Стандарты качества: как высокие амбиции и минимальные нормы формируют устойчивый рынок

Last week I wrote about our community’s legacy of leadership in sustainability, including how leading corporations and individuals from West Georgia and East Alabama helped develop the globally recognized LEED Green Building Rating System. As a part of recognizing and celebrating the good seeds that thousands of our neighbors have helped to plant, I’d like to dive a little deeper together on how standards work to transform markets for the better for the benefit of the people they serve. Standards can do two things – set a high bar for leadership or set a minimum floor for performance. Both functions play an important role delivering good jobs, products, and services. LEED, the inspiration for which originated from our very own carpet industry, was designed to set a high bar for leadership – specifically for “Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.” That’s why it is called a “rating system” rather than a “standard” to avoid potential confusion. Setting a high bar for leadership challenges the most innovative and competitive companies and people in an industry to reach for the stars. And when you achieve a high standard – if the standard itself is doing its job to deliver better performance – then the resulting recognition of achievement makes the companies, products, and services that achieve the standard more competitive. Delivering on that promise drives LEED’s success. Commercial buildings that achieve LEED certification use less energy and water, cost less to operate, are healthier for the people who work in them, and drive a premium in the market. Energy StarTM, which is a federal government standard, serves a similar purpose. Not only do Energy Star appliances use less energy and help keep your bills down, the competitive dominance of Energy Star appliances helps keep poor-quality imports out of the US market. Minimum standards that set the floor are different. These types of standards are designed to unite industries behind practical standards that – for example – make sure that systems from different manufacturers work together. The Betamax vs. VHS home video wars of the 1980s is a good example of why industry minimum standards are important for consumers. Other kinds of minimum standards – like building codes – are designed to protect people from poor performance or hazardous conditions. Knowing your new home meets contemporary building energy codes, for example, means you can be pretty confident you’ll be able to afford the monthly electricity bill. Very importantly, good leadership and good minimum standards are developed by diverse committees that include representation from many different voices – including consumer advocates and third-party experts alongside industry representatives. So long as everyone around the table is united in purpose – not trying to spoil the process with corrupt intentions – respectful disagreements and the work of building consensus mean the resulting standard will serve us all that much better. If everyone around the table agrees, you’re missing an important perspective.