One of my favorite topics in the book "Good to Great" by Jim Collins is the "First Who, Then What" principle. I was first taught this principle by one of our own amazing professors, Mr. Jeff Campbell. It has definitely still stuck with me since then so being able to read where he got the information from really tied everything together for me.
The first part starts out,"You are a bus driver. The bus, your company, is at a standstill, and it’s your job to get it going. You have to decide where you're going, how you're going to get there, and who's going with you." The bus drivers are the business leaders of companies that go from good to great start not with “where” but with “who.” They start by getting the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats. And they stick with that discipline—first the people, then the direction—no matter how dire the circumstances.
My next favorite part was the Flywheel and the Doom Loop. The Flywheel he describes like this, "Now picture a huge, heavy flywheel. It’s a massive, metal disk mounted horizontally on an axle. It's about 100 feet in diameter, 10 feet thick, and it weighs about 25 tons. That flywheel is your company. Your job is to get that flywheel to move as fast as possible, because momentum—mass times velocity—is what will generate superior economic results over time. Right now, the flywheel is at a standstill. To get it moving, you make a tremendous effort. You push with all your might, and finally you get the flywheel to inch forward. After two or three days of sustained effort, you get the flywheel to complete one entire turn. You keep pushing, and the flywheel begins to move a bit faster. It takes a lot of work, but at last the flywheel makes a second rotation. You keep pushing steadily. It makes three turns, four turns, five, six. With each turn, it moves faster, and then—at some point, you can’'t say exactly when—you break through. The momentum of the heavy wheel kicks in your favor. It spins faster and faster, with its own weight propelling it. You aren't pushing any harder, but the flywheel is accelerating, its momentum building, its speed increasing."
I loved reading his description about the Flywheel because it truly demonstrates how YOU have to put in the hard work day after day to achieve what you are striving for. Even if it's hard and it seems like you aren't getting anywhere, just a little progress can turn into a lot of progress once you get that momentum going. You just have to keep going!!
Then he describes the Doom Loop, "Why do most over hyped change programs ultimately fail? Because they lack accountability, they fail to achieve credibility, and they have no authenticity. It’s the opposite of the Flywheel Effect; it's the Doom Loop." Th people that fall into the Doom Loop are trying to effect change- but they are lacking the quiet discipline of staying on track and motivated in the direction that they are going that they never can gain that momentum that they need in order to be successful. "Disappointing results lead to reaction without understanding, which leads to a new direction—a new leader, a new program—which leads to no momentum, which leads to disappointing results.