If you’ve come across the word “quintessence” while reading English texts, you may have wondered about the correct pronunciation and actual meaning of this rather unusual word. As a non-native speaker, the pronunciation can seem tricky at first. Read on for a quick guide on how to say “quintessence” properly and what this interesting word signifies.

Breaking Down the Pronunciation

Quintessence is pronounced “kwin-tess-uhns” in British English. Let’s look at each syllable:

“Quin”: The “qu” sounds like a hard “c” or “k”, as in words like “queen” or “quick”. Say the “kwin” syllable.

“Tes”: This syllable rhymes with words like “test” or “best”. Say “tess”.

“Ence”: Here the “e” becomes a schwa sound – the neutral “uh”. Think words like “enhance”, and say the schwa “uh” sound.

Put together, the full pronunciation is: kwin-tess-uhns. The stress is on the second syllable, “tess”. Say the word a few times out loud, stressing that middle portion, to get comfortable with the pronunciation.

Alternatively, you might choose to pronounce it “quint” + essence”.

The Meaning of Quintessence

So now that you know how to say it properly in your best spoken English accent, what does “quintessence” actually mean? Quintessence signifies the purest, most perfect or concentrated essence of something. For example, you could describe a breathtaking landscape as “the quintessence of natural beauty”. Or for an organisation that has everything sorted, all its ducks lined up, and firing on all cylinders, we might choose to call that a “Quintessential organisation”.

Etymology

The word originates from medieval philosophy, derived from the Latin “quinta essentia”, meaning the “fifth essence“. This referred to what was thought to be the pure substance making up heavenly bodies, beyond the four basic earthly elements of fire, water, air and earth.

In Modern Physics

In modern physics, “quintessence” refers to a hypothetical form of dark energy postulated to explain the observed acceleration of the expansion of the universe. Based on astronomical observations, scientists have determined that some unknown form of energy, termed “dark energy,” makes up about 68% of all the energy in the observable universe. This mysterious dark energy is causing the expansion of the universe to speed up over time. To explain this phenomenon, physicists have proposed that quintessence – an extremely light and slowly-varying scalar field – may account for the observed behavior of dark energy and the accelerating cosmic expansion. Quintessence would have negative pressure, offsetting normal attractive gravity and driving galaxies apart at an ever-faster rate. If confirmed, the quintessence scalar field would be the “fifth element” driving cosmology, alongside ordinary and dark matter. Though still unproven, quintessence remains a leading contender for explaining one of the biggest mysteries in modern physics and astronomy. Further experiments and astrophysical observations may shed more light on this proposed fifth essence permeating the universe.

Summary

So next time you come across this unique word, you’ll know the proper English pronunciation and understand its meaning related to a pure, perfect embodiment of something. With your new knowledge, use “quintessence” to impress your English friends and teachers!

Further Reading

Marshall, R.W. (2021). Quintessence – An acme for software development organisations. https://leanpub.com/quintessence

What Can Chatbots Really Do?

Chatbots aren’t just virtual customer service agents that can help you book a table at a restaurant. They’re becoming intelligent interfaces capable of nuanced interactions. And yes, they can help uncover and discover the unmet needs of not just customers, but all those who matter in an organisational setting.

Who Are the Folks That Matter?

Before diving into the potential of chatbots, it’s helpful to identify the people whose needs we aim to understand. In most organisations, this includes employees, management, shareholders, regulators, and of course, customers.

How Do Chatbots Operate Without Analytics?

While it’s easy to assume that data analytics play a key role in this process, chatbots can provide valuable insights without delving too much into data sets. The focus here is on real-time interaction, intuitive questioning and active listening, which form the methods by which chatbots can make a significant impact.

Unearthing Employee Needs

Employees often have concerns and needs that go unexpressed. Whether it’s about workload, work-life balance, or specific job functions, these issues sometimes remain buried. Chatbots provide an anonymous platform where employees can voice their needs without the fear of judgement. The direct feedback is not only candid but also immediate, bypassing the red tape that often comes with traditional methods of internal communication.

What’s in It for Management?

