Commencing in 2014, The Deming Institute has recorded podcasts on a monthly basis, featuring 20 to 30-minute interviews by Tripp Babbitt with members of the Deming Community who are advancing the use and explanations of Dr. Deming's ideas.   Beginning in 2016, Tripp introduced a second series of podcasts, with a focus on current events, coupled with commentary from Dr. Deming, sessions titled “10 Minutes with Dr. Deming.”  

In the 5th 10 Minutes episode, Tripp explores the need for layoffs and prospects for organizational improvement through the utilization of Dr. Deming’s management method in the 21st century.   

To borrow from the opening page of Dr. Deming’s book, The New Economics,

The people of the word no longer live in isolation…..People make comparisons….Anybody else lives better, so everybody supposes...
People blame their plight on to the government and its leaders, or to management and its leaders.   They may be correct.  But will change in leadership assure better living?    What if the new leaders are no better?   How could they be?   How much time have new leaders to demonstrate that they have brought a better life?   By what method could new leaders bring improvement in living? 

Using excerpts of interviews with Dr. Deming, dating back to 1980, Tripp reminds us of Dr. Deming’s vision of guiding leaders, whether Mayor or President, Democrat or Republican, University Chancellor or Vice President of Finance, Hospital Administrator or Police Chief, away from “best efforts and hard work, not guided by new knowledge, they only dig deeper the pit that we are in."   

Dr. Deming’s aim in writing The New Economics was to bring new knowledge.  “This book,” he wrote, “will teach and explore some basic ground rules of knowledge for change.”  In this podcast, hear Dr. Deming talk about the Japanese industrial miracle, the use of statistical methods and statistical thinking, including their roles and their limits, the job of management, productivity, and crisis management.   

 

If you have comments or suggestions for future 10 Minutes with Dr. Deming topics, please contact Tripp at [email protected] or through Twitter @demingpodcast.