Fulcrum is defined as ‘the support on which a lever moves when it is used to lift something’. In a figurative sense, it could be argued that we all have a fulcrum in our lives. My personal ‘lever’ would be my wife; she lifts me up! Gah, that sounds sappy, even by my standards…
In a business sense, a person or persons responsible for successfully making or keeping a company profitable might be the fulcrum of that company. The Merriam-Webster page had an interesting example of how Nintendo’s chief mascot Mario is the fulcrum, the centre if you will, of their enterprise.
Going back in time, the word originates from Latin (as do so many English words), and would translate directly as ‘bedpost’. It developed from the word fulcire, which means ‘to prop’. These days, it is probably used a lot more in a figurative fixture than a literal setting.
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