Flywheel Effect

Jim Collins's metaphor for how sustained organizational excellence is built — through consistent, disciplined pushing in one direction until momentum makes the flywheel self-reinforcing.

Against the 'miracle moment' narrative: great companies did not achieve greatness through a single dramatic transformation or brilliant initiative. They pushed consistently in one direction — with each turn of the flywheel making the next turn easier. At some point, momentum becomes self-reinforcing. The flywheel metaphor captures the importance of consistency over brilliance. Jeff Bezos used it explicitly to describe Amazon's business model — the Amazon flywheel.