“It is what it is.” I’m hearing that a lot now. I’m OK with it if someone is using it as a shortcut to mean something like the Serenity Prayer. But more and more, I’m hearing people use it in a way that sounds like an expression of helplessness and futility.

As “it is what it is” permeates into casual speech, it molds our thoughts into a state of pliable acceptance, rather than an eagerness to undertake and overcome challenges. It’s the language of a fading colonial power realizing that the “winds of change” beyond its control will blow it about like a floppy rag doll. It’s not the language of innovation and fortitude we have come to expect from modern societies creating and experiencing the best human conditions in history.

What does that have to do with quality? I think the history of quality offers an interesting parallel, and maybe a way through this paradigmatic funk.

 …