What matters? — Quantity or Quality
“Will you choose quality over quantity or quantity over quality?” — asked one of my friends while we were discussing general topics over a morning walk. And, this is an open-ended question that needs context. I totally agree if you are asked this question and your answer is — ‘It depends’ — on the person, situation, place, thing, etc….
Most of us who grew up in Indian middle-class families had this notion that whatever is expensive is of quality or in other words quality is expensive. Then we started moving unconsciously towards getting more (quantity) by paying less aka being economical. And, before we realized consumerism has changed the world around us with jargon like — festive offers, year-end-sale, buy 1 get 1, 50% extra, and what not.
You may think you hit a bargain when you buy a nice shirt from an unknown brand in a dingy shop, but before you even get to wear it, it’s fallen apart. Or you wear and/or wash it, and the pink shirt is now a yucky orange. In essence, value is more important than volume. You pursue maximizing value (aka quality) over maximizing volume or amount (aka quantity). It plays the same for the food we eat, the kind of friends we have, the relationships we build, the experiences we engage in, and so on. So most of us will agree that quality is above quantity.
Above philosophy of seeing quality and quantity as two posts of a football field holds true mostly when you are trying to look from the transactional point of view where you give something to get something immediately or eventually. It’s quite interesting to see how the equation changes when it involves creativity, innovation, leadership, decision-making, etc. at the personal or organizational level.
If someone wants to achieve mastery in flute — they will have to go through many hours or even days of practice (quantity) before they will be able to play starting musical notes (quality). A painter makes multiple (quantity) ordinary paintings before the outcome is worth appreciating (quality). Einstein failed 900+ times (quantity) before discovering the electric bulb (quality — that changed life for everyone). Successful people make good decisions after learning from many bad decisions they made in the past. The Kohlis, the Tendulkars, the Messis, the Ronaldos in sport, the Bose’, Martin Luthers in politics, the Michelangelos, and Picassos in arts — all of them went through quantity to achieve quality and finally mastery. The insurance salesperson goes through numerous NOs (quantity) to get a YES for a sale. Recruiters follow it for hiring candidates. The very origin of mankind follows the same principle when millions of sperm compete through the process before fertilization becomes successful.
The above examples signify that quality is achieved through quantity when we take into consideration intangible outcomes involving a skill, an art, or high-value outcomes.
Though all of us desire for quality but quantity cannot be sidelined and it very much depends on the context of the desired outcome.
Have a great day !!
