Quintessential People

Right. First things first. There are no quintessential people. Excepting perhaps Gandhi MLK Jr., Mother Teresa and the like.

This post is about ordinary, normal people in quintessential systems (and, by extension, quintessential organisations). A remarkable aspect of quintessential organisations is their rejection of the concept of “talent” – as generally understood. In quintessential organisations, acknowledging Deming’s 95:5 [link], the performance and capabilities of individuals are recognised as a function of the system (the way the work works) within which they work (or, more correctly, play). 

Thus, in quintessential organisations, where the way the work works is an enabler, normal people can achieve extraordinary things on a regular basis.

From another perspective, the epithet “quintessential people” also applies to anyone that embraces the ideas of quintessential organisations, as described in e.g. my recent book “Quintessence” (Marshall, 2021).

– Bob

Further Reading

Marshall, R.W. (2021). Quintessence: An Acme for Software Development Organisations. Falling Blossoms (LeanPub).