Maximum Momentum: How to Get it, How to Keep It by Mike Berland
Why do some ideas go viral and others sink? Why does one political candidate soar while another fails to gain traction? Why does one product become an instant rage while its competitor struggles to stay above water?
The secret is momentum, a phenomenon that internationally recognized pollster and strategic advisor Mike Berland dissects in Maximum Momentum: How to Get It, How to Keep It (Regan Arts).
Many people believe momentum is driven by emotion and is unpredictable, but according to Berland, it’s actually a science with easily analyzed metrics. In Maximum Momentum, Berland reveals the key to momentum, beginning with the simple physics formula — mass x velocity. He then develops a Momentum Matrix — five signals that decode the science into effective measures.
Maximum Momentum is a lively examination of hot trends in the current arena — from politics to society to business to sports. Using colorful graphics to underscore the stories, Berland examines the people, issues, movements and products that most captivate Americans:
- How Donald Trump built a wall of social and traditional media that no competitor has matched, creating momentum that money can’t buy.
- How WeWork created momentum as a brand but failed to create momentum as a business.
- How Airbnb rose from a man renting out space on his living room floor to the largest home-sharing service in the world.
- How clickbait queens the Kardashians created a purposefully controversial brand to stay top of mind, and why that polarizing brand is beneficial to their business partners’ momentum.
- How #MeToo achieved peak momentum and why that momentum may become relevant.
- How Fake News propagandists achieved superior velocity across all platforms, putting the very idea of reality to the test.
Berland says, “The most important thing to know about momentum is that it is completely under your control. No one can give you momentum and no one can take it away. It’s up to you to create a life where your best days are always ahead of you.”
