Many people believe that they can buy Six Sigma certification and get some marketing advantage. By documenting a few more procedures, they can achieve Six Sigma recognition. For some, Six Sigma is a fact-based methodology made of fancy statistical tools that solve all business problems. For some, there’s a misunderstanding between Six Sigma and karate because of the belts. For others, Six Sigma means DMAIC—Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control. Of course, Six Sigma could also be a software tool that could do anything, like a magic wand. There may be other derivates of understanding Six Sigma that would lead to a lot of talk without any walk.

Learning Six Sigma tools may lead to some advantages, just like the application of DMAIC may produce some improvement results, but actually practicing the intent of Six Sigma could produce monumental results. When people learn the tools, they look familiar, easy to grasp and even easier to ignore. However, it’s difficult to understand the effect of Six Sigma’s goal, which is a lot of improvement in a short period of time. Why is speed so important? Just like in Olympics, where the race is won by a fraction of second, businesses are always racing with one another. The fastest one wins.

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