Have you ever needed to move the needle? Or was your colleague on a zoom call mentioning the phrase and you could not help but imagine the actual needle being moved?
Well, you’d not be far away from the truth! But your colleague was with high probability referring to improving some business situation and in this explainer we’ll go through the particulars.
Actual general meaning
To make a change that is noticeable.
Business meaning
Example: “We need to focus on projects that will really move the needle in terms of revenue growth.
Which means the company should be workin primarily on projects, that will generate money (your salary won’t pay by itself as well).
Literal meaning
The phrase “move the needle” does have an actual meaning, in literal sense. It is alleged to come from around time of the 20th century, in times of industrial revolution, referring to the actual gauge on a steam engine — which indicated power generated by the engine. Then, simply put, if the needle was moving this meant that the engine was working thus generating power to move the machine or process some raw materials… or actually whatever they were using the engines for at that time and age.
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