by Miriam Garvi
The other day, I had a refreshing meeting with a senior executive of an international supplier of patient handling solutions.
Our conversation was not about market positions or impressive margins. Instead, this senior executive talked about the difference it makes when handling equipment is designed so as not only to simplify the work process of the caretaker, but also to improve the quality of life of the patient.
It was an uplifting conversation with a man with a passion for helpfulness.
Roughly 50 years ago, Harvard professor Doriot was teaching his manufacturing philosophy to future American senior executives. «… if you have these qualities and the determination to do well… then you will have the privilege of the greatest profession I know: converting plain material into useful, beautiful, helpful products. This takes some of the greatest qualities man possesses, but it also pays high returns in creative satisfaction.»
The senior executive I met was no Doriot alumni. Yet he knew that manufacturing a product was not the real challenge - it was imitable enough by any competitor who would put its mind to it. But it was the thinking behind their product line that made them unique, that which would keep them pushing to fulfill useful, beautiful, helpful qualities.
Such uniqueness comes from the inside.