I recently attended the ASQ Measurement Quality Division (MQD) annual event in Cuyahoga Falls, OH. As a wrap-up to the event (well, just before the big event, the raffle), the event speakers gathered for an informal roundtable discussion. One of the questions asked of the panel was along the lines of, “How did you get into quality and metrology?”

Dilip Shah, an ASQ Fellow and principal of E = mc3 Solutions, told a story of when he was seven years old (that’s right, seven). With his new pencil box at the ready, Dilip was preparing for the new school year. The box contained two rulers. He noticed the two rulers were different. He lined them up and they did not match. He asked his father, “Which one do I use?” His father’s quick and very Dad-like response was, “That is why we are sending you to school. Go figure it out.” And he did! And it has led to a career of more than 45 years in metrology and other related disciplines.

Surprised by someone drawn to a career at such a young age? As a bit of a late-bloomer, I usually am as well. However, I had a bit of a converse reaction to another discipline—professional football. I was recently watching a documentary on quarterbacks. It interviewed many National Football League (NFL) quarterbacks, past and present. Similar to the query to the ASQ MQD panel, a question posed to all, if not most, of these quarterbacks was, “When did you know you wanted to be a quarterback?” I expected most of their answers to mirror Dilip, and some of them did, saying they had known since third grade and Pee Wee football. Others, almost apologetic, said they did not know until “late,” drawn to the position in middle school or high school.

Anthony Richardson, quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts, was selected in the 2023 NFL Draft. He was the fourth pick overall, and the third quarterback to be selected. What is of note to many pundits and fans is Richardson is one of those players who did not even start playing the game until high school. He only started 13 games at quarterback in college, yet was dubbed the third best quarterback prospect in the world just months after that thirteenth start.

Earlier, I described myself as a bit of a late-bloomer, however, I was the type of kid that wrote short stories all through my early schooling. Not long afterward, I saw the movie, “All the President’s Men,” and I was pretty much hooked on the idea of a career in journalism.

One of the biggest concerns facing manufacturing is the skills gap and attracting more people, particularly young people, to a career in manufacturing. From IMTS to ASQ, one overall perspective is the need to expose more people to what is possible from a career in manufacturing and “hook them with the challenge and reward of solving problems just about every day,” a sentiment from the ASQ MQD event.

Whether it winds up being the equivalent of conveying a charming story of a long-past first day of school or a movie about the reporters who broke the story of Watergate, Quality has an abundance of perspective to help us navigate this important issue. Check it all out, including “NextGen: Attracting, Retaining, and Developing the Next Generation in Quality.”

Enjoy and thanks for reading!