Customer Reviews

Take It to the Next Level

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is really worth reading. I can learn a lot from it. It is about how Dale leads his company to success from nearly bankruptcy, which inspire me a lot. Dale's company is compelled to make a decision to adopt the Statistic Process Control program. If he refuses, his company will go bankrupt. After struggling for many times, he eventually adopts using SPC, making the performance of his company improved.

This book talks about "quality" not only in his work but also in his life. The environment changes constantly and we cannot avoid facing uncertainty. Very often, we are forced to make changes, like Dale. In the changing world, we should not stick to the past. We should be ready to try new ways of doing things.

Continuously improving ourselves is another insight that I learn. After fulfilling one goal, we should set another goal. Just like Dale, after he teaches his employees about SPC and meets the requirements for SPC certification, he then introduces TQM to the company to make it further successful.

There are no losers and winners, said by Dale. I strongly agree. After spending our efforts, if we cannot get any achievements or prizes, it does not mean that we are losers. The outcome is not the most important. The importance is the process, that is, your involvement.

Dale also says that there is no master and servants in the company. I think that if employers and employees are friends, the employees are much more willing to spend more efforts on their work voluntarily and they will work more happily, which in turn will increase the productivity.

To conclude, this book is useful to us. It brings out a very important message: to be successful, we should seize on every opportunity to improve ourselves. We should not stop at the existing level. Remember: "Take it to the next level!"

If quality is the issue, this book seems to be missing it. Before I read this book, I knew that Crownover's company had won the Baldridge award, and I had read other articles on some of the programs they adapted to do so. I largely expected this book to explain how they adapted quality principles in a small company to win that award. What I received was a somewhat brief, shallow treatment of the history of the company and the current president, and personal insights that seem rather topical. As compared to other business books I have read, or even compared to other "Personal journey" stories I have read, this book comes up short in the "useful material" department.

The inspiring true story of how a company rose from the doldrums of near bankruptcy to a level worthy of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. This is extremely readable; don't expect a bunch of management mumbo-jumbo. This should be a textbook in every business school in the world. I had the privilege of attending the party celebrating this book's publication. Dale is a down-to-earth man of character who is enjoying richly-deserved personal and professional success.