India won! But Indians lost!

Time to celebrate for Indian cricket team!

The team had completed a mission!!

India had won the 20:20 international series 2-1 against England!!!

The team had completed their tasks over-over-the-over, over-on-over I mean!

Forgetting their own assigned duties and tasks over-on-over, the restaurant staff however in a star hotel seemed to have got distracted by the over-on-over excellent performance of the Indian cricket team.

Most of them gathered around the TV watching the prize ceremony instead of being around customers, except a trainee female staff alone catering to a couple of tables.

Indifference of the manager and staff was strikingly noticeable especially when it was an a-la-carte day instead of a buffet dinner.

Couldn't they've been a little proactive each by a smiling eye-contact with customers! Hardly a  couple of tables were occupied though!

Looking at the TV screen following in the footsteps of her leader seniors, even the trainee staff was found to be filling water in the glass or picking up yet-to-be-finished plate without the consent of the customer! A Waste!!

Can you imagine the Cost-Of-Poor-Quality (COPQ) or rather the Cost-Of-Poor-Service (COPS) of such behaviour in the industry such as Hospitality where the behaviour itself is more important along with the hard quality of course!

Staff busy watching match

Customer fetching her own batch

No one around to catch

That's my Haiku poem dedicated to such Lose-Win behaviour where Indians lost while India won!

Also read a few relevant blogposts hereunder:

Do You Force Customers To Quit
In-a-problem ? No-problem! Dwell-a-while!
Customer or Custo-Mer ?  
Experienced A Delightful Payment ! 
An Experience of Heart-and-Soul 
Do you keep curing your brand ?  
A customer gets what s/he deserves: Shoddy Quality!  
Listen to iceberg of VOC to acquire customers 
Less With More And More Gets Sore 
Should one care for value ?  
Can-changing-thoughts-change-a-nation
Ridiculous Poison-culture versus Maverick Kaizen-culture 
Tolerate Once, Twice, Thrice?  
The Business Of Businesses 
That's how some business partnerships work 
Taken-For-Granted ? You Deserve It !! 
Strategise To Achieve Targets Daily 
Does recognition really matter 
That's How Morons Work
Simplicity Of Theory Of Relativity

Listen to the iceberg of VOC to acquire customers

Having traveled over 500-Kilometers in a 'bus-to-hell', I requested the agent to "book my return-journey on a bus-service that follows road-safety norms (especially the overtaking related), doesn't honk horn excessively, nor does it overuse brakes."

There was no other convenient alternative mode. A debt-ridden airliner had stopped operating on that (the Mumbai-Hubli) sector.

The travel agent gave me a funny look as if he was booking a ticket for an alien.

Not his fault because he was used to conventional requests like "timeliness, cleanliness, bus-with-video", etc. But someone like an idiosyncratic like me had to do the nasty job of giving customer-feedback. I usually don't hesitate doing so, sometimes even by making unusual requests such as above although unsure of the cognizance of it. 

I'm optimistic that sometime someone will. I think every customer who isn't, deserves to get a shoddy quality if s/he does!

Anyway, whether a customer complains or not, is it difficult for owners/managers of tourist buses to prevent their bus-drivers from overdoing: honking, speeding-up, braking on-and-oft, etc. kind of bad work habits. Now a days even digital technology is available to do so. Drivers, especially the bus-drivers, are constantly in a mood to kiss other speeding vehicles passing by.

Perhaps only on Indian roads the passengers must be getting reduced to a continuously-rattling grain-in-a-sieve. One has to master the art of Napolean-nap (quick nap on horse that he's famous for) to be able to take one in between a couple of sets of honking and braking in buses in India.

Forget feedback or lodging a complaint, hardly anyone even dares to voice such abnormal driving behavior. Surely s/he won't for the fear of the 'boss'-driver particularly if forced to travel frequently in the same bus.

Some companies do have a mechanism to capture such voice-of-customer (VOC). Because they know that, although sounding like 'idiosyncratic' casual remarks, VOC are just a tip of the iceberg (of complaints not voiced by many others for various reasons).

Some of them are sensible and sensitive enough to take next steps that of digging into the iceberg to take corrective and preventive actions treating such voices as 'complaints', although at times they may not be so.

