Inspired at NASA

By Ron Pereira Updated on January 13th, 2011

This past weekend my family and I went to Houston to visit some relatives.

On Saturday we went to NASA. If you have never been there you need to carve out some time to make this visit. I took quite a few pictures and will try to share some more later but tonight I just want to share my main take away.

The take away was realizing what we can each accomplish if we truly believe and work diligently towards a particular goal. Too often I see people, and have done it myself, get bogged down and satisfied with the status quo.

Being satisfied with the status quo didn’t get people to the moon and it won’t help those of us wanting to continuously improve things.

So, my challenge for myself, and you if you wish to accept it, is to despise the status quo this week.

Don’t take “we can’t do it” or “it won’t work” for an answer. Try it. If it doesn’t work the first time ask why. In fact ask why several times until you get to the root cause. Then address the problem and try it again. That, my good friends, is kaizen.

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Ron Pereira

Ron has more than 20 years of experience in various manufacturing, supply chain, and senior leadership roles. Ron has held the titles of process engineer, engineering manager, master black belt, and director of manufacturing & continuous improvement. In 2002 Ron was the first American to win the Nokia Global Six Sigma and Overall Quality award in Helsinki, Finland. Ron holds a bachelor's degree in automated manufacturing and an MBA in technology management.

Anon
January 28, 2008 - 9:17 pm
Reply

The status quo once said you shouldn’t launch a shuttle when the temperature was too cold, but NASA did it anyway… not sure if that’s best example of challenging the status quo (pun intended).

It was a horrible tragedy, the Challenger explosion… totally preventable if NASA didn’t have such a screwed up culture at the time…
Ron Pereira
January 28, 2008 - 9:49 pm
Reply

Indeed, Anon. Indeed.

I suppose there is a big difference between challenging the status quo and being reckless.

A fine line perhaps. But when people’s lives are at stake we must always be right.