I've been trying to identify the source of this quote or maxim for my upcoming book Healthcare Kaizen: Engaging Front-Line Staff in Sustainable Continuous Improvements.
The quote is:
“The biggest room in the world is the room for improvement.”
I've seen it listed as a Chinese proverb and a Japanese proverb. It's probably one of those “author unknown” situations? If you have a lead, please leave a comment, And, yes, I've tried Google :-)
If you’re working to build a culture where people feel safe to speak up, solve problems, and improve every day, I’d be glad to help. Let’s talk about how to strengthen Psychological Safety and Continuous Improvement in your organization.
I doubt it would be Chinese as the word ‘room’ is idiomatic in English in this expression.
The translation of room in this context would be ‘space’ or ‘air’ which is different from a part of your house.
Can’t speak for Japanese but suspect same issue.
If I was doing it in Chinese, would probably talk about jihui or ‘opportunity’ for improvement.
Got one response via Twitter, but I still don’t think that’s the original source, the self help book that Stewart wrote a few years back.
“The largest room in the world is the room for improvement” – Meiji Stewart
I am looking for the origin as well. Did you ever find the origin? To whom do you attribute this quote?
No, I haven’t figured it out yet, Juliet