Are you feeling “The Hour of Truth” is closing in, a Quality Professional would formulate his or her Last Will – perhaps as follows:

“This knowledge is all I leave as Inheritance to my Successors:

• Though I was never fond of money, my Employers were, instead – but they never trained me to love Money.  I never envied the Sales Manager’s salary or side benefits, but 30 years without a salary raise …
• Whatever Quality Manual or dedicated Publication you’re using, it will never equal Movies, Novels, Poetry, Songs, for meaningful interpretation of what Quality really means.
• Mission Impossible in the Quality Wars: the Top Management Empire will always strike back.
• The “true” Systems, they are not a’changin: “sneeze-like”, allergic Quality and Change cannot be cured. Long established Systems see Change as smoke in their eyes, it makes their sight blurred. The Systems’ axiom “You do the Change, or quality,for what matters, but I do the business – keep your hands off” still holds valid.
• Hypocrisy has not the same meaning as “Hippocrisy”: since ancient History those who ride hippo’s are very often “hypo”. Or hyper: it depends on the Mirror they and we look in. Wars have always been won thanks to the humble, dirty, fatigued Infantry, that is, hard working men; but all glory went to the sparkling Cavalry.
• Should you ever look at real Quality with your eyes, make sure to let them be checked by a politically correct Ophthalmologist, first.
• Never forget to doubt: does really Earth moves around the Sun, or vice-versa? What tells you which?  And who? …   Doubt is Mother and Father to Knowledge and Understanding; very often, Conviction leads to pervert Mistakes: it makes us blind and deaf, senseless.
• “Q-charting” is what the Top Management Empire lives on; as well as deifying their human resources’ slavery. And never forget that the Top Management Empire only looks at charts: but he/she has no resources to understand them.
• You will never reach any conclusion in any meeting, any verbal / email / phone / written exchange when the other side always asks the same question: “so what?”  No matter how sound is what you say or write. It’s like Don Quixote battling against windmills.
• Never forget that Time is NOT on your side, unless you use it as a weapon (remember: any weapon is double-sided …).  The Empire will always come to you with last-minute warnings: “Done?” otherwise YOU are done …
• When you speak and – especially ! – write, be reason-able; that is, your most important input to the communication process is that the Empire has to be given “reason”.
• All above considered: Yours is the Quality and everything in it, and, what is more, you’ll be Quality Professionals, my Sons and Daughters! >>