Momentum is a powerful force in business, but it often feels elusive and difficult to manufacture. You work hard, push forward, but the results are linear and exhausting. What if there was a better way? A system for creating compounding growth where each new input makes the next one easier? This is the core idea behind the Flywheel Effect.
First conceptualized by Jim Collins in his book Good to Great, the flywheel is a simple but profound mental model. Imagine a giant, heavy flywheel—a massive metal disk mounted horizontally on an axle. To get it moving, you have to push with immense effort. Your first push might barely move it. But you keep pushing.
What a Flywheel Is (and Isn't)
A business flywheel is not a single magic bullet or a one-time initiative. It's a closed loop of actions where each step reinforces and accelerates the others. For example, Amazon's famous flywheel works like this:
- Lower prices on more products lead to a better customer experience.
- A better customer experience drives more traffic to the platform.
- More traffic attracts more third-party sellers.
- More sellers lead to greater selection and competition, which drives prices down further.
Each step feeds the next, creating a self-reinforcing cycle of growth. The key is that the process is circular, not linear.
Building Your Own Flywheel
To apply this to your own work, you need to identify the key components of your growth engine. What are the core activities that, when improved, lead to better results elsewhere?
"The flywheel creates momentum. You get the flywheel spinning, and it builds and builds, and then it starts to generate its own momentum. That's the feeling you want."
Consider the following steps:
- Identify Key Activities: What are the 4-6 essential things that drive your success? (e.g., content creation, distribution, user signups, user satisfaction).
- Find the Connections: How does one activity logically lead to the next? How does great content lead to more signups? How does user satisfaction lead to better distribution via word-of-mouth?
- Test and Refine: Start pushing on one part of the flywheel and measure the effects on the others. Refine the steps until you have a smooth, compounding loop.
By focusing on building and accelerating your flywheel instead of chasing disparate, one-off tactics, you can create a business with powerful, compounding momentum that becomes an unstoppable force over time.