I Know It When I See It: A Modern Fable About Quality

by John Guaspari

When a rival firm threatens to steal away customers from Punctuation, Inc., the Boss is determined to find a way to improve product quality

Genres: Business, Nonfiction

78 pages, Hardcover

First published August 7, 1985

About the author

For the past 30 years, John Guaspari has helped leaders take on the challenge of being more effective at attending to the intangibles. He is the author of seven books on the topic, the latest being Otherwise Engaged: How Leaders Can Get a Firmer Grip on Employee Engagement and Other Key Intangibles. Other books include the best-selling I Know It When I See It, The Customer Connection, and The Value Effect. He's also authored seven best-selling training videos and hundreds of articles and columns. He has worked with corporate clients in scores of industries and has delivered some 1,500 intangibles-related presentations, seminars, and workshops. Long before entering the world of consulting, he began his professional career as an aerospace engineer and then went on to hold corporate positions in such widely varying functions as marketing, customer support, quality, leadership development, and organizational effectiveness.

Reviews

[James Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

I KNOW IT WHEN I SEE IT
By John Guaspari
(Book review by Richard Mencer)

Summary: Customer feedback is crucial to business success.

I KNOW IT WHEN I SEE IT is an older “modern” fable about quality that was first published in 1985 . This book was one of the original leadership fables in line with later leadership fable extraordinaries Blanchard and Lencioni.

I KNOW IT WHEN I SEE IT focuses on business quality when faced with increasing competition and customer expectations. Many businesses praise themselves for daily success but fail to reflect on their products meeting ongoing customer expectations.

I KNOW IT WHEN I SEE IT Is an excellent book for organizations of all sizes and success levels.

Will the content of I KNOW IT WHEN I SEE IT help you and your business? Well … you will KNOW IT WHEN YOU READ IT.

Thank you Mr. Guspari for writing this book. It is already helping me improve my business.

Have an excellent week!
Richard

About Richard …
Richard Mencer is a central Oklahoma small business owner and has operated multiple businesses across the United States over the past 30 years. Richard enjoys business idea creation, implementation/development, and is a leader in employee growth and customer service. Richard and his amazing wife Lisa have been married for 36 years and have 4 grown children, 2 grandchildren and 2 labrador retrievers Duchess and Bella. Richard has a passion for reading and writing and, most importantly, sharing about the incredible love, forgiveness and friendship God freely gives to ALL people.

[elbibliotafo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Es una buena idea para hablar acerca de temas que, muchas veces, no son fáciles de abordar. Este es un cuento que habla sobre la calidad y su importancia en el éxito, ya sea laboral o personal.
Además hay que tomar en cuenta que el autor está inmerso en el mundo empresarial y administrativo. Es un buen ejercicio.
Me gustó mucho la idea de la fábrica "Puntuación S. A.". Creo que ahí está todo y se puede sacar más de ella.
Se lee en un santiamén, pero no es una lectura imprescindible.

[Freddie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This gave me nightmares about my work, haha. It's not badly written per se, just that the subject matter is something I see almost every day ad nauseam, being an engineer at a factory. The use of punctuation as a stand-in for "product" is a bit awkward, but I suppose something structured as a fable needs not be deep at every aspect. I read this at a good time and I have a good memory associated with reading this.

[Rishab · Rating 5 out of 5]

narrative is good. message is good. refreshing half-an-hour read.

[Brad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Simple fun and effective

[Ranadheer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is good, but abrupt ending. Not satisfied with ending plot.

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick read about an important topic. How is Quality produced?

[Aaron Bolin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Guaspari provides a quick read with a few gems of wisdom. I especially liked the corollary regarding mistakes and inspection capacity, but there were a few other related ideas that are nicely illustrated by this fable.

In terms of criticism, the story is not that compelling and the main points, if summarized, would only fill an index card.

I liked the book, found a few gems of wisdom, and would definitely recommend it as a quick leisurely read that helps to cement key concepts of quality.

[Joseph Cognard · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. Really well done story for a business book. This was my brownie book through college. I use to give it to college professors , and they would like it and it was a quick read for them, and then they would feel bad for me and give me a C or C+.
I highly recommend this book for its reading enjoyment, great business concepts, not to mention brownie using appeal, all wrapped up in cute little fable.
Really an exceptional story.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

A funny little book that explains quality in a non-technical way.

[Andrew Waring · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have read a couple of these "Modern Fables" and this one was not so convincing. The point was too simple, too obvious to spend a whole book on. It should have been one point in a larger context.

[Ava · Rating 3 out of 5]

I could have just read the epilogue! But there was one nugget worth remembering.