The general population is not fond of physics – the numbers are alienating, one might assume. They may also not be fond of most forms of advanced mathematics, particularly once it gets into the theoretical or when it delves with really large numbers that don’t translate into a presence in their wallets. Normally, this sort of mentality does not have much of an impact on how a business operates. After all, not every company has to deal with the laws of physics in its day-to-day operations, and they can hire accountants to do the number-crunching for them if they’re not up to it. However, there are a few things that stem from those fields of study that can be a big part of business success.
From mathematics comes the principle of exponential growth. The more ideas and concepts there are being thrown around, the more “building blocks” are present for more ideas to be built off of them. This is crucial to brainstorming sessions and in the formulation of plans and potential new products. The more ideas are there that other people can use as a foundation, the easier it is to come up with something interesting that can pass the Galaxy Nexus test – or whatever the “big deal” benchmark product is in any given industry. This is crucial when coming up with ideas, alongside keeping it open and free of judgment to avoid stifling participants.
Isaac Newton’s second law of motion says that objects at rest tend to stay at rest, unless something external acts upon them. This is called inertia, and it is a problem that a lot of business can fall into. Once the initial drive and ambition fades away, businessmen start looking at the books and see that they’re profiting. This is a good thing, but around that time, they’ve lost the “hunger.” They become less interested in pushing further and harder, instead becoming content with how things are. They’ve become profitable and no longer see a need to press on. What they don’t realize is that doing this makes much more difficult for them to stir out of the company’s inert state without something external to nudge them.
On the other hand, the second law of motion also says that objects in motion have a tendency to stay in motion – again, this is barring external influences. This means that businesses that have solid fundamentals that get momentum going for them are in a good position to keep that forward motion going, so long as nothing stupid happens. A product that is wildly successful doesn’t just stop being so overnight, unless people find something horrifically wrong about it.