- But having taken actions, how many look at the resulting improved practices as a competitive advantage! 

- How many build upon them and deploy them horizontally as specifications enhancing their own standards over and above their 'core-offering'! 

- How many communicate them (through their marketing promotion programme) in order to differentiate their services from from others!

Those who do, do score over their competition!

What steps do such forward looking companies take?

1/ They educate their staff that hardly over 4-out-of-100 dissatisfied customers might end up complaining. Rest just quit without-telling even as the so-called satisfied customers continue to 'live' with abnormalities until of course they get alternative-options.

2/ They install various mechanisms such as follows to capture VOC.

- They actually travel like a ghost-customer (known as mystery-shopping practice) in order to learn by observing abnormal as also good practices, if any.

- They train their staff to speak and/or 'actively-listen' to customers just as a mother would do with her tiny tots in order to learn their unspoken-unmet needs over and above their 'crying' wants anyway.

3/ They put Kaizen-improvements in place on relevant VOC observations, abnormal as well as good practices of own as also that from customer's gemba, and unspoken-unmet needs as also wants.

4/ They train and re-train their stakeholders on the above for effective implementation.

Actually specifications such as timeliness, cleanliness, video, etc. are a given 'Must-Quality' norms to enter or at the most to be in business.

Additionally it is the satisfaction of VOC: unspoken-unmet needs as well as wants (that's why it is called as 'Quality-that-Delights' the customer) that has the power - to expand the base of customer as also of the business (Ansoff-Matrix) by not only helping to bring out innovative products/services but also - to pull in additional customers (brand-affinity) while retaining the existing ones on existing products/services (brand-loyalty).

Of course, effectively communicating the resultant differentiations among all its stakeholders is part and parcel of the process.

Very few companies actually administer such a conducive mechanism by-design. Imagine the scope to benefit from it in terms of top-line sales and bottom-line profits if they do.

Also read a few relevant blogposts hereunder: Please do consider leaving a comment or sharing this post.

No Time? Micro-Meditate!  
Functional-Aesthetics
Listen To The Iceberg Beyond Tip

Overworked? Tension? CPU of the mind hung-up? 
Do you exercise your choice meaningfully 
IQ-EQ-or-SQ: What-is-more-important? 
Eternally Happy! 
In-a-problem? No-problem! Dwell-a-while! 
I am afraid ! What do I do !! 
Fearful-Of-Death-of-Birth
Take Habits For A Ride 
Happy-Birthday-to-Youooo
Do You Celebrate Mean-or-Green 
Big-Be Or Bug-Be ! 
Raam or Krishna-Shyam: Tell me Hey Raam! 
Are You Good If Others Are Bad?  
Want Need-Or-Want 
How To Make A Difference 
Love is Care.. Care is Love !  
Deity is in the eyes of the beholder 
Success-or-failure! What-do-you-like?
Ball-Basin-Team Combine !  Maketh The Smile Divine !! 

Can-changing-thoughts-change-a-nation

A customer gets what s/he deserves: Shoddy Quality!

A Customer Complaint made to a reputed taxi service in Mumbai was: 

1/ The taxi booked was not found until few minutes after the appointed time. So the driver was called (by customer) to find out his 'whereabouts'.

Taxi was found to be parked away on road. The driver refused to go to customer's colony when requested. He threatened to go away if the customer did not go where the taxi was parked.

2/ Nor had he informed his arrival although he said that he had. In fact, customer called him up a few minutes after 'no-show'. Attached screen-shot of the customer's cell shows 'outgoing' to driver's number but not incoming from his number.

3/ On telephone as well as in person, when the driver was asked 'why he did not come inside the colony' he arrogantly replied: "Our Taxi-Service-Provider gives too much importance to Customer. (In his vernacular language: "Ye Taxi-Service-waleney Customer ko aisa, implying 'chadhake', banaya hai''...and so on).

Supplier's response after over a week of registering the complaint was:

"Please accept my sincere apologies for the inconvenience caused to you."

Where does the above real-life practice fit into business principles?

How should, a service provider wanting to stay and flourish in business, look at a typical customer complaint?

