Serendipity. It is “the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way.” So, a happy coincidence, as I’ve heard it described. For me, it always had a little more meaning to it. Perhaps it was the complexity of the word when I first heard it, but it always felt like more than just a coincidence. More like a “meaningful connection.”

My full misunderstanding of a word aside, I always applied serendipity to hearing a song for the first time and catching that meaningful lyric, or the emotion of a melody, that spoke to you in that very moment. That meshed with exactly what you were feeling or experiencing. It’s happened to me a couple of times. I’m sure it has for many others as well. The connection was so strong I felt compelled to buy the CD (back when they still had CDs), if anything, to reward the artist(s) for creating the perfect song, in the perfect moment (at least from my perspective).

I’m sure the same could be said for movies and television. In fact, I’ve heard art and artists described in the vein of “An artist's job is to captivate you for however long we've asked for your attention,” which is a quote from a character on a television show called The West Wing.

Sticking with television, I actually started contemplating a subject for this column when I had convinced myself my idea was not original, that I must have read it in someone else’s writings, or perhaps had already tackled the subject myself in one of my previous columns. As I continued to mull my proposed subject, or find a new one, I caught an episode of South Park. As his alter ego, Super Villain Professor Chaos, Butters spouts off a series of ways to exact his revenge on the small town that scorned him. As he does so, his sidekick, General Disarray, informs him, “The Simpsons did it,” shooting down every one of the ideas of Professor Chaos, who is looking for only an original idea. The end result of the episode is a determination that a show that has been on as long as The Simpsons is bound to have explored a ton of ideas, making it okay if another were to explore a similar idea. One of the other characters on the show actually points out that one of The Simpsons’ seminal Halloween episodes was actually a parody of a Twilight Zone episode.

Having scene this episode of South Park, I decided to pursue my idea for this column. Serendipity? At least by my definition. And I’m sure you and/or your company would like to create that connection with your clients and customers. Have them thinking of a solution for their business and come across your marketing efforts, describing exactly the solution they need.

Quality hopes to provide you with that same sense of serendipity (well, my sense). So, check out everything we have to offer in this month’s Quality.

Enjoy and thanks for reading!