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My life has an interesting new addition: e-mail from students, both undergraduate and MBA. I answer each one as it arrives, and we place the complete exchange on our Web site, www.philipcrosby.com, under Letters.
The e-mails are always cheerful and aimed at getting some information for a report. They could simply get my biography off the Web site, but what they want is an edge, something personal. Once I received separate inputs from two people in the same class. Their questions were identical. I was tempted to give them conflicting answers to see how it would turn out. However, the truth is the truth.
What gets me about this exchange is the thought that when I was in college, none of the people discussed in the textbooks or classes were still alive. And if they had been, we still couldn't have contacted them. Now, the textbooks and their authors are quite up-to-date. I can find my photo and a reasonably accurate discussion of my philosophy in many textbooks. Professors also assign some of my books as reading material for their students.
I'm regularly invited to visit MBA schools to speak to classes and the businesses that support the schools. Question-and-answer sessions with the students are my favorite way to spend the time. For the most part, their concerns are original, not the same old tired questions that managers or professionals tend to ask. These youngsters plan to take over the businessworld; they want to know what works. They don't want to hear about theory on its own; they want to know what experiences brought about a particular line of thinking. They're not looking for some package to apply to quality. Instead, they want to understand what it's all about. They think most of what goes on in the quality world has no foundation or framework.
The other amazing thing is that the e-mails come from all over the world, not just the United States. All students ask similar questions, and they know their material. I've been surprised to find out how much they know about my career, for instance.
So be prepared: They're coming, they're determined, and they're very smart.
About the author
Philip B. Crosby, a popular speaker and founder of Philip Crosby Associates--now PCA II--is also the author of several books, including Quality Is Still Free (McGraw-Hill, 1995) and The Absolutes of Leadership (Jossey-Bass, 1996). Visit his Web site at www.philipcrosby.com . |