The above transaction is a typical case-study of INDIFFERENCE that should be avoided at all the touch-points with all stakeholders especially with customers by both the front-liners as well as the rear-end officers. (Reference 'world of Kaizen' book).

What is a customer's rightful 'expect'ation after a typical complaint (that hardly 4% of the dissatisfied customers choose to make):

1/ First of all the first-aid so that s/he gets quick relief. (In addition, apology is anyway expected but it's of no use without the First-aid.)

2/ Right to know specific details of what exact action was taken to prevent the situation from occurring in future.

How does a typical supplier respond. What INDIFFERENCE do most suppliers engage into:

1/ First of all they deny the complaint then they defend.

2/ They express dry apology without taking preventive action. Such an apology is like rubbing the wound. (The taxi service in above case fell in this category.)

3/ They don't keep customer informed about specific details of what exact action (if at all) was taken to prevent the situation.

4/ They expect customers to forget service-errors s/he had faced during the year in lieu of a yearly-gift-packet and/or sweets. While the gift 'dry-of-emotions' reinforces their vow to quit, most customers shamelessly accept it in exchange of an unexpressed abuse (to the supplier).

Funnily, a typical supplier doesn't mind recruiting a well-paid customer-care officer who is well-trained in handling an errate customer, and further training him in writing flowery letters so that 'issues' are taken 'care' of.

Result:  Customer continues the service provider only until s/he finds another option so that s/he can QUIT. Meanwhile, s/he plays the role of a devil-publicity-officer 'bad-mouth'ing the supplier's services among not less than a dozen prospective customers.

As someone says, it takes 10 times more money and efforts to acquire a new customer.

Isn't it wiser instead to invest this money in training associates on what the customer 'expects' rather than spending wastefully on reactively 'managing' the effects of indifference.

Should a customer bother about such 'small' issues?:

If s/he wants a change in such careless attitude, then yes!

S/he must play her small-bit-a-role though. Else, s/he should not blame suppliers for shoddy quality of service. S/he must help to get service-error out of the system which otherwise anyway will keep popping up above the carpet exactly when unwanted.

If and when it eventually does pop-up then the corresponding customer got what s/he deserved. Also s/he makes herself deserving to what s/he will get in future.

Waiting for a fall

Murphy's Law: The tile on foot-over-bridge is looking for an opportunity to fall on vehicle speeding underneath. 

Imagine the magnitude of probable damage in that case.

Is Cost of Poor Quality (CoPQ) resulting from potential failures such as above hidden in the picture affordable?

To elaborate on CoPQ concept and the APPROACH to solution over it, you may read Kaizen on Crisis Situations.

Technology in-place, security dis-placed

The picture here-below tells a story.

Beautiful technology: the metal-detector!

People fight for it if it's not there.
"How can you improve if you don't invest", they complain.

No one around it to use it if it's (installed) there.

Can you imagine the magnitude of Cost of Poor Quality (CoPQ)? 

And the resulting cost of probable crisis that might erupt from potential failures hidden in the picture?

Yes, you may complete the story by answering questions that come to your mind on situations such as at the railway station in picture: 

The security guard was missing resulting in under use of the technology.

The detector itself was non-functional.

To elaborate on the CoPQ concept, you may read Kaizen on Crisis Situations - World Of Kaizen.

Boom-Barrier Boomed, Country-Doomed http://care-is-cure.blogspot.com/2013/12/boom-barrier-boomed-country-doomed.html 

Customer or Custo-Mer?

That's what one is sometimes forced to say in Marathi: Custo-Mer.

Those who know Marathi (language of Maharashtra state in INDIA) know that  'Custo' (कष्ट), as it is pronounced in first part of the word customer, means 'donkey-like-efforts'. The second part 'Mer' (मर) pronunciation in Marathi means 'die'.

So, funny part of customer in colloquial language is: Custo-Mer (कष्ट-मर) is the one who is left to 'die' of his own 'donkey-efforts' in terms of endless followups to get a better service.

Most of us get such experience sometime or the other. Recently I reworked such 'efforts' like many others who were yet to receive their 'Aadhar-card' (a unique-identity-card for Indians), the card that is supposed to provide 'support' to the receiver (in terms of facilities yet to be fully known as of going to the press).

