Why absolute zero will never be attained …

…and what it means for your business.

PBS Channel 9 recently ran a NOVA special entitled, Absolute Zero, which talks about the progress physicists have made in reaching a temperature of -273 degrees Celsius, absolute zero.  They’re currently within one billionth (yes, that’s nine zeros) of a degree of achieving their goal.

What is absolute zero?  It’s the temperature at which atoms cease to move.  The closer physicists can get to absolute zero the easier it is for them to observe atomic activity and discern patterns of behavior.

Why don’t I think that they’ll ever achieve their goal?  More importantly, why should you care?  The answer to the first question is that we experience the infinite nature of things every day in our lives.  Regardless of what progress we make in understanding any concept we never achieve complete understanding.  Just when we think we’ve got things figured out, we learn something new that contradicts what we believe.  That’s why that I doubt that the physicists will ever attain absolute zero.

What does that mean to you and your business?  First, it means that regardless of how good you get at what you do, no matter how good your products/services are, you’ll never achieve perfection.  So don’t ever quit striving to improve yourself and your offerings.

Second, the closer you get to perfection the more costly improvements become and the more difficult it is for your customers to see value in those enhancements.  As you get to the point where your customers no longer value improvements, you need to change direction.  Just as the discovery of quantum physics challenged Einstein’s work on relativity, your customers will challenge you to come up with something completely different than you’re currently offering.

It’s counter-intuitive, but we need to strive for perfection while keeping in mind that it’s unattainable.  At the same time we need to be pragmatic about improvement; we need to learn when to stop because further improvement no longer adds value to the markets we serve.

If you see other ways to apply the concept of absolute zero to business, or other aspects of your life, please share your insights with our readers.  Simply post your comment.  If there are topics you’d like me to address, send me an email at dale@furtwengler.com.