I don’t claim to be qualified to advise other quality professionals. However, having had an opportunity to work for many years in this field with reasonable results and also having made my share of mistakes, I’ve observed that certain qualities help make a successful quality professional. I didn’t possess many of these qualities and learned several lessons the hard way. I’ve listed these qualities below, in case you find them useful.

The best quality professionals are the customers

Be a customer of your business, and hire customers in the quality department. I found that the easiest way (rather, the only way) to see things from the customer’s perspective is to become a customer myself. What better way to experience what your customers do and empathize with them? I also found it useful to hire customers in the quality department. The next best option is to encourage quality employees to become customers. Putting oneself in the customer’s shoes all the time is a trait that must come naturally if one is to be a successful quality professional. I believe that customers would make some of the best employees not only in the quality department, but in most other functions as well.

 …