and looks for a new direction, a new program, a new leader, a new acquisition, or a new technology.
Why quick fixes fail
Because none of that rebuilds momentum, it gives only a burst of false hope, like drinking a sugar drink instead of getting back to core training. The next results disappoint again, which brings another reaction, another fad, and another failure to build momentum.
Understanding the flywheel
The companies that built flywheels understood what drove them. When a funny result came in, they could look at it clinically and conclude the flywheel still worked and execution was what to keep improving. The ones that didn't understand it went grasping for salvation, often with more uncalibrated big bets.
Why do companies copy each other's fixes?
The sociologists Paul DiMaggio and Walter Powell described in a 1983 paper how organizations facing uncertainty tend to imitate others that seem successful. They called this mimetic isomorphism. Copying feels safe, because if a copied program fails, managers can say that peers were doing the same thing.
Why is lost momentum hard to rebuild?
A flywheel stores energy that grows with the square of its rotation speed, so a flywheel that has slowed has lost a disproportionate share of its stored energy. Restarting it means putting that energy back with push after push. A flywheel that is jolted or changed in direction while spinning loses speed all at once.
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