The Mathematics of Leadership – Newton’s 1st Law
Everywhere we look in our world mathematics plays a role whether directly or indirectly. Leadership is not immune to the mathematical process. Over the next few posts we will examine how leadership and mathematics intertwine.
Newton’s first law of motion – sometimes referred to as the law of inertia. An object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.
During our normal operations as an individual, team and/or organization we work to plan, develop, grow…to move forward in whatever our mission may be. As we move forward we gain a momentum which takes on a life (or if we are not moving that lack of momentum takes on a life as well) then crisis hits such as global financial crisis, technology changes, loss of some description or even a world wide pandemic like we face with COVID-19.
The dilemma we face is that like Newton’s 1st Law of Motion an object at rest will remain at rest or an object in motion will remain in motion unless acted upon by an outside force. A force to influence more than change, a force which takes on a leadership role influencing transformation.
Today as we move through the COVID-19 crisis what are you doing as an individual, team or organization to find that influence to support the change in motion as the path is no longer straight, in fact this crisis (like any other crisis) puts bumps and curves in the road that you cannot see until you are climbing on the breaks or taking evasive maneuvers: you are too close.
Now is the time to engage the outside influence, to support the direction change for a fresh, non-biased perspective. As a caveat to this outside influence this is not a course or consultant coming in for a day or two this is the coach and/or consultant who will be empowered to work with the individual, team, organization and yes even the leader(s) to support the team to transformation in a new productive and successful normal.
Without a non-biased, honest support we struggle to see the conflicting momentum of the internal vs external influences such as staff retention, staff development with change and transformation, the list goes on.
A crisis such as COIVD-19 can be a disaster or an opportunity the goal is to make it an opportunity for yourself, your team and even your organization. It is your opportunity to control the speed and direction of the momentum – find that unbalanced force Newton taught us about to make that transformation, creating a positive future on the curvy, broken road life throws in front of us.
#leadership #leaderscan.ca #math #growth #development #crisis #COVID
