These opening statements were prepared some 13 years after Dr. Deming was invited to help the "Big 3" with their quality problems and, instead, presented them with a new management philosophy.  For leaders still eager to move beyond best efforts alone, a great source of insight into Dr. Deming's enduring  philosophy and it's widespread applicability can be found in the Deming Video Library, a 32-volume set prepared by Clare Crawford-Mason and her husband, Bob Mason, in the 1980s.  Links to buy discounted copies of 4 of these volumes follows below, as part of a regular discount offer to our members.  A recent "letter to the editor" from Clare and Bob with their perspectives on "What Would Deming Say" to the Big 3 was recently published in the Washington Times, with advice that is all too familiar to those who have studied their video library and taken leadership roles with implementation efforts, however large or small.
 

Regarding the every timely topic of leadership, the July 21st edition of Time magazine included a Nelson Mandela cover story, complete with his leadership lessons; 8 to be sure.  Included are "courage is not the absence of fear - it's inspiring others to move beyond it (#1) and "nothing is black or white" (#7).  Mandela also adds his perspective on problems and, in so doing, borrows a few pages from Russ Ackoff.  According to Mandela, "Every problem has many causes."  In the cover story, he is credited with acknowledging that the causes of apartheid were complex; "they were historical, sociological, and psychological."  As Russ might remind us, the adjective in front of the word problem does nothing but provide us with the vantage point of the observer.  In short order, it follows that problems have more than one "root cause," and in relentlessly searching for the suspected "sole" cause, the observer will always find it.  What might happen if the observer then proceeded to change vantage points and find others causes to a problem and then realize the systemic nature of the mess?  Now, that would be an example of leadership that many of us would find refreshing.

For a fitting example of leadership at an early age, follow this link to a video of Severn Cullis-Suzuki, filmed in 1992, when she was 12.  At 29, she continues her mission of reminding us to act with the future in mind.

 

As we look ahead to 2009, we hope our newsletter and annual Forum, plus our partnership with Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne's monthly "Ongoing Discussions" sessions can be of great use to our community of leaders in provoking a better awareness of the difference between solutions which serve to rearrange the parts in the current system (reformation, per Russ Ackoff) or a movement to focus on the interactions between the parts of the system(transformation, per Russ).  At issue is not the value proposition of a timely rearrangement of the parts, but an awareness that these recurring solutions do not create a transformation in how we understand systems, variation, people, knowledge, and their multiple interactions.  The aim of our Network is to foster conversations among our members about the potential of such a transformation focus and provide peer guidance on how effective leaders manage interactions.