October 2007 Newsletter
No Price Too High
A woman touring Europe cabled the following message to her husband: "Have found wonderful bracelet. Price seventy-five thousand dollars.
May I buy it?" Her husband in America immediately responded with the message: "No, price too high."
However, the telegraph operator missed the comma after the word "No." To her delight, the woman received the message: "No price too high," and she bought the bracelet.
Her husband was shocked when she returned home with her purchase, and he successfully sued the telegraph company.
From then on, telegraph operators spelled out punctuation instead of using symbols. Identify the critical parts of your job, and make sure you can do them well.
Good Enough?
Is 99% good enough? Here are some possibilities if 99.9% (one mistake in a thousand) was good enough for one week in America:
- 165 planes would arrive at the wrong destination.
- 637 words would be misspelled in a major newspaper.
- 3,960 checks would be deducted from the wrong accounts.
- 79 babies would go home with the wrong parents.
- 4,109,750 pieces of mail would reach the wrong address.
- 8,653 surgical procedures would be misperformed.
Pursue Excellence
Build trustworthiness by practicing dependable leadership. Demonstrate your commitment to the mission and to
your team members when you face unexpected difficulties.
Attention to detail distinguishes an average job from an excellent one. Just as a draftsman develops a detailed plan for every part of a building, you can show thoroughness by taking care of details at work and home.
Plan Ahead
Think through a project and all the necessary details. What is the goal? When must you finish? What supplies do you need? Does the project involve others? Do others know what is expected of them?
Write It Down
Document your plan so that you know what you are doing. This also makes it easier to share your plan with others. Make a checklist of things to do so that you do not overlook or forget any details.
Pursue Excellence
Quality control is everyone's responsibility. Do not assume others will correct your mistakes or clean up your messes. Take responsibility for your work and invest the time and effort necessary to do things right.
Double Check
Look over your correspondence for correct spelling, punctuation, and grammar. Verify your information, and check your work before finishing a project. Do not let hastiness cause sloppiness or waste.
Finish the Job
Starting projects and not finishing them is similar to spinning a car's wheels in the sand. You might sound busy, but you go nowhere. Do not get bogged down in details that do not help you reach the goal. Finish your work.
Read more about Thoroughness in this month's bulletin
Cooking Lessons
Details have a profound effect on how a recipe turns out. Plan a cooking day with your children, and construct a menu
together. Read through the recipes, and list the ingredients you need to buy.
Decide what each child will cook or bake and help them follow the directions. Teach them how to measure ingredients and how to use utensils and appliances. Help them set the temperature of the oven, and have them help clean up the kitchen, put away ingredients, wash and dry the dishes, and wipe off the counters.
For more teaching resources, visit the Character First! website, or talk to a customer service representative at (405) 815-0001.
Character Community Forum
At the 2007 Building Communities of Character Conference in Oklahoma City, representatives from eight countries received training for implementing a community character initiative.
This year's topics included:
- Stories from successful character communities
- How to keep your Character Council in business
- Giving employees more than a paycheck
- Keys to successful character education
- How to rescue struggling communities
- Building community awareness
- Role of character in public safety
- Principles of good leadership
The Character Community Forum also allows business and community leaders to share ideas, learn from others, and receive useful training.
The October 18 live-meeting will feature Tom Hill, founder and president of the Character Training Institute. Hill will share "The Heart and History of Character First!"