Sower article

Quality programs that focus on continuous improvement are vital in providing incremental improvement of processes, products, and services in an existing technological paradigm. These programs view quality as being measurable in some quantitative way. Breakthrough improvement that leads to development of new paradigms requires thinking of quality in a different way. The transcendent view of quality is necessary for development of paradigm-shifting technologies. Plato’s divided line represents four stages of awareness. The understanding stage is necessary for effective continuous improvement but inadequate for paradigmshifting improvement. That requires Plato’s insight stage of awareness. Drawing from Plato’s divided line model, this article develops the approach to quality that is best suited for developing radical innovations.