Energy Will Beat Entropy - Every Time

There’s a law in physics that’s always stuck with me, probably because it doesn’t just apply to thermodynamics, but to everything from businesses to relationships to processes and culture.

It’s the Second Law of Thermodynamics, and it says this:

Entropy never decreases in a closed system.

In plain business terms?

Without intentional input, things fall apart.

Processes degrade. Communication breaks down. Systems that once worked smoothly begin to malfunction. What was once crisp becomes cluttered. Sound familiar? Of course, some might say (yes, a cynic) that leadership causes all of this on their own.🙂 But I digress.

It’s not because anyone failed. It’s not because someone didn’t care. It’s just how the universe works.

Left to its own devices, everything tends toward disorder.

And that’s where leadership, and especially operational leadership, comes in.

The Natural Drift of Entropy

Think about any process in your organization, reporting cycles, onboarding, project delivery, or maintenance routines. At one point, someone designed that process thoughtfully. It likely worked well... for a while.

But slowly, entropy creeps in:

• People leave, and tribal knowledge is lost.

• Workarounds pile up.

• New equipment and technology are introduced.

• Handoffs become assumptions, and assumptions become dropped balls.

Suddenly, the process is twice as slow and half as effective. Nobody really knows how it got that way; it just did.

This is entropy in action.

And here’s the hard truth: no process, no matter how well-designed, is immune.

The Antidote: PDSA and Continuous Input

The only way to beat entropy is with constant, intentional energy. In the world of physics, that means inputting work into the system. In the business world, this means iterative improvement.

That’s where the PDSA cycle comes in: Plan – Do – Study – Act. Not once. Not annually. But as a rhythm.

PDSA isn’t a project. It’s a mindset. It’s the idea that no process should be treated as “set-it-and-forget-it.” Because if you do? Entropy wins. Always.

You Don’t Need a Fire to Fix Something

One of the biggest traps I see organizations fall into is waiting until something breaks to intervene. The KPIs slip, the complaints pile up, the customer churn spikes, and then comes the flurry of process reviews.

But here’s the thing: if you're only reviewing a process when it fails, you’re already behind. Who hasn't learned that the hard way? (Yes, I'm raising my hand here.)

Great operations aren’t reactive; they’re designed with embedded curiosity. They assume entropy is coming, and they build in the cadence to stay ahead of it.

Sometimes that’s a monthly MOR.

Sometimes it’s a standing improvement huddle.

Sometimes it’s just making space to ask, “Is this still working the way we intended?”

Whatever the form, the goal is the same: inject energy before the system unravels.

A Story From the Shop Floor

Back in my manufacturing days, I worked with a production team that had absolutely nailed their daily startup routine. Operators knew their roles. Machines were prepped. Material was on hand. The schedule was visible. It was textbook. And it didn't last long.

However, small changes began to creep in. A supplier delay caused a temporary workaround. A new team member got a rushed onboarding. One machine developed a quirk that people just learned to live with.

It wasn’t dramatic, but three months later, the routine that had once been airtight was sloppy. Missed targets. Late starts. Frustrated staff.

Nothing had technically changed in the process documentation. But entropy didn’t care about that.

It cared about the real world, and the real world had changed.

We brought the team together, ran a short PDSA exercise on the morning routine, and within two weeks, we were back on track.

Not because we reinvented the wheel, but because we stopped long enough to tune it.

Why This Matters Beyond Operations

This isn’t just a lesson for production floors or process maps. Entropy also appears in leadership.

• That strong culture you built? It degrades if you don’t reinforce the values regularly.

• That cross-functional alignment? It drifts without intentional recalibration.

• That clarity of purpose? It fades if not revisited as the environment evolves.

One of the lessons I’ve learned, especially working across different sectors, is that systems thinking isn’t about perfection. It’s about maintaining flow in the face of inevitable friction.

Entropy isn’t a failure. It’s a feature. But so is the ability to adapt.

Bringing Structure Without Rigidity

Coming from a physics background and with my German ancestry, I used to lean hard into structure, efficiency, and precision. But life and experiences softened that edge.

East Coast culture taught me that people want to be involved; they want to care. It also taught me that people are part of the system, and their engagement is what keeps it alive.

So now, I try to bring a structured approach that breathes.

Not brittle frameworks. Not micromanaged routines. But flexible systems with feedback loops built in, so that when things shift (and they will), we don’t have to panic. We just adjust.

Final Thought: The Process Is the Product

Too often, we focus on outputs. Ship the thing. Hit the number. Close the quarter.

But the real long-term differentiator?

The process you build to consistently deliver value and improve over time.

That’s how you win. Not once. But over and over again. That’s how you beat entropy. Not with brute force. But with intentional rhythm. With grounded leadership. And with a team that understands that “good enough” is never good enough for long.

The next time you review a process and think, “It’s fine, we don’t need to revisit it,” remember the laws of thermodynamics.

Entropy doesn’t rest.

And if you want a system that performs tomorrow just as well as it does today, or even better?

You’re going to have to work for it.

But the good news is: if you’re willing to put in the energy, entropy doesn’t stand a chance.