Second post in Notes from the Key of Life
The brilliant 3 part TV programme Stargazing Live (Australia) was broadcast on ABC a few weeks ago. Dr. Brian Cox opened the show by quoting Carl Sagan, reminding us how astronomy can be a humbling and character-building experience. Carl Sagan wrote in his book A Pale Blue Dot:
 |
| The procession to Cavalry by Pieter Bruegel (1564) |
The brilliant 3 part TV programme Stargazing Live (Australia) was broadcast on ABC a few weeks ago. Dr. Brian Cox opened the show by quoting Carl Sagan, reminding us how astronomy can be a humbling and character-building experience. Carl Sagan wrote in his book A Pale Blue Dot:
There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.
It took almost 17 years of my existence to realise this. I was finishing my senior secondary school and subjected to immense pressure to perform academically in an admission test for professional courses at the university. One night I happened to look at the sky and had shivers up my spine when I thought about the vastness of the universe and the origin of life on earth. And then on evolution and how mankind has created countries, societies, and economy - which pretty much drives everything that we do in our daily lives - including the admission test. This big picture view, as Sagan said, was a humbling experience, and did put me at ease, at least to some extent.
I got my first job when I was 22, and the IT company I joined was trying to focus more on Quality Control in their processes, at that time. We were sent for a day training on Six Sigma process, a path breaking methodology that helped minimise defects. The trainer started with an anecdote soon after he introduced the methodology. I don't remember much of the details, but it went something like this:
A pet food company in the UK decided to focus immensely on the quality control of their pet food manufacturing process, with a vision to become the market leader. Huge investment was made and leading process frameworks and methodologies were applied. Improvement in the quality of the product was measured and it aligned with the company's objective. However, to much surprise, the company went bust within few months. A leading business school investigated the cause and published a case study. The reason for the pet food company's failure, though it had excellent quality controls and favourable market conditions, was quite simple: dogs did not like the food.
A pet food company in the UK decided to focus immensely on the quality control of their pet food manufacturing process, with a vision to become the market leader. Huge investment was made and leading process frameworks and methodologies were applied. Improvement in the quality of the product was measured and it aligned with the company's objective. However, to much surprise, the company went bust within few months. A leading business school investigated the cause and published a case study. The reason for the pet food company's failure, though it had excellent quality controls and favourable market conditions, was quite simple: dogs did not like the food.
