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The Correlation Between Physics and Leadership (Summary + Notes)

Margaret Williams, MS, ACC's avatar
Margaret Williams, MS, ACC
Sep 14, 2025
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"Just as physics explains motion in the universe, leadership explains motion in human potential."


The Science-Leadership Connection

Here’s the truth: leadership operates on patterns and rhythms you can actually see, just like the physical world around us. People may not move like particles or bend time like Einstein’s relativity, but the way energy, momentum, and systems work in physics gives us a powerful way to see ourselves as leaders more clearly.

Now—let’s be real. These aren’t hard-and-fast scientific laws for human behavior. They’re analogies—lenses that help us uncover the forces shaping our choices, our teams, and our outcomes. And when you look through this lens, you’ll notice something:

  • Energy doesn’t vanish, it transforms—and so does the energy you bring to a room.

  • Momentum builds (or stalls) depending on your vision and your follow-through.

  • Systems left alone drift into chaos unless we re-center them with clarity and purpose.

  • Even the smallest action—a word, a choice, a shift in perspective—can create a ripple that changes everything.

Physics explains how the universe moves. Leadership explains how human potential moves. When we integrate the two, we get a framework that’s not only measurable but deeply meaningful.

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© 2025 Margaret Williams, MS, ACC
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