I had undergone through the entire procedure along-with necessary paperwork for 'Aadhar-card', 18-months ago on 13/08/2011 to be specific...Got the proof having done it.

Six of my family members 'enjoyed' a 'forced-leave' from 'work-day'. They stood in a long-queue that is typical of an  inefficient office to get certificates, cards, refunds, etc. 'Enjoyed' because theiIr website was full of entertainment in the form of fun-filled notifications on delays such as traffic-jams, system-failures, staff-shortage, etc.

All my family members received the card except me although going through the procedure bumper-to-bumper one-after-the-other.

I repeatedly checked 'status' of the card on department's website only to receive a message: "Sorry! we could not find Item Number in our System for this EID Number".

Since no one in their brick-n-mortar centers knew 'what to do in such cases', a couple of months ago I wrote to their HELPLINE 'help@uidai.gov.in' with all details for 'the needful'.

I  waited for a reply like waiting for a TOLL-FREE number attendant to answer back. Sometimes I wonder whether the auto-reply, toll-free, etc. kind of technologies are deliberately used to keep a customer away. Or may be waiting is due to staff on-line at both places were busy in attending people in queues at their brick-n-mortar centers. On-line or in-line,  in any case waiting is the common denominator. 

Today as though to compensate for an other extreme  experience (a 'satisfactory customer experience' that I had at other place) I had to stand in a long-queue at one of their brick-n-mortar 'Aadhar-card' centers to inquire my fate.

The girl at the center replied they might have lost the data. An example of how technology can be a 'boon' sometimes and can be a 'curse' sometimes!

She asked me to 'stand in a queue early morning at 7am' after 8-days so as to 'get a token and a date'... Then 'stand in a queue' again 'with token' on the given date alongwith papers for 'rework to get the card reissued. 

The question is why on-line systems do not work (in a country that teaches software to the world)?
Why can't they issue tokens on-line?
Why should the customers 'Mer' (die off extra eefforts) or why 'rework' of the suppliers forced upon them?

Of yes, I got the answer.

I was wrong in presuming myself to be a customer. Actually, I was a supplier of tax money to government. How can a supplier expect better treatment than this one. At most I was a Custo-Mer (कष्ट-मर).

So I nodded to the girl's suggestions agreeing to eagerly wait in their 'fun-filled queues'.

I hope the 'rework' does the 'work' this time.

25th September 2013 dawns! 

On reading the news that "Don't worry, Aadhaar is not mandatory for now" in DNA, I am back again on this blogpost after 5-months. 

In April, I had reworked the procedure as above to obtain the Adhaar-card second time. At the center I was told that the card will be delivered within a couple of weeks. On logging in to check status of my card, I got message on screen saying "Your card is under construction".

So the 'rework' department was yet to do work. While I kept my fingers crossed, I came across a few fuming tweets as in picture herebelow. 

With the "Don't worry" news in DNA, individually I may not be worried. But as an Indian the same news did worry me.

Because although with Aadhar-card, Indians seemed to be happy thinking they got Aadhar (support) Bangla-Paki infiltrators got nir-Aadhar (making availing of illegal benefits difficult to them). The news thus negated the latter. 

Where do we Indians look for Aadhar (support) now? Any tips? 

That's how some business partnerships work

Take-care Take-care 

Free-pack could be a Curse-pack Dear customer

That you may murmur later

These Maiku (My Haiku) poetic lines got shaped while I was on a flight.

Seat pocket in front of me was stuffed with reading material and 'offers-on-board' for 'captive target market'.

Here is a picture of one of that about 'business partnerships' and that of an 'air-pillow' kind of pack received free-of-cost (courtesy a partner). It was a delight.

I photographed them both ignoring embarrassing look by my co-passenger. That's how I behave: an idiosyncratic fellow taking odd pictures such as around even a wash-basin, catching 'innovative styles' of someone blowing nose.

My so-called delight was short-lived as I found only four biscuits inside, against expectations that the inflated 'air-pillow' size pack seemed to raise. The innovative shape of the biscuits made them 'look bigger' that actually were 'smaller in weight'. 

