The laws of thermodynamics
Energy is conserved. Usable energy degrades. Closed systems run down.
The three laws in their everyday form: (1) energy can't be created or destroyed, only converted; (2) any energy conversion produces some waste heat, increasing entropy; (3) you can't reach absolute zero.
The principles travel a long way beyond physics. Any organisation, person, or project is essentially a system that needs continuous energy input to maintain its order. Stop the input and entropy takes over. The team falls apart. The product decays. The skill atrophies.
For operators, two implications. First, healthy systems require active energy input. Coasting always loses. Second, every energy conversion has waste; perfect efficiency doesn't exist, and chasing it past a certain point is futile.
Examples in the wild
Companies that stop reinvesting in their core product gradually lose it to competitors. Maintaining a market position requires ongoing energy input. There's no autopilot.
Trading frictions (fees, taxes, mistakes) are the thermodynamic waste of investing. They can't be eliminated. Minimising them matters more than most investors realise.
Relationships, fitness, skills all degrade without active input. Coasting is invisible. The decline shows up later as a surprise.
The laws of thermodynamics is one of the mental models we apply through real cases inside the Pareto MBA — a part-time program for professionals who want to think clearly about business.