Skip to main content

Precision Over Passion


A TV commercial recently caught my attention.  The CEO of the company was the spokesman and he was quite proud of the product that his company makes.  As he described a bit of the manufacturing process, he claimed that the product was made with passion. 

I recently read some Old Testament passages that made reference to craftsmen who used their skills to build the tabernacle.  For example:

“And all the craftsmen among the workmen made the tabernacle with ten curtains.  They were made of fine twined lined and blue and purple and scarlet yarns, with cherubim skillfully worked”.  (Ex. 36:8)

These craftsmen were entrusted with making items for the tabernacle that had very precise specifications.  While they may have made the items with passion, that was not the defining quality that set apart these workmen and their work.  It was their skill and craftsmanship.

While passion is great, when it is expressed according to some of its dictionary meanings, that of “an outbreak of anger” or “a strong and barely controllable emotion”, I’m not sure its always a good quality to have in the manufacturing process.  With too much passion or when passion is expressed at the wrong time, it seems there is great potential for the product to be made in ways that might not meet quality standards, especially for precision products. 

Precision products probably should be made with diligence and skill.  But if the work can be done with those first and foremost, then there probably is room for passion to be involved in the process.

So while it can be good to have passion, in certain areas I think I would prefer precision over passion!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Excel Still More!

To excel, according to some of the meanings from a few dictionaries, is to surpass others, do extremely well, outdo, do something better than anyone else. In 1 Thessalonians 4:1, we find the phrase “excel still more”.   It prompts the question:  if we are already doing something better than anyone else, why would we be encouraged to do even more? Perhaps it would be helpful to see the wording that other translations use for “excel still more” to see why we would be encouraged to do so.  Here is a sampling: • abound more and more • to keep doing so more and more • but try even harder • live that way more and more. • that you progress even more. • that you increase more and more in how you ought to walk Maybe it would also be helpful to see some other verses where the word “excel” is used: “Now in Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (which when translated means Dorcas); this woman was excelling in acts of kindness and charity which she did habitually.”...
Post a Comment
Read more

New Year Trash or Treasure?

You probably know the old saying:  “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure”.  I am not going to try to prove or disprove it, just look at it from a different angle. Cheryl and I were recently walking on a beach in Florida .  A man was walking along with a bag and was picking up trash and putting it in the bag.  Was he picking up things of value? We also saw a different man walking along the same beach with a metal detector.  He would swing it back and forth and would occasionally stop and dig in the sand.  Was he looking for things of value? Both were intent.  Both were focused.  Both were diligent. I’m guessing that the one picking up trash was not looking for things of value.  I’m also guessing that, by picking up trash, he was valuing the beauty of the beach and didn’t want the trash to mar it.  The one with the metal detector, I’m guessing that he was not looking for metallic items of trash but was looking for...
1 comment
Read more

Value Proposition

Value proposition:  it’s a marketing statement that summarizes why a consumer should buy a product or use a service.  It should clearly and concisely communicate what customers can gain from selecting a particular brand over that of its competitors. In a value proposition, you don’t want your product to be viewed as being worth less than what your competitors offer.   But even worse, in a bit of a quirk of how letters and spaces can fall, if you take out the space between “worth” and “less”, you get “worthless”, which means something of no value.   If that word is used in conjunction with how your product is viewed by customers, it’s a word that will likely kill your brand. In the book of Philippians, the Apostle Paul, in a sense, communicated some value propositions. In chapter three, he starts off with describing the value of some things that many considered as extremely valuable in that day and age.   They had to do with status and achievement in the reli...
Post a Comment
Read more