Quality is a Choice

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As the year comes to a close I inevitably reflect on all that was 2023 and those things I hope for in 2024. My amazing wife Emma is fond of picking two words, one personal and one professional, which you want to embody the year ahead.

Without fail, she’ll go around the table at whatever New Year’s Eve gathering we find ourselves asking everyone for their “word of the year.” The exercise is meant to be a fun conversation starter with those you care about but also has become, to us, a way to be intentional as we close out one year and begin another.

While I haven’t fully committed myself to my word for 2024, one that I can’t get out of my mind lately is quality.

So, for the final post of Simple, Not Easy’s inaugural year here are three quotes about quality that I’ve been thinking about lately and hope will inform my year to come.

William A. Foster posthumously received the Medal of Honor for saving the life of a fellow Marine by diving on a grenade during the battle of Okinawa in the spring of 1945. While he is perhaps most famous for his actions as a Marine, Foster worked at Cleveland’s Star Machine and Tool Company prior to WWII. The above quote is derived from his time in the manufacturing space.

Enough exists in just this quote for an entire discussion of quality, but the component which resonates with me most as I think about my word for 2024 is the connection between quality and intentionality, the idea that quality is a choice.

I love the thought that you cannot stumble your way into quality. “Sincere effort”, “skillful execution”, “intelligent direction”. If Foster were to create a quality formula it would be expressed as:

Quality = Intention + Effort + Direction + Skill

More than just the quality formula though it is the last portion of Foster’s quote which I admire the most, “[quality] represents the wise choice of many alternatives.” So often it is easy to cut a corner, turn something in which is half-baked, or stand behind lazy thinking for expedient purposes. These are the “alternatives” to quality which in the long run will not produce differential returns. Avoid them, choose quality.

Famously, Charlie Munger has the bronze busts of two individuals in his library at home, Lee Kuan Yew the first prime minister, and in many ways founder, of Singapore and Benjamin Franklin.

One of America’s pre-eminent early statesman the pithy Franklin had something to say on nearly any subject so it’s no surprise that he had some words on quality too.

While the above quote refers primarily to the tradeoff between quality and price, it is the undertone of the relationship between quality and time that I find most insightful. In the world of physical goods, it is the denim jacket stitched by hand which is passed down from one generation to another vs. the fast fashion of a t-shirt that is unlikely to exist past a second round in the washing machine.

The point is this, so often you can choose expediency over quality but this short term gain is unlikely to put you in a position to win over the long run. If your goal is to win the decade, not just the day then choosing quality is the proper course of action.

Steve Jobs’ commitment to quality is legendary. Whether it was the material for the screen of the new iPhone or the ad copy on a new marketing campaign, no detail was too small to be overlooked for the sake of cutting corners.

As leaders, it’s important to recognize that this commitment to quality is infectious across your team. If you create an environment where “excellence is expected” then excellence is likely to ensue. The inverse is true also so act accordingly.

One of my favorite examples of excellence through quality is captured in the phenomenal documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi. If you have five minutes, the above clip is about as beautiful an example of excellence and quality as it gets.

I’ve written about the relationship between competence and craft before, but Jiro’s lived example is much more powerful. Jiro believes that, “simplicity leads to purity” and it is this commitment to removing complexity which shows his true status as a master. Decades of repetition made his restaurant the living embodiment of Jobs’ notion of “an environment where excellence is expected.”

Conclusion

So there it is, I still haven’t sold myself on the idea that my word for 2024 should be quality but at the same time maybe that’s because for quality to truly exist the commitment needs to be a lifelong one rather than just a single year.

Regardless, remember:

• Quality = Intention + Effort + Direction + Skill

• The differential returns of quality are often only observed over time

• Quality is found in environments of excellence, cultivate that environment on your team

What’s your word for 2024?