HPMD Quotes & Sources
"According to some experts, providing flawless execution, just-in-time deliveries, zero defects, total quality control and world-class customer service is the only way to build a business. Make it perfect and you will be a winner; make a mistake, and you're finished.
If that's the reality of business, then a heavy streak of perfectionism ought to be high on the list of qualities you need to run a company. Right?
Sure, but only if you are looking for trouble."
"Management consultants and organizational psychologists take care to distinguish between the ordinary desire to do something well, which most people possess, and the extraordinary demands that perfectionists place on themselves. Setting and meeting high standards are essential to success in any organization, But carried too far, a penchant for perfection can be crippling."
"Perfectionism is the opposite of excellence," says [Dennis] Jaffe. "It brings grief rather than satisfaction. Whatever the perfectionist accomplishes, it's never enough."
"Perfectionism, and the procrastination that often accompanies it, is the most common mindset of patients in my clinical practice," says Dr. David D. Burns, the author of Feeling Good,, The New Mood Therapy (Avon; 1992). "The desire for perfection goes back to the Calvinist work ethic. You think that if you simply work hard, you'll get ahead, The problem is that we take a good idea like that and overdo it. This can create tremendous feelings of inadequacy. You keep telling yourself, 'I'm not good enough.' Perfectionism then becomes a badge of honor with you playing the part of the suffering hero."
"I often think if Henry Ford had waited for the perfect car, we'd still be riding bicycles," says Rick Rice.
"More often than not, perfectionists are so finicky about performance standards that they don't trust others to help them complete assignments. Unable to delegate, they operate on overload."
For a brief quiz on perfectionism, click here: 
Short Quote:
© Copyright 1996, 2007, HP Management Decisions Ltd., All Rights Reserved.
| Author: | Finney, Paul Burnham |
| Title: | Paying the Price of being Perfect |
| Periodical: | Your Company |
| Volume: | |
| Number: | |
| Publisher: | |
| Place (City): | |
| Publication Date: | Spring, 1995 |
| Pages: | 18-23 |
| Source Type: | Periodical |
| Quote Number: | 308 |
| Categories: | Management |
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