In the short-term, at least, I’m not so sure how well time is treating humanity.  At the end of the year, there are always these summary videos of activity that I watch and wonder about.  This year, I had an interesting observation.  The Google Zeitgeist 2011 summary reflects the realities of what went on this year.

But, the FaceBook and YouTube data seem to indicate that people just don’t care about what’s actually going on.  We’re looking at things like Nyan Cat and worrying about what celebrities are doing (Charlie Sheen blew away Hurricane Irene in FaceBook updates).  We simply don’t seem to dedicate any true mindfulness regarding how we can contribute to making the world better.  It’s almost as if we think about it, introspectively, but don’t follow-up in our conversations and actions as they relate to others.  Are we afraid to be too serious?

I worry about us sometimes.  And,  I ask myself… what can I do?

UPDATE: I turn on the television to see CNN’s Morning Express covering the YouTube top videos of the year.  However, instead of pointing out the obvious, they instead decided the newsworthy thing to do was to add their own interpretations of the Talking Dog. The follow-up story was “Santa monkeys around with chimps”… no joke.

In his latest post, Paul Borawski urges the quality community to think about this year’s successes and disappointments.  He hit a big one by calling out the government and their failure to continue supporting the Baldrige program.  I would suggest the quality failure there is the result of a much larger issue that would make for an interesting post in itself!  But, I digress…

For this introspection, I took a more “micro” approach…  Reflecting back, what were my personal quality wins and fails for the year?

Pro QC’s Online Presence -

I feel really good about how Pro QC’s online presence has developed this year. This is a big win for me personally, because it always feels good to see ideas turning into results.  Through our social media efforts, we’ve solidified our position as a company that adds value to the quality community by adding informative, useful content.  I’ve worked hard to get the blog up and create content that people both new and seasoned to the industry can benefit from. I created our Facebook page as a way to primarily communicate with our team.  As a company spread across thirty countries, I wanted a way to connect with everyone outside of daily work email.  The photos and sharing of events and industry news has proven to be a valuable addition to our online presence.  It improves the quality of our team.

While this is an obvious win, it did also fail to meet my expectations to some degree. I’ll admit my expectations regarding involvement were much higher.  One of my goals for 2012 is to take a deeper look into what we’ve done so far, how it can be improved and figure out what new things can we try.  My biggest obstacle is time… there’s never enough it, and most people share in this observation.  But, I don’t think people in general truly understand the benefits of getting involved with social media and the limited time it really takes vs. the overwhelming benefits of being connected.  How do you get people engaged?  Where is the “on” button? How do I get people as interested in quality as I am?

Overall, let’s just say that I’m very pleased with the results so far and am excited to see how we’ll grow and continue reaching even more people with the importance of quality and the role we play in that process.  I wouldn’t be a true quality professional if I didn’t shoot for continuous improvement!

ASQ’s Influential Voices - 

Being a part of ASQ’s Influential Voices has given me the motivation I needed to “raise the voice” outside of my daily work activities.  It reinforced the idea that quality isn’t just what I do… it’s part of who I am.  And, it’s connected me to the larger quality community, whereas I’ve learned quite a bit!  One of my goals for 2011 was to increase my blogging content, and A View from the Q is a large contributor there.  I’m hoping to keep up the momentum and double my average number of posts this year.

While  I would definitely suggest the Influential Voices initiative has been a success, I think the program would largely benefit from additional cross-commenting and communications between bloggers.  I’m guilty of this… posting something and then failing to read all of the other follow-up posts.  I think it really comes down to the time issue again, but additional comments really would create more of a conversation.

And, the winner of the most significant quality event of the year goes to… 

I would be crazy not to mention my adventures in China a few months back.  How does that relate to a quality win for the year? Well, the adventure gave me some much needed perspective.  I needed to remember what production looks like and step into the work of others that I’m often so quick to try and improve or change.

Standing in front of people I’ve worked with for years and only knew via email was pretty cool.  And, my realization of how the Chinese culture interacts (or rather doesn’t interact) with social media in the same ways we do, really had an impact on how I need to get things done in the future.  It was an “ah ha” moment for sure!  From a marketing perspective, I suppose it was more of a “duh” moment…

Taking a video camera into the factories and producing content that gives others an idea of what it’s like to produce “stuff” and the role quality assurance and control play within that process has been interesting, to say the least.  A visual representation of the complexity was just the answer I was looking for.  My only regret is that I didn’t get enough video, but my hope is that I’ve planted the seed and will continue to get footage from our offices that I can edit and post on an ongoing basis.  It’s going to be great…

And, on that note, here’s to a quality 2012! May our successes always outweigh the disappointments… And, may we always learn and adapt when things fail to meet our expectations.