Management teams also have a lot to gain. From understanding organisational dynamics to gauging employee morale, chatbots can ask the right questions that elicit actionable responses. Here too, methods like focused questioning make these bots valuable assets in decision-making processes.

Can Shareholders Benefit?

Certainly. Shareholders often seek insights into an organisation’s operations, financial health, and future direction. Although not a substitute for comprehensive reports, chatbots can provide immediate, digestible information that answers shareholders’ queries effectively. This immediate line of communication can help identify needs that may otherwise remain hidden.

Anticipating Customer Needs

We can’t overlook the role of chatbots in understanding and even anticipating customers’ needs. Unlike traditional methods that may rely on extensive data analysis, chatbots engage in real-time dialogue. These conversations can reveal not just stated needs but also anticipate latent needs that the customer might not even be aware of.

What’s Next?

As organisations adopt more sophisticated technology, the capabilities of chatbots are likely to expand. However, their primary function remains rooted in communication. Whether it’s for employees, management, shareholders, regulators or customers, chatbots offer a unique way of uncovering unmet needs without relying heavily on analytics or extensive research. It’s all about asking the right questions and listening—something that chatbots are getting increasingly good at.

Linguistic Relativity is the idea that language shapes the way we think. In programming, the imperative style is widely used in which instructions are given to the computer. The immersion in imperative communication via programming languages raises the question of whether this influences the programmer’s thinking and contributes to the preservation of command-and-control behavior in organisations. The use of “should” in modern Behavior Driven Development (BDD) is an example of rampant imperativism in language.

E-Prime is a modified form English proposed by D. David Bourland to reduce misunderstandings and conflicts. The idea of modifying language to improve thinking is not new.

The concept of a Nonviolent Programming language based on the Four Steps of Nonviolent Communication is an intriguing one. It raises the question of what a Nonviolent Programming language would look like and feel like to use and whether it would have knock-on advantages for Nonviolent BDD. If Gandhi, for example, had been a programmer instead of a lawyer, what would his code have looked like? If he had been immersed in programming languages for 40 hours a week, would he have held the same views on non-violence?

Adopting a Nonviolent Programming language and style could have positive implications for our personal and work-related communication, as seen through the lens of Linguistic Relativity. Spending 40 hours a week on Nonviolent Programming could contribute to the health and well-being of our human dialogues and personal interactions.

See also: Nonviolent Programming

Quintessential morons are not those folks with a shortfall in intellect, but those folks with a shortfall in awareness of the limitations and boundaries of their personal world view.

The latter group are not open to changing themselves because they remain unaware of the need for, and benefits to themselves and others of, personal change.

The world is stuffed full of quintessential morons.

Chances are, you’re one too.

– Bob

Play is for adults, too

John Seddon regularly uses the phrase “the way the work works” in referring to the “system” or “processes” that actually get followed within organisations. In contrast to the way “processes” or “the system” describe how the work should work (but rarely bears any relation).

For organisations such as The Quintessential Group, where play’s the thing, “work” has become a term, and an idea, that no longer has much relevance. The phrase “the way the work works” serves as one more reinforcement of that outmoded idea.

So we’ve chosen to replace the phrase “the way the work works” with the phrase “the way the play plays”. Which, although poorer grammar, helps us train ourselves to expunge the word – and idea – of “work” from our consciousness.

See also: POSIWID.

– Bob

Further Reading

Schrage, M. (2008). Serious Play: How The World’s Best Companies Simulate To Innovate.  Harvard Business School Press.

A long time ago (2012) I wrote

‘Whorfianism of the third kind’ proposes that language is ‘a key to culture’

(You might also like to read the full post wherein this appeared).

Which is to propose that the language we use, and the vocabulary we possess, influences and constrains the way we think. That if we lack words for certain concepts, then these concepts are inaccessible to and inexpressible by us.

Which in turn suggests that culture change, involving as it does discovering and adopting new terms, concepts, and the words to describe and label them, necessitates we acquire new language and new vocabulary.

I suspect Clean Language also has some relevance and utility here.

How does the phenomenon of Linguistic Relativity relate to your own experiences?

– Bob