While work may akin to knocking over dominos, leadership focuses on which domino will knock over the most subsequent dominos with the same effort—the Domino Effect.

The domino effect can easily be visualized by placing a row of dominoes upright, separated by a small distance. Upon pushing the first domino, the next domino in line will be knocked over, and so on, thus firing a linear chain reaction in which each domino’s fall is triggered by the domino immediately preceding it. (Wikipedia)

The chain reaction continues, regardless of the length of the chain, because when the first domino is toppled, the energy transferred by its fall is greater than the energy needed to knock over the following domino. This is why a small domino can topple a larger domino. And, given an appropriate sequence of dominos a two inch domino could eventually topple the Empire State Building by the 18^thdomino, the Eiffel Tower by the 23^rd, and bridge the gap between the earth and the moon by the 57^th.

That is why great leaders take time to consider how things are strategically linked and then apply effort to that thing that represents the lead domino. In this way the leader not only minimizes the effort, but optimizes the result.

Herb Mast is a Leadership Coach and Employee Engagement Specialist. Learn how he can assist you in implementing the principles and concepts presented here.