Today is the Great American Teach-In here in Hillsborough County.  SERVE, the county school district’s volunteer arm, presents the Teach-In each year to show students the importance of a good education.  In the spirit of World Quality Month, I decided to “raise my voice” and talk to the 2nd graders at Hunter’s Green Elementary about what it is I do and why I love it.

Let me just say that it’s amazing how much energy and enthusiam kids have! I asked them what they thought “quality” means and was received with some confused glares. You could see that they were really thinking about it and trying to put what they knew it was into words.  Finally, one girl identified it as “good”… <insert big smile>.

Fortunately, I decided to bring some LEGOs with me to discuss the topic.  We pulled down the map and talked about where LEGOs are made (Billund, Denmark) and how they are made. We talked about how the LEGOs would get from Denmark to Tampa, FL. The kids were totally engaged and you could just tell they thought it was pretty cool… they were floored that 1,000 LEGOs are made every second and by how long it takes for “stuff” to to get places.  Did you know that LEGO is the #1 tire manufacturer in the world?

Now, when I asked them how they would feel if they got a LEGO kit and found pieces missing, they used words like “bad” and “angry”.  Quality is good… poor quality is bad.  They got it! But, I wanted to incorporate an international trade component because that part of it is what makes my job with Pro QC so cool.  To do that, I used an activity that I picked up from my macro economics professor way back.  The activity builds value through trading… it gets students thinking about how free trade creates choices and lets us be more demanding for quality when there are more options.  Let me just say that 2nd graders are far more appreciative of “stuff” than the community college crowd! I left there feeling like a superstar having let them keep the traded items. And, when it was all over, they were more comfortable talking about what quality is and why it’s important… win!

Anyway, I’ve enjoyed reading the ASQ Influential Voices responses this month regarding World Quality Month and have really felt the love within the industry.  The quote Paul Borawski references from an old IBM sumes up my sentiments exactly:  “Here’s to National Quality Month and Eleven More Just Like It!”

Sidenote: I can hardly believe one year has passed since I joined ASQ’s Influential Voices program. I feel fortunate to be included among so many other passionate quality professionals.  I have no doubt that we have raised the voice of quality and will continue to do so!

Students often ask me what my favorite commercials are during promotion discussions.  They’re never surprised by the top 2, but I had never really thought about a comprehensive list…. so, I did… and, here they are:

(1) “1984″ – Apple

I dare anyone argue that this commercial changed the entire way we market products.

(2) “Think Different” - Apple

Hell yes… “Here’s to the crazy ones” – This commercial sums up everything that makes humanity great!

(3) “Sienna Family” – Toyota (Swagger Wagon)

This campaign figured out how to make driving a minivan not seem so lame.

(4) “I’d Like to Buy the World a Coke” – Coca-Cola

I want to live in a world like this… minus the high-fructose corn syrup.

(5) “Nike Courage” – Nike

I’m not an athlete, but I sure do feel like one after seeing this commercial… They’re giving me a good “feeling” so I don’t have to bothered by something so menial as shoes.

(6) “Cooper & Castle Hills” – Castle Hills Realty

They got me… It blew my mind that this was all marketing.

(7) “Back to the Start” – Chipotle

I can’t help but respect that they really went all out on creativity here and got the power of Willie Nelson’s voice behind a bold move in the right direction where sustainability is concerned.  They took a big risk budgeting this… it certainly doesn’t hit their mainstream market.

(8) “Star Wars Cantina 2010″ – Adidas

This is one of the only times I’ve actually thought celebrity associations work… it’s both entertaining and fits well with the overall campaign.

(9) “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” – Old Spice

This was the first time I ever really noticed such a successful cross-over between social media and external media.  It also did a great job at rebranding.

(10) “ShamWow” – ShamWow

“The Germans always make good stuff….” – Come on, I think this guy could sell anything.

I also reached out to others and asked what some of their favorites are.  A large majority of people referenced Geico and Jack Links Sasquatch campaigns.  I was surprised I didn’t see more references to Coca-Cola commercials, but I think we’re so stuck thinking about panda bears that we’ve forgotten how progressive they were way back when.