round table quality drive

"When I started the table, it was to stop anarchy.
It was a channel for brute force,
so that the people who had to use force could be made to do it in a useful way.
But the whole thing was a mistake....
It was a mistake because the Table itself was founded on force.
Right must be established by right;
it can't be established by Force Majeure..."
T.H. White in The Once and Future King

When the son of Uther Pendragon, became king of Britain his counsellor, the wizard Merlin, advised him to create a common goal for the undisciplined knights. At the time the country was torn by strife and instead of helping the poor people, the knights went round plundering and killing. Arthur then instituted the Knights of the Round Table: the first quality circle in history. All knights went in search of the holy grail. This grail, according to legend, had been brought to the shores of Britain by Jozef of Armithea and contained the blood of the Jezus. So instead of going around aimlessly the knights now went away with a goal. And they all returned to the round table to tell of their exploits, and while they were in search of this ideal, they became better men. The Grail was a symbol of Arthur's 'quality drive'. Quality is not created by talking about it and you don't find it by searching outside of you but it is inside each of us. We change our worlds by changing ourselves. It is the 'better self' that has to be cultivated. The difficulty is that like quality, creativity cannot be approached direct. It is only approached indirect. The knights became nobles because they served a noble cause and gave their attention to the everyday problems. In creativity it works much the same. It does not help to decide that "now I am going to be creative..." it is part of the everyday way.

creativity = The everyday mind is the way

In starting a 'creativity drive' it is important to pay attention to small details and the environment. To create an environment that allows creativity and clearly assigns roles to the people involved. But most of all it means looking for ways to become more creative yourself.

Quality = enthusiasm x expertise

(Eckart Wintzen)