Armageddon, Inch-Stones and Practice

Armageddon was a 1998 movie with Bruce Willis, Ben Affleck and Billy Bob Thornton. The plot is about an asteroid the “size of Texas, Mr. President…it’s what we call a global killer.”

Recent news stories filled the headlines of a NASA satellite called UARS, falling to earth. The Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite is almost seven tons and the size of a school bus. The satellite was launched in 1991 by the Space Shuttle Discovery. UARS orbited at an altitude of 375 miles with an orbital inclination of 57 degrees. Designed to operate for three years, six of its ten instruments functioned for over 14 years. UARS measured ozone and chemical compounds found in the ozone layer which affect ozone chemistry and processes. UARS also measured winds and temperatures in the stratosphere as well as the energy input from the Sun. Together, these help define the role of the upper atmosphere in climate and climate variability. A week ago it crashed into the Pacific Ocean.

This week NASA made a few announcements, there is a German Satellite that will crash to earth in November and that our planet’s risk of being hit by a dangerous outer space rock may be smaller than scientists previously thought. Experts at the a Jet Propulsion Laboratory say, the best three ways of dealing with the potential of an asteroid impact are to find them early, find them early and find them early.”

Quality is important. Consistency is important. When you buy a product or obtain a service for second time you expect the same taste, sense or that intangible you expect. Consistency comes from following the process. I key part of the process is the directions, first piece, last piece inspections. The best inspector is the operator.

Experts at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory say, the best three ways of dealing with the potential of an asteroid impact are to find them early, find them early and find them early.” There is that old story about how young musicians get to Carnegie Hall- practice, practice, practice. Solid operational performance, great administrative teams, finance, purchasing, HR and IT are all based on a continuous improvement mind set. Pick an area and improve; close each month is one day less than the year before, reduce one set of costs. Great Teams win by growing the revenue line lowering the cost lines and increasing the earnings.

NASA is not predicting any Armageddon size asteroids. Most wins in business are not the size of Texas; rather they are inch stones in the journey.

These incremental day by day events may not even be called wins. Real success comes from the small changes.

All the runners in a race compete-Only one wins! Run to win