Summary

Newton's First Law is crucial for understanding and overcoming resistance to change within organizations, as it highlights the necessity of applying an external force to alter the status quo.

Abstract

Newton's First Law, which states that an object at rest will stay at rest, and an object in motion will stay in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force, is analogous to the challenges faced in implementing organizational change. The article suggests that inertia, or the resistance to change, is the primary reason strategic change initiatives fail. Effective leadership must provide a compelling force to overcome this inertia, much like the external force described in Newton's principle. The article draws parallels between the bystander effect in behavioral science and the complacency in business that hinders necessary changes. It emphasizes that clear communication of a strategic vision, personal responsibility for change, and the establishment of trust are key factors in successful transformation efforts. By applying Newton's First Law, organizations can create the necessary momentum for change, leading to significant financial improvements and competitive advantages.

Opinions

Strategic change in organizations often fails due to a lack of sufficient force to disrupt the status quo, akin to Newton's First Law of inertia.
Ineffective leadership, lack of commitment, and inadequate justification for change contribute to the resistance within organizations.
The bystander effect, as seen in social psychology, has a counterpart in business where the "good enough" mentality prevents necessary changes.
To enact change, it is crucial to create a felt need for it and to distribute responsibility and trust among

Newton’s First Law is Key to Effective Change.

For those whose school days are a little hazy, Newton’s first law states that every object will remain at rest or in uniform motion in a straight line unless compelled to change its state by the action of an external force.

Newton’s 1st Law as imagined by author and Midjourney © responsibility Ian Beckett

Sir Isaac Newton (1643–1727), an English scientist and mathematician famous for his discovery of the law of gravity, also discovered the three laws of motion. He published them in his book Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (mathematic principles of natural philosophy) in 1687. Today, these laws are known as Newton’s Laws of Motion and describe the motion of all objects on the scale we experience in our everyday lives.

Newton’s first law is the main reason strategic change fails in an organisation — there is not enough driving force to change business practices from the status quo.

If you read the Harvard Business Review on the topic, there are multiple reasons given, from ineffective leadership, to lack of commitment and inadequate justification for executing the change. Management and team members must share the need for change so that all will progress to the desired future state.

I have constantly been challenged to execute change and usually have been required to create the aforementioned felt need for change — when asked, I used to use examples like pulling the rug out from under the team to obligate them to get to the haven of a future changed state — my application of Newton’s First Law.

When requested to resolve a country or corporate problem that required fundamental change, the main problem was always inertia — what has been good enough to date must be good enough for the future.

The behavioural science case study that demonstrates this bystander effect was first studied in the 1964 murder of Kitty Genovese, where 37 people observed the brutal attack and rape and did nothing to stop it.

If you are faced with a similar attack or incident in a public setting, unless you call on one individual bystander to take responsibility and get you assistance, you will be ignored because the bystanders learn from each other and will walk on by.

The same applies to business. The excuse that it has been good enough to date is an example of the business bystander effect.

Failure to act can be fatal.

Communicating a strategic change vision with my teams and management may produce resistance. Still, if I make it clear that I am responsible for failure, and they will be recognised for success, change does progress.

Trust is critical; in some cases, I have distributed my core team members globally to model this behaviour. Their successes accelerated change, and the external force applied to the status quo of the business caused a change in the right direction that I needed.

The bottom-line impact was hundreds of missions of dollars saved and dying businesses achieving dominant competitive positions and significant profits for investors.

Motivating people to follow my vision was a critical success factor.

According to McKinsey, 70% of strategic change fails because people are disengaged.

Excuses for not changing are busyness, risk, complexity, and fear of failure.

Applying our old friend Newton’s First Law, established 350 years ago, can simplify the process and overcome the fear of failure.

Be the change rather than the immovable object — the necessary force to achieve movement will be applied eventually.

There is less pain for more gain if you act now.