Competition Increases Quality

From Going Postal by Terry Pratchett

In Pratchett’s irreverent book, the CEO of a communications utility company who overcharges and under-services customers is forced to explain what he’s doing to remedy his company’s lapses. This sounds a lot like the spinning I’ve heard from a certain group of churchy men I know here in SD…

“Perhaps we have been a little smug, a little lax, but we have learned our lesson! Spurred by the competition, we are investing several hundred thousand dollars in a challenging, relevant, and exciting systemic overhaul of our entire organization, focusing on our core competencies while maintaining full and listening cooperation with the communities we are proud to serve. We fully realize that our energetic attempts to mobilize the flawed infrastructure we inherited have been less than totally satisfactory, and hope and trust that our valued and loyal customers will bear with us in the coming months as we interact synergistically with change management in our striving for excellence. That is our mission.”

Later, the same CEO says to his assistant, ‘The first rule of business is not to provide the best service, but to provide the ONLY service.’

Man, would I just love to see someone plant a PCA church 45 miles south of the state capital of a certain state, just so the existing one isn’t the only service available there.