The pack itself was a 'bag full of gas': A near-empty ppromise! 

Isn't it too much that a miser customer like me expects on a budget-airline. No wonder that the co-passenger was embarrassed.

Anyway, coming back to business of this blog-post, that's how some business partnerships work if not most.

The other day someone asked my opinion on an offer that came his way: "Indigo diesel available for 2.5 lacs. 2012-model."

I told him what an old car dealer often suggests. Price may be good but mechanic should check out engine condition. Check if it's an accident-car (changed-color remark on RC book is one clue); Kilometers ran (check if the dial is changed); Single-owner (and a known owner is good); Clear papers, etc.

My friend appeared insistent: "It is available from Maruti's second-hand dealer. So the offer should be reliable."

I shared with him my learning "from reliable sources" that there do exist 'partnerships' as a part of a typical 'business strategy'. Sometimes they are in the interest of customer. Sometimes they are Cozy-Nexus solely in the interest of the supply-chain itself as in following example:

- A typical 'second-hand-dealer' (let's call him a SCD), for instance, has an arm's length connection with a 'new-car-dealer' (let's call him a NCD) who makes an 'exchange offer'.

- NCD sends a valuer of SCD while offering a test-drive of a new vehicle.

- After exchange-deal is through, the SCD takes away old car and sells it on demand-supply criterion or with a mark-up of 30% margin whichever is higher. 

- So both the SCD as well as NCD do have vested interests in trying to push through the respective deals. Rightly so for them although not for customer! They are in business!!

In such cases the marketeer tends to oversell. But a prospective customer should behave business-like when s/he comes across an 'attractive-offer' like "Indigo diesel available for 2.5 lacs. 2012-model". After all her money is 'hard-earned'.  

The old-car dealer's suggestions referred earlier need to be viewed in light of this. That's also a reason why a single owner, a known owner as a direct-seller (without a middle-man) in-for a 'distress-sale' is more likely to be a good value-deal. Provided of course a reliable mechanic certifies condition even if it means paying his fees to inspect for 'some strings attached', if any.

Is it a value-deal then you need to ask every-time someone claims it to be a 'Unique-offer'?

Is it a value-deal when you go to buy biscuits that 'look-bigger'? or
Is it a short-term value on offer when so-called 'partners' offer you something FOC (free-of-cost) with a pack that looks disproportionately bigger? Are there any strings attached to the offer? or
Is it a value-deal when a telephone subscriber gets a movie-ticket free if s/he buys one on Tuesdays?

Is it a value-deal when you get 'Buy-2-Get-3' kind of free-offers?

Sometimes yes! Other-times no!!

Less With More And More Gets Sore

Yesterday, I was supposed to take a 9 a.m. fight on a leading airline. I was cutting it too fine to reach Mumbai airport after an overnight travel from Hospet.....

Do you keep curing your brand?

I requested telephone company to shift one of my landlines to my old house. It took one week for them to respond.

On 'the' day of shifting, I told their lineman about the instrument being defective: "Sometimes outgoing calls couldn't be made". As usual the reply was "instruments in short-supply". Having heard similar replies in past, I had installed a cordless anyway.

"I would appreciate if you please try (to test) a few from your go-down  You might get a good one in the dump there if I am lucky": without any expectations very politely I made a request to the govt employee.

Next day I was 'awestruck'. I saw the lineman in front of me with the instrument without any followup.

When did you last have a WOW experience like that?

For me it was 'one of it's kind delight' experienced over a past few months.

In a high-mistrust society, where "I will meet you at 9'O-clock" promise might mean 9 a.m. or 9 p.m. or whatever the '9' means to the parties concerned, there are more chances of you getting 'awfully struck' than 'awestruck with a WOW'.

Although spiritual person in you may look for a positive awe even in an awful experience, in practical business sense what does one expect: A product to perform to it's specifications just as one would expect a person to perform his duty and fulfill his promise.

In real life, past experience about a product or a person does stay in mind making one knowledgeable about what/who does or do not fulfill a promise consistently and reliably.

To me such an 'experience' full of intangible feelings and associations created along-with it's delivered-tangibles is the 'brand experience'. And corresponding 'expectations' created in the mind of customer that linger longer is the 'brand image'.

