Let’s start by saying that we are living in a moment of a real shift in “momentum.” Wherever your politics may lie (and mine lie in the landscape where I am VERY excited about the current “momentum” shift of the democratic ticket) it is clear that something big has happened to change the momentum of the Harris/Walz ticket since President Biden chose to not run for office again on 7/21/24…. literally just 25 days ago! Regardless of my excitement and enthusiasm, this moment has caused me to reflect on the nature of “momentum” and different approaches we could take to understand it and to take action to affect it not solely in the political landscape.
The formula is age-old and pretty simple… an entity at rest has a certain size or mass…and when it is put into motion at a certain velocity… that combination of mass*velocity produces momentum. While the formula is simple and straightforward, a little decomposition is helpful. The size/mass of an entity is a bid deal in this equation. An “entity’s” size, scale, or mass really matters here… think about a small object (pebble) vs a large object ( a car)… or to go farther think about a very small object ( grain of sand) vs a very large object ( Boeing 757) the size matter to what energy is requires to get the entity moving. This is an important idea to consider when YOU may want/need to change the momentum of something you are dealing with. In our current political landscape, the momentum was declining for the democrats coming into the summer and a major action…. a big burst of energy was needed to change the momentum of the race… President Biden’s announcement on 7/21/24 was just that sort of bombshell… it was a big “velocity” driver that began moving the mass of the electorate and in less than 4 weeks has dramatically changed the momentum of the upcoming election.
The current political landscape is quite a case study, this also aligns well to my experience in business. In 2019, I was fortunate to be part of a small team that had the chance to buy Bolthouse Farms “back” from the Campbell Soup Company. I had been part of the team that sold it to them in 2012, and after leaving in 2015, the business went into a dramatic decline. By 2019, the business was a mess… topline sales declining by double digit rates, bottom-line profitability declining even faster. Bolthouse Farms is a large company with thousands of employees, numerous facilities and at that moment in early 2019 quite a mess. We KNEW that by “buying it back”, it would take an incredible amount of energy to “turn the ship” and rebuild positive momentum. What we didn’t know at that moment in June of 2019 when we closed on the deal was that Covid-19 was around the corner. That global pandemic provided more unexpected challenges but pushed us to put even more effort and energy into the business of regaining positive topline and bottom-line momentum! The business today is very strong and has a lot of momentum across the board… but the energy and effort to move that “mass” was incredible in reflection.
I think its pretty clear how the idea of “momentum” comes to life in politics and business, and the significant effort it can take to “change” the momentum of a situation going in the wrong direction… when the momentum of something is negative and possibly worsening, it is vital to act immediately and apply maximum effort to change the trajectory of the entity in motion… one must act immediately with maximum effort. What is not so clear is what to do when the momentum is good/strong and going in the right direction. What is the key to keeping the business/ political situation on the right path and maybe even gaining “more” momentum? Let’s look back at the formula above for some insights here. In my experience, “P” (Momentum) is not static… it is not a steady/constant/guaranteed idea.
“P” is a dynamic reality always moving and as a business or political reality grows and gains success, it actually increases its mass (“M”) and without an increase in velocity (“V”), momentum (“P”) actually reduces. This reality reminds us that the better we do, and the larger we grow… the MORE energy we need to exert to keep that growth and success going.
It may seem exhausting, but across my career, the moment I have seen business/political leaders celebrate success (often assuming it would continue on its own) and stop investing in the people/ ideas/technology NEEDED for future growth, momentum would begin to erode and start heading in the wrong direction. The reality is you can NEVER stop putting energy into a good situation with good momentum, and if it’s a bad situation with negative momentum, you need to take action immediately and deploy maximum energy/effort to get that momentum to shift! Don’t forget the simple formula above… it may seem like a high school physics tool, but it is deeply true and applicable all around us today!
postscript: the current presidential political campaign is an incredible example of the dynamics of "momentum" and the polling chart below shows it dramatically. With less than 3 months to election day, this is going to be an incredible "case study" !
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