Archive for May, 2010
Great Quote Monday — Jesus
“Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.”
- Jesus Christ
John 15:13 (NIV)
Great Quote Monday — Harold S. Dodge via W. Edwards Deming
W. Edwards Deming: The management guru women wanted and men wanted to be...
Today’s quote– about quality– comes from Harold S. Dodge as delivered by management guru W. Edwards Deming (also a statistician, college professor, author, lecturer, and consultant).
‘Quality’ isn’t the sexiest of concepts, as concepts go. Still, the idea of quality is inextricable from the idea of excellence. And, of course, the phrase ‘striving for excellence’ is just a fancy pants way of saying ‘we aim to stare our competition directly in the eye, except that the competition will be lying on the ground and we’ll be standing over them.’
Hey, when you put it that way, I think I could get behind this ‘quality’ thing.
Dodge’s / Deming’s quote reminds me of the work of Phil Crosby and his ‘quality is free’ and ‘do it right the first time’ concepts. Mr. Crosby was an author, management theorist, and quality management guru whom I had the pleasure of meeting several times. Which is to say, he attended the same church I did when I was growing up and I later dated his daughter for a time. Which is to say, now I’m not saying anything useful whatsoever, just doing some ham-handed name-dropping. [Shakes head] Not efficient at all…
“As Harold S. Dodge said many years ago, ‘You cannot inspect quality into a product.’ The quality is there or it isn’t by the time it’s inspected.”
- W. Edwards Deming
Out Of The Crisis (1982)
- Matthew Porter
Great Quote Monday — Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Note from Matthew: Thanks to the wifey for turning me on to this lovely quote / poem from Elizabeth Barrett Browning. And this would be as good a time as any to say I welcome your suggestions for Great Quote Monday. Drop your favorite quotes (and anything else that’s on your mind) to me here.
Now, on with the show…
Earth’s crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God:
But only he who sees, takes off his shoes,
The rest sit round it, and pluck blackberries…
- Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Aurora Leigh (1857) Bk. VII, l. 812-826
- Matthew Porter
Found Comedy — Mega Brand Smackdown
'Oh No, You McDidn't!'
Came across this signage today. It caught my attention, but I do think it’s a little off-brand. And when I say ‘a little’ I mean ‘a lot.’ Sure, everybody has been taking a shot a Starbucks the last few years. And it’s understood that in a down economy, competing brands get very direct– even aggressive– in comparing themselves to each other. Still, this sign has a certain ‘rogue graphic designer’ quality. A robust ‘not fully approved’ aura. I see this pic and can’t help thinking that somewhere there’s a guy at a bar, whining to his friends over beers saying ‘I don’t care if they did fire me. It’s funny!’
And off-brand or not, it is funny.
- Matthew Porter
Great Quote Monday — Helen Keller
Years ago, while in Northwest Alabama for a film festival, a local guy offered to take me and the only other filmmaker at the fest– the hilarious Terry Ray– on a tour of the area. I had no idea, but the region has a lot of significant history. Scores of major artists and musical acts recorded in Muscle Shoals in the 60s and 70s. Florence was home to ‘the father of the blues’ W.C. Handy. Plus, Helen Keller was born in Tuscumbia. And all of these places, just a matter of miles apart.
When our host took us to Keller’s childhood home in Tuscumbia, I remember being happily surprised with how unremarkable it was. The place was small, quiet. Probably not too different from when the woman herself lived there — okay, it was originally a plantation, so there are some significant (and positive) differences. What I’m trying to say is that had Helen Keller grown up where I did, in Central Florida, things would have turned out a little differently. Instead of a modest home, it would have been ‘Helen Keller: The Theme Park!’ complete with rides, costumed characters, and sprawling gift shops featuring souvenir coffee mugs and tacky tourist t-shirts that read ‘Helen Keller didn’t see her house, but I did!’
In all, I was impressed with three things: One, the generosity of our volunteer tour guide. Two, how great people often have humble beginnings. And three, the folks who have every reason in the world to say they got a raw deal, but don’t, steadfastly refusing to be victims.
Ms. Keller was one such person and today’s quote from her reflects that unconquerable spirit:
“Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.”
- Helen Keller
from The Open Door (1957)
- Matthew Porter
Matthew Maxim #11: Hate Failure, But Never Fear It
Matthew Maxim #11:
Hate Failure, But Never Fear It
I know, I know… a blog / website is supposed to tout how awesome its author is, but I’m here to tell you plainly: I have failed.
Many times in my life I’ve attempted something, only to have it Hindenburg on me. I’ll spare you the entire list, but it runs the gamut, from professional (an attempt to syndicate a TV series) to personal (pick pretty much any home improvement project I’ve undertaken).
I give you this backstory to let you know where I’m coming from. I don’t speak to you from on high as some kind of guru. The above phrase was born from both the pain of making mistakes and the even greater pain of not risking making mistakes.
I think we can agree that when you fear something, you give it power, right? And we can agree that when we attempt anything, we want to win, not lose. We don’t want to lose money, time, and we especially don’t want to lose face. And here we start to get at the underlying quandary — to potentially win, we must risk failing, and to risk failure is to risk looking foolish. And thus the stage is set for Fear’s big entrance.
I’ve been on both sides of the ‘hate failure / fear failure’ equation and there’s a world of difference between the two.
When we fear failure, we hesitate, second-guess ourselves, play a circular game of ‘what if’ while never really accomplishing anything. When we fear failure, we become tourists in our own lives. When we fear failure– set phasers for ‘irony’– we end up failing by default.
However…
When we hate failure, we work harder, longer, smarter. We take– not wild– but calculated risks. If we win, great. If we lose, we make sure to also learn. We stand back up, determine what should have been done differently, then plan accordingly.
Please hear me clearly; this maxim is not some glib yearbook entry. Failing sucks. It hurts. It’s not something you just immediately get over. But fear of failure is so much more insidious.
Fear doesn’t hurt, it numbs.
Fear won’t lead to anyone disagreeing or getting mad with you, because fear will make you invisible.
Fearing failure will ensure you don’t leave behind any evidence that you were ever here.
Years ago, I saw visited Epcot and saw a U2 tribute band perform. At one point in the show, the Fake Bono invited a little girl– probably 12 years-old– onstage to dance around with him. Immediately, she started dancing her little girl dance. It wasn’t a showy look-at-me thing. She just started dancing as if there was no one else around. At that age, she should have been at least somewhat self-conscious; she wasn’t and it was absolutely amazing to behold.
How many hours, days, years have I wasted fearing failure instead of hating failure?
How many opportunities have I not capitalized on because I was concerned about what people might think if I swung and missed?
How many times have I been worrying when I should have been dancing?
- Matthew Porter
Great Quote Monday — John F. Kennedy
“For of those to whom much is given, much is required. And when at some future date the high court of history sits in judgment on each of us, recording whether in our brief span of service we fulfilled our responsibilities to the state, our success or failure, in whatever office we hold, will be measured by the answers to four questions: First, were we truly men of courage… Second, were we truly men of judgment… Third, were we truly men of integrity… Finally were we truly men of dedication?”
- John F. Kennedy
Speech to Massachusetts State Legislature
January 9, 1961
- Matthew Porter
