The Myth of Uniformity

Around the time of the American Civil War, gun manufacturers Colt and Smith & Wesson popularized interchangeable parts for production. This uniformity was wonderful because it meant that companies could begin producing in volume. Within decades, factories around the world began to make affordable even products as complex as cars.

Companies became enamored of uniformity and quality has been frequently seen as synonymous with minimal variation. Well, that depends.

If you have a community in which every person is the same, you have little basis for economic progress. Trade is one key to progress and if you can trade your furs for my salmon, we both do better. If all you have is salmon and all I have is salmon, there is not much we can do to improve life for one another. Variation actually improves the quality of life in many domains.

It is a very big leap to make to go from encouraging uniformity in production parts to encouraging uniformity in school children or employees. Yet many communities have done exactly that. If we are serious about creating organizations in which individuals are allowed to realize their potential, we have to get serious about finding ways to create the equivalent of internal markets that allow each person to find a niche, whether it is hunting fur or fishing for salmon, that brings value to the organization.

No one ever realized his potential through conformity. And no community ever fully realized its potential without encouraging its members to realize theirs. Don’t encourage uniformity with your people. You have machines for that.