Conventionally, a brand is recognized by a bundle of it's tangibles and intangibles delivered consistently over a period of time. The American Marketing Association defines brand as a name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers ... A brand may identify one item, a family of items, or all items of that seller.

Companies do spend a lot of money and efforts on 'building a brand' but most of it on building it 'externally'. They spend a fortune on choosing 'right' name for the brand , an 'attractive' logo, 'look and feel' of the offering itself and that of the POS (point-of-sale) outfits.

Above all, apart from 'being' on multimedia and on eye-catching hoardings, etc., 'the brand ambassador as well as CEO' spends precious time on promoting it. Companies also ensure appointment of a consultant, a dedicated team, a marketing plan and budget for it.

Coming back to my experience in the telephone case, 'brand image of the person' who delivered telephone service appeared to be good at least on that particular day. Brand image of the telephone/service/company however was in general far below-standard. May be so because a system was not in place to make such 'good' experience repeatable in their day-to-day operations. In fact, the damage is so severe that it's beyond cure although it is still above water with gas-supply from 'motherly' government.

In short, with the help of marketing-efforts a brand may get born in the mind-space of a current and/or prospective customer. But in order that it 'lives (there) happily ever after', operations discipline plays a major role in maintaining it without which 'external marketing' to augment it's 'look and feel' stays superficial. Without improved-operations-combined-with-hearty-smile at each of it's touch-points in the process of delivery internal as well as external, it is like being indifferent to deliver customer's real needs, expectations on quality and differentiated experience.

I had not tried an augmented food-dish until the counter-boy at a fast-food-joint educated me on it the other day with a genuine smile. It was 'available' on the menu-card all these days. But it was not well-communicated. So it did not result into business due to ineffective communication. The dish did not go beyond staying on the shelf just as it did not go beyond at-most staying in the peripheral vision of the customer.

Marketing may move an offer to customer's mind-shelf but operations must move it off-the-shelf. Indifference by anyone in the chain thus is a sure way to 'kill a brand' each moment a customer is in 'touch' with it's unsatisfactory experience.

If you go by a finding that "every dissatisfied customer 'bad-mouths' a brand to at least ten prospective buyers", you will know for yourself whose speed will be higher; that of  the CEO promoting/building the brand or that of the dissatisfied customer destroying it.

Satisfying customer's eye-balls may bring him to water once but not often and surely not force him to drink it. Brand is not about 'showing' to his eye senses a couple of times & 'leaving' it at that. Brand is about 'leaving a lovely and lively experience pleasing customer's senses' and 'living it each-day-each-time throughout it's lifetime' at 'each of it's touch-points' right from the moment a prospective customer conceives a need and begins researching for purchase and then finally disposing it off post-it's-use.

I still remember the first Indian 3-D movie: Chotta-Chetan, for the snake that I felt 'touching' my feet forcing me to fearfully coil in the seat. Hundreds of other people in the theater wearing an embarrassed smile with special 3-D spectacles on them 'experienced' the same. Not only production and marketing of the film was excellent, but also the operations that perhaps blew an air-draft under the seat that created a lasting 'touch' effect. Anyway, the success was evident in terms of huge box office collection of around Rs 60 crore during 1984-85 and 50 crore on it's re-release (1998). The film that won President's Gold Medal created a no-disposal 'recall'.

Brand is about a customer feeling it, smelling-eating-drinking it, talking about it, dreaming it, and in-short breathing it with a lasting 'recall' as an advocate in front of other prospective customers.

Successful brand building is perhaps more about doing creative 'internal marketing' so that 'internal customers' as suppliers 'live it': smell-eat-drink it, feel it, talk about it, dream it. In fact, they even 'breath it' in terms of putting their 'heart and soul' while 'caring to make' the corresponding offering 'lovely and lively' for the external customers to truly experience it like done by the 3-D movie.

Branding is about 'Living' it, not 'Show'ing & 'Leaving' it at that!

Prevention: The Best Cure! ... Is it really so?

Can cigarette butts start (bush) fires?

