The Quest for Ascendant Quality: An Introduction to Contemporary Philosophy and Methods for Strategically Orchestrating the Transformation Towards & Beyond Quality Excellence in Everything You Do

The Quest for Ascendant Quality introduces the philosophical idea that human aspiration, strategy, quality, and risk are interrelated as elements of a conceptual system. This can be understood through an example. When the quality of a product and service is excellent, the probability of a successful strategy is high and the risk of poor performance is low. On the other hand, when quality is poor the risk of poor performance is high and the ability of the strategy to succeed may decrease. (Note that any deviation from quality excellence – whether it’s due to innovative speculation or the use of sub-par resources - introduces risk.) Because each element of this conceptual system is interrelated, each element must be redefined in relation to the others. This results in a set of useful definitions which help people understand the aspects of performance that must be affected to create effective strategic quality. In a sense this is the opposite of brainstorming because rather than being unstructured quality’s conceptual system provides a simple, comprehensive, generic model enabling readers to assess actual or planned performance supporting all forms of creative effort. Quality’s conceptual system is modeled on the way people, and thus civilizations, throughout history, have progressively conceived of and created the greatest products and services imaginable. The methods are well defended using examples of historical episodes and strategic communication. As case studies develop, principles and practices that follow from the Process Enrichment philosophy are introduced. A technique called Saile Charting enables readers to create a visual model showing the relationship between strategy, quality, and risk for any organization, project, product and service.

The Process Enrichment philosophy presented in The Quest for Ascendant Quality is about improving the products and services customers actually get in order to make them more strategically effective and desirable to customers. Thus it provides a stand-alone methodology for improving performance for a solo creative effort or for a huge organizational effort where using the process approach via CMMI or ISO 9001 may also be desired. Practitioners of lean Six Sigma will find the more correct and useful definitions of strategy, quality, and risk transformative for their tool set. The power of a quality focused mindset will also be transformative for scrum teams.

The Quest for Ascendant Quality with its philosophy, definitions, principles and practices will be found useful in improving the quality of everything you acquire or create and the services you provide in any industry. Supported by examples of great creative work, case studies of momentous historic events and original insight – The Quest for Ascendant Quality is a reading adventure and a good action story with the power to improve your creative talent for decades to come.

Special Features / Cases 
The Process Enrichment® Philosophy 
The Ascendant Strategy model (quality’s conceptual system) 
Coascendancy 
Definitions of strategy, quality, and the standard of quality excellence 
The hierarchy of quality’s six Themes of Performance 
The Balanced Enterprise Strategic Themes (BEST) framework 
The U.S.S. Indianapolis 
Aluminized Explosives (“Most Secret”) 
The LZ 129 Hindenburg 
The Battle of the Atlantic 
The Final Voyage of the R.M.S. Titanic 
The Battle of Britain 
Visual strategic communication using Saile charts 
Operation Focus & The Six Day War 
The Parable of the Fearless Slugger 
Definitions of risk and risk’s life cycle 
Composing a Strategy to Circumvent the Risk of IEDs Emplaced in Roadways 
NASA’s Space Shuttle Program and The Fearlessness Effect 
The Ascendant Theory of Motivation