Trim tabs are small pieces on the edge of the rudder of a boat or plane that can be moved independently of the whole rudder. They take much less energy to move than the whole rudder. But moving them can slowly change the direction of a massively heavy boat or plane, in a way that makes it easy on the pilot.
From Wiki –
The engineer Buckminster Fuller is often cited for his use of trim tabs as a metaphor for leadership and personal empowerment. In the February 1972 issue of Playboy, Fuller said:
“Something hit me very hard once, thinking about what one little man could do. Think of the Queen Mary—the whole ship goes by and then comes the rudder. And there's a tiny thing at the edge of the rudder called a trim tab.
It's a miniature rudder. Just moving the little trim tab builds a low pressure that pulls the rudder around. Takes almost no effort at all. So I said that the little individual can be a trim tab. Society thinks it's going right by you, that it's left you altogether. But if you're doing dynamic things mentally, the fact is that you can just put your foot out like that and the whole big ship of state is going to go.
So I said, call me Trim Tab.”
—Buckminster Fuller
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trim_tab