A study at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) provided solid proof. The laboratory trials found cigarette butts ignited the hay in 33% of cases under combination of a certain conditions: wind speed, fuel moisture and the degree of contact between the fuel bed and combustion area of the cigarette. During the survey, 426 cigarette butts were collected in a 60 square meter area.

Now can you say which one of such abandoned butts might contribute to 33% that cause fires?

Can dangerous road conditions cause accident-deaths?

Washington Post (dataflurry.com Jul 22nd 2009) published an estimate that over 22,000 of the 42,000 people that die each year in USA from automobile accidents (i.e. over 50% deaths) occur because of dangerous road conditions such as potholes, fading lane-line-markings, missing road-signs, and debris that gathers on roadways, hazardous highways, narrow roads, etc. Rest deaths are caused by driving under the influence of alcohol, speeding excessively, and even neglecting wearing a seat-belt.

Now can you say which one of those narrow roads or potholes (see picture) is a potential death trap?

Worldwide an estimated 200 to 300 million malaria infections occur each year with 2 to 3 million deaths. A person gets malaria from the bite of an infected female mosquito.

Now can one guard oneself from an infected female mosquito?

One may find it difficult to find answers to such questions as: Which female mosquito is infected? and Which one of those will bite? and Which one of those bites might cause malaria?

In other words, it is difficult to know which one or more of the typical abnormalities in daily life might strike you in the form of a crisis or a disaster and when so. What is most likely is 1-in-every-300-abnormalities of similar nature might strike you sometime if one goes by the '1-30-300 Safety-Maintenance-Pyramid' of Kaizen¹. And when it strikes, it does bring with it corresponding intangible as well as colossal tangible losses or costs called as 'Costs-of-Quality' in Kaizen¹ parlance.

In that case isn't it wiser to take more-care every-time one is confronted with 'signals' of such abnormalities in 'seed' stage?

- It may be a municipality possibly doubly-caring to look for causes of cracks before they turn into cracks that then graduate into moon-ly-craters. Expecting municipality to be prompt for the benefit of tax-paying customer sounds difficult though!
- It may be a driver/rider doubly-caring not to speed-up in order to prevent getting trapped into a crater.

- It may be a police strictly dealing with a 'No-Entry' violator or a petty thief. 

- It may be a caring mother/warden cautioning (although at the cost of sounding irritating) her child/ward of 'signals' or to look right-n-left for vehicles before crossing roads.

- It may be a caring mother serving 'boiled-water' for drinking or
- It may be a caring father ensuring actions such as 'no-open-gutters' or spraying mosquito repellent in/around house.

Isn't it wiser to take care of (recognise) those who take care of 'seeds' as above.

Wise are those who do and those who know 'when' to overlook 'which' of the 300-abnormalities and 'how'?

Overlooking does not mean ignoring the abnormalities. 'How' part is supposed to address the means i.e. to know 'what' care should be taken with 'how much' risk while overlooking the chosen ones. Sometimes decisions are needed to be taken with calculated² risks if facts and figures are available in time. It's like  making decisions by 'wearing a helmet'. Sometimes it's with ³judgmental-helmet particularly in emergencies.

In absence of being wiser, an over-confident fellow must get ready to 'fall again-n-again' like Mr-Foolhardy and keep endlessly hoping to get 'cured' of the resultant crisis under someone else's 'paid-intensive-care': The 'Costs-of-Quality' for self as well as for her customer in case of a business-delivery.

That's the theme under exploratory care of this blog: Prevention-Is-The-Best-Cure! Or Care-Is-The-Best-Cure!

Keeping fingers crossed hoping that the mission proceeds in right direction!


Footnote-1, Kaizen is the continual  improvement philosophy (or science or culture) that provides ways-&-means to manage both the prevention of crises as well as quick relief from crises. The ways-&-means are composed of a judicious balance of both the intrinsic motivation (typical eastern-approach) as well as extrinsic motivation such as carrot-&-stick (typical western-approach) where needed.

Footnote-2, FMEA is a Kaizen-tool that gives a calculated number to the risks called as Risk-Priority-Number (RPN).  

 Footnote-3,  For analytical and judgmental tools to make a decision refer, book "World-Of-Kaizen: A Total Quality Culture For Survival" Authored by Shyam Talawadekar.