Never mind that the boy is left handed and the pictures in the book are of a right handed archer. The boy is Alan Pippenger, one of 3 sons of Capt. F.M. Pippenger deep sea fishing captain. Neither parent has any archery interests but still they help Alan along with his new dream to become as good as Robin Hood. After school he practices instead of playing, weekends too. The archery community is not yet aware of this little kid. Every year Gulfport, Florida hosted the Gala Days Event and in 1958 an archery tournament on the beach was included. Alan’s mother enters the young lad into the Junior Boys Division. Though unknown, Alan won the division with a score twice that of his nearest competition. He was on his way to becoming as good as Robin Hood. Two more years of daily practice along with tournaments in St. Petersburg, Tampa, and Clearwater and our young bowman has won his first Florida State Archery Crown. Before an accident ends his archery career he will win 6 more.
The picture on the left shows Alan with a group of 4 arrows shot from a distance of 30 yards, the one on the right shows the form that allowed a teenager to post scores that rivaled the ones shot by the senior men.
What we are talking about is the importance of a view from the outside, something Dr. Deming spoke often about. Before I relate this to our archer friend let me ask, have you ever played a computer game of Solitaire or Freecell… with a person standing behind you. If so you will know that they can see moves much easier and quicker than you. Why? Mainly because they are NOT playing the game. Remember that. Well little 10 year old Alan did a very courageous thing to teach himself archery, and most of us would be impressed with his accomplishments. But there was a problem. A problem with his form that came about solely because he was self-taught. Without the advantage of a view from the outside, a teacher if you will, Alan developed a habit of jerking the string upon release. This he could not see, did not know he was doing it, but it was affecting his performance. By the time it was pointed out to him it was too late to alter his form. He would forever be limited in his ability because he did not have what all of us need in our businesses from time to time, a view from the outside.
After discovering Deming’s teachings on management of quality we started an implementation at SignPrinters, the 30 year old sign and graphics company I founded in Tallahassee, Fl. Not long into this we ran headlong into the inescapable realization that we had a “view” of the business that was less than ideal to see what needed changing. Try as we might, and we were all giving our best, we just could not see the business in the proper frame. Having someone trained in Deming’s methods look at the company does two things. First, it provides a detached view, unbiased, if you will. Secondly, there is a certain level of authority that comes with an outsider looking in. The most common question raised to this method is that the consultant may not be thoroughly versed in your industry. This is not the problem it is made out to be. The underlying thought is that we are the only ones that fully understand our company, so we should be the only ones changing it. Let me ask how that is working so far. A view from the outside is a Deming view. It has been referred to as a “lens”. Think of an optical lens with certain properties. Those same properties will be applied to whatever object is viewed through the lens. This lens is Deming’s System of Profound Knowledge. What we refer to as SoPK is at it’s core, a way of learning. I have promised you a simple breakdown of SoPK, stay with us, I’m working on it.
So we see that a view from the outside is necessary to spot the practicies that are holding us back from optimization. A view from the outside would have made Alan’s archery skills the stuff of legend. A view from the outside …. may be just what you need to push your business or enterprise to the top of your field.
More View
Never mind that the boy is left handed and the pictures in the book are of a right handed archer. The boy is Alan Pippenger, one of 3 sons of Capt. F.M. Pippenger deep sea fishing captain. Neither parent has any archery interests but still they help Alan along with his new dream to become as good as Robin Hood. After school he practices instead of playing, weekends too. The archery community is not yet aware of this little kid. Every year Gulfport, Florida hosted the Gala Days Event and in 1958 an archery tournament on the beach was included. Alan’s mother enters the young lad into the Junior Boys Division. Though unknown, Alan won the division with a score twice that of his nearest competition. He was on his way to becoming as good as Robin Hood. Two more years of daily practice along with tournaments in St. Petersburg, Tampa, and Clearwater and our young bowman has won his first Florida State Archery Crown. Before an accident ends his archery career he will win 6 more.
The picture on the left shows Alan with a group of 4 arrows shot from a distance of 30 yards, the one on the right shows the form that allowed a teenager to post scores that rivaled the ones shot by the senior men.
What we are talking about is the importance of a view from the outside, something Dr. Deming spoke often about. Before I relate this to our archer friend let me ask, have you ever played a computer game of Solitaire or Freecell… with a person standing behind you. If so you will know that they can see moves much easier and quicker than you. Why? Mainly because they are NOT playing the game. Remember that. Well little 10 year old Alan did a very courageous thing to teach himself archery, and most of us would be impressed with his accomplishments. But there was a problem. A problem with his form that came about solely because he was self-taught. Without the advantage of a view from the outside, a teacher if you will, Alan developed a habit of jerking the string upon release. This he could not see, did not know he was doing it, but it was affecting his performance. By the time it was pointed out to him it was too late to alter his form. He would forever be limited in his ability because he did not have what all of us need in our businesses from time to time, a view from the outside.
After discovering Deming’s teachings on management of quality we started an implementation at SignPrinters, the 30 year old sign and graphics company I founded in Tallahassee, Fl. Not long into this we ran headlong into the inescapable realization that we had a “view” of the business that was less than ideal to see what needed changing. Try as we might, and we were all giving our best, we just could not see the business in the proper frame. Having someone trained in Deming’s methods look at the company does two things. First, it provides a detached view, unbiased, if you will. Secondly, there is a certain level of authority that comes with an outsider looking in. The most common question raised to this method is that the consultant may not be thoroughly versed in your industry. This is not the problem it is made out to be. The underlying thought is that we are the only ones that fully understand our company, so we should be the only ones changing it. Let me ask how that is working so far. A view from the outside is a Deming view. It has been referred to as a “lens”. Think of an optical lens with certain properties. Those same properties will be applied to whatever object is viewed through the lens. This lens is Deming’s System of Profound Knowledge. What we refer to as SoPK is at it’s core, a way of learning. I have promised you a simple breakdown of SoPK, stay with us, I’m working on it.
So we see that a view from the outside is necessary to spot the practicies that are holding us back from optimization. A view from the outside would have made Alan’s archery skills the stuff of legend. A view from the outside …. may be just what you need to push your business or enterprise to the top of your field.