Standard Lifeboat is committed to introducing and re-invigorating skill and passion in Australian business teams. Our mission is: making business better with a new level of consciousness and customer focus. While the rest of the world is wondering why "management by objectives" just isn't quite cutting it in the twenty-first century, Standard Lifeboat follows the highly-effective principles of fourth-generation management, recognizing the pioneering work of such teachers as Drs W. Edwards Deming, Joseph M. Juran and Noriaki Kano, together with the later works of Drs Brian L. Joiner and Robert L. Lorber. On receiving the Baldrige Award, Federal Express Chairman Fred Smith responded to the question "What makes the difference between your success and others' lack of it? What management secrets do you have?" His answer, "The only difference between me and them is that I read the books we had in college and do what's in them; others spend time trying to invent things that have already been invented better."