The Last Time
The Legacy of Dr. W.E. Deming
In finishing, I’d like to talk about the last time I saw Dr Deming. My son James was very young back then in 1993 and he went to that seminar with me. It was a four-day seminar. At that time Dr Deming was 93 years old, he weighed less than 100 pounds, and disease had pretty much ravaged his body. He had a big oxygen tank on his belt, and they were pumping oxygen into his nose. And he did this seminar all day Tuesday, all day Wednesday, all day Thursday. Friday was the fourth and final day there in Houston. We were sitting up towards the right of the front row. He did the first hour and a half’s lecture that Friday morning. He was coughing and wheezing, having a hard time getting through his notes, and shaking. And came time for the first break there at 9.30 in the morning. One of the seminar participants came up to him and said: “Dr Deming, you’re old, you’re tired, you’re sick, you’re coughing and wheezing”. He said: “Why don’t you cancel the next six hours of the seminar, and go home and get some rest?”. He said: “Nobody will get upset. Everybody here will understand. Why, why, why are you doing this? Why are you punishing yourself?”. I’ll never forget—Dr Deming looked him in the eye and said:
“I’m doing this because I have a responsibility to make a difference.”
We all do.
Neave, Dr. Henry. Day 6 of 12 Days to Deming. (p. 16)
TODAY we mark the twenty-eighth year since the passing of my main inspiration for this newsletter, the late, great Dr. W. Edwards Deming. It’s remarkable to think that after being “rediscovered” in his 80th year (thanks to a bit-part in the NBC White Paper documentary, If Japan Can, Why Can’t We?) he would find his second wind and spend the next thirteen years pounding out two books, delivering hundreds of four-day seminars to thousands of attendees, and consult to the leadership of some of the largest and most well-known companies in the world.
A study in contrasts, Deming the man was at once exceptionally proud of his achievements in helping to kickstart the “Japanese Miracle” that would see their industries take over the world with high quality products, and yet bashful about receiving the Second Order Medal of the Sacred Treasure in 1960 from Emperor Hirohito for his efforts, discounting the recognition in the 1980s as just being “lucky”. Despite influencing so many people to change their thinking about management and how they live their lives, a raison d’etre for his famous four-day seminars, he was not especially buoyant about the impact he’d leave on his own country and fellow citizens:
Yet, as Deming acutely regretted, most of the changes he brought to the United States were largely the indirect result of his efforts in Japan in the late 1940s and 1950s.
Asked once how he would like to be remembered in his native land, he replied, “I probably won’t even be remembered.” After pausing, he added: “Well, maybe . . . as someone who spent his life trying to keep America from committing suicide.”
Lazzareschi, Carla. W.E. Deming, Quality Control Guru, Dies at 93. Los Angeles Times, December 21, 1993.
Perhaps this came as a realization that despite the urgency that drove his early work and the enormous, outsized impact he was having, it wasn’t enough to reverse the decline he foresaw. Deming was once asked how many people it would take to change the direction of a company with his philosophy, and he responded offhandedly the square root of the company’s headcount. One can surmise that applying this rough calculus to a nation like America would not be inspiring, especially with the knowledge that the required changes would be irregular, discontinuous, and prone to setbacks and abandonments.
A bit of trivia at this juncture that I learned a couple of years ago: Did you know the only Member of Congress in the House of Representatives to actively reach out to Dr. Deming to learn about his philosophy was Newt Gingrich? Not only that, Gingrich was so inspired by him as to create and deliver his own seminars to evangelize Deming’s philosophy. Strange, but all true!
Carrying On: The Deming Institute
Despite his less-than-optimistic outlook on the future and his own influence, not to mention his waning health, Dr. Deming prepared to fire one last arrow from his quiver into the future a few months before his death by founding a non-profit, charitable organization with his daughters to continue his teachings: The Deming Institute. From 1993 to 2011, the Institute operated primarily with volunteers, and selected Deming’s own grandson in 2008 to oversee operations as Vice President, who would ascend to Executive Director in 2011.
To-date, the Institute has advanced its mandate, having hosted numerous workshops and annual conferences, not to mention sponsoring scholarships, starting at podcast, and now developing a completely virtual online academy for learning Dr. Deming’s teachings. If you can, consider supporting the Deming Institute with a donation so they can continue their work in keeping Dr. Deming’s legacy alive.
Personally, Dr. Deming’s influence reached me through the Institute when I attended their 2.5 Day Seminar for Executives and Owners in 2017, something I’d long-wanted to do, and consequently led to meeting Kevin Cahill, Kelly Allan, Dr. Bill Bellows, Dick Steele of Peaker Services, and hearing and learning from many others who had undertaken their own Deming transformations. It was catalyzing to see people from so many different backgrounds all advancing their learning of Dr. Deming’s philosophy on management, with some attending for their 2nd or 3rd time - just as some would do for Deming’s four-day seminars in the past.
Outsized Influence: Where, Now?
In his talk for the 2014 Deming Institute Fall Conference on Deming’s “Stage 0” of his model of production viewed as a system, Ron Moen prefaced his remarks with the wisdom of a 17th century Japanese poet. This has stuck with me when I think about Dr. Deming’s influence.
For many people, their first exposure to Deming’s thinking will be naive and facile before progressing into deeper waters. After you go through all the “greatest hits” of the 14 Points, the Red Bead Experiment, The Funnel Experiment, and the System of Profound Knowledge, where do you go next? There is no instruction manual, no courseware nor online video or webinar to guide you. You’re on your own. This is the ultimate challenge that takes you from inculcating the lessons and repeating them by rote to transcending them. What did Dr. Deming seek? What should we seek, now?
I think above all else Dr. Deming wanted us to think for ourselves and not to blindly accept whatever folklore was presented to us as a common-sense way to view and explain various organizational and societal phenomena. His System of Profound Knowledge is open enough to begin our inquiry, to find new paths where his footsteps petered off. Are there only four domains of knowledge? Or are there others that are yet to be discovered beyond Appreciation for a System, Variation, Theory of Knowledge, and Psychology? Are we even prepared enough to find out? How will we know?
As we’ve explored in previous posts, it all begins with a hunch, with a theory about what our interventions or actions in the world will bring forth as we try to improve. From there, the road goes ever on and on…
Merry Christmas, Happy New Year!
Today marks the 56th instalment of The Digestible Deming newsletter, which I started with the aim to break down the “greatest hits” of Dr. Deming’s philosophy into short, “bite-sized” essays to provoke the interest and curiosity of readers. It’s my hope that they can serve to ignite new Deming transformations into the future, and create new avenues of thinking beyond what was left to us decades ago. I hope you agree, and find them useful.
I’ll be taking a break from writing over the holidays, resuming in the New Year provided my kids can return to in-person schooling. I hope you and your families enjoy a very merry Christmas and that the New Year brings you good health, happiness, and prosperity.