Flexibility is a word that has positive connotations, at least in the Western world. It is considered a business success factor. From a language point of view, flexible means pliable, yielding to pressure. Why would that always be a desirable characteristic? It simply isn’t. So let’s dig deeper into flexibility. The statements that follow are intentionally provocative.
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What is quality? A classical question with many answers. As I’m just back home from Japan I find myself getting absent-minded, thinking about quality. I murmur about quality when there is no one around. These are characteristic symptoms of the Japanese condition. It hits the unsuspecting Westerner when they are confronted by Japanese quality. In my case it happened when I travelled by the famous Shinkansen high-speed trains and found out that speed is not the main point.

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