Want to make the world a better place?
What if everyone you knew came to you for how things should be?
This happens for my brother.
One way my older brother inspires me, is with the amount of people and companies that have given and continue to give him a statement that goes something like this, “In X amount of years, no one’s ever told us this, or showed us that or used it that way”.
He’s broken more things by natural use than anyone I know, especially Apple products. [which happens to be when I get the call]
He frequently goes through 2-3 of every product or service he comes in contact with using it in no special way, except what seems normal to him.
He’s probably gone through 5 blackberries, 2 iPhones, owned 11 cars, 5 lawn mowers, etc. He’s the guy you go to if you want to know what works well and what doesn’t… for life in general, because he’s seemingly used everything to exhaustion and taken detailed notes about it in his mind. He is a natural yardstick of quality.
The characteristic that makes this quality less annoying now than it was when I was 12 and returned his powertools all beaten up, is that he doesn’t just expect this of the world around him, he provides this in his service and interactions with others.
Steve Jobs said, “Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected.”
I’ve known my brother to return something he’s borrowed or rented literally polished to a shine, or with parts he’s replaced, or with a conversation on the best way to use said item. He’ll spend 8 hours researching something on the internet so he can deliver just the right word or token, or teach you something.
He recently took the opportunity to show someone where they weren’t living up to a standard of quality by offering to work for them for a day, for free.
Who does that? My brother is not 18, he has a full time job and a wife and kids.
I don’t know why, but in the last week or so I’ve thought a few times about something he taught me when I was younger, or at least I attribute it to him and I’ve made it my own. It effects almost everything I do and has taught me to be a yardstick of quality in some regards.
He taught me to always return things better than I received them.
As I’ve made that idea my own, it’s taken on a lot of forms and shapes from relationships to paychecks, it’s not just about a lawnmower or powertool anymore…
Thankfully, I see now he’s not out to tell people they suck, he’s out to make the world a better place.
Do you want to make the world a better place?
How to Be a Yardstick of Quality
- Speak up, most people put up with mediocrity and complacency
- Be willing to spend time fixing, correcting, explaining
- Be ridiculous, test the limits
- Avoid attitude, this isn’t about right and wrong, or complaining
- Be vocal, a yardstick is a tool, you get it out to measure
You’ll know you’ve taken on yardstick like qualities when people come to you to “measure” products, services, and life…which isn’t such a bad place to be.
Make things better…be a yardstick of quality.
*adapted from an e-mail exchange