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In Their Own Words

In Their Own Words

The Deming Institute 204 Episodes Oct 12, 2026

Interviews with members of The Deming Institute community, including industry leaders, practitioners, educators, Deming family members and others who share their stories of transformation and success through the innovative management and quality theories of Dr. W. Edwards Deming.

Episodes

Don't Just Do Something
Don't Just Do Something Oct 12, 2026 24:47 What do you fix first when everything seems to need attention? Caroline faced that question while helping former students navigate life beyond United Schools. She wanted to jump in and start fixing everything, but she took a surprising step instead. In this episode, John Dues shares how a simple Post-it exercise helped them clarify what was affecting much of her department's work and gave Caroline
A New Lens with Balaji Reddie (Part 9)
A New Lens with Balaji Reddie (Part 9) Oct 5, 2026 55:05 What if the way you measure performance is actually making your organization worse? Balaji Reddie and Andrew Stotz dig into Points 7 through 9 of Deming's 14 Points: leadership as a Socratic act of asking rather than answering, why 'drive out fear' is really about removing the fear of telling the truth, and how breaking down departmental silos sometimes means one team taking a loss for the good of
John Willis: Why AI's Biggest Problem Isn't Technology
John Willis: Why AI's Biggest Problem Isn't Technology Sep 28, 2026 01:06:01 What if your AI strategy is creating more risk than progress? John Willis joins Andrew Stotz to trace how Deming's System of Profound Knowledge shaped the way he thinks about organizations, learning, and change. From his early days building DevOps to the AI transformations he's navigating with CIOs today. Along the way, John connects Deming to fast feedback loops, explains why leaders keep mistaki
A New Lens with Balaji Reddie (Part 8)
A New Lens with Balaji Reddie (Part 8) Sep 22, 2026 46:06 What if your cheapest supplier is secretly your riskiest? Balaji Reddie unpacks Deming's Points 4, 5, and 6 with Andrew Stotz by exploring Deming's thinking on suppliers, continual improvement, and training. Why do strong relationships matter more than short-term savings? Why should problems be welcomed? Do people perform differently when they understand the purpose behind their work? Balaji uses
Are You Learning or Just Staying Busy?
Are You Learning or Just Staying Busy? Sep 7, 2026 28:49 If you've led an organization or a team for more than a few years, you've probably watched the same problems resurface again and again. Different initiatives. Different people. Same underlying issues.   In this episode, John Dues joins Andrew Stotz to dig into a puzzle Dr. Deming pointed to decades ago: "Experience without theory teaches nothing." John unpacks what Deming meant: experience doesn'
A New Lens with Balaji Reddie (Part 7)
A New Lens with Balaji Reddie (Part 7) Aug 31, 2026 42:55 What did Dr. Deming really mean when he said to "cease dependence on mass inspection"?    In this episode, Balaji Reddie and host Andrew Stotz unpack why one Ford manager's decision to fire his inspection team missed the point entirely. They explain how inspection can help leaders understand and improve the process, rather than simply sort good from bad.    They also explore why Deming's 14 Points
From Teacher to The Deming Institute Leader: Jake Rodgers' Story
From Teacher to The Deming Institute Leader: Jake Rodgers' Story Aug 24, 2026 34:52 "Once you see it, you can't unsee it." What starts as a teacher's search to reduce conflict can become a lifelong journey in leadership and transformation. In this episode, Jake Rodgers shares how discovering Dr. Deming's philosophy changed the way he thinks about teaching, leadership, parenting, and work. From fifth-grade classrooms to leading The W. Edwards Deming Institute, Jake reflects on the
Why Strategic Plans Fail (And What Actually Works Instead)
Why Strategic Plans Fail (And What Actually Works Instead) Aug 17, 2026 25:35 Why do good strategic plans so often fail to produce different results? John Dues joins Andrew Stotz to explore a simple idea: organizations do not run on strategic plans. They run on the routines leaders and teams follow every day. From meetings and priorities to problem solving and learning, those routines form the management system that shapes results. Listen to a practical conversation about
A New Lens with Balaji Reddie (Part 6)
A New Lens with Balaji Reddie (Part 6) Jul 27, 2026 43:08 What happens when an organization gets so focused on results that it forgets why it exists? Andrew Stotz and Balaji Reddie dig into the first of Deming's 14 Points, constancy of purpose, using stories like Harvard's answer to Deming's challenge to define a business and Indian manufacturers who pivoted to build PPE during the pandemic. This conversation may change how you think about success, profi
A New Lens with Balaji Reddie (Part 5)
A New Lens with Balaji Reddie (Part 5) Jul 20, 2026 46:10 "Every time this child was proven wrong, he learned something new." In this episode, Andrew Stotz continues his conversation with Balaji Reddie as they explore two essential elements of Dr. Deming's System of Profound Knowledge: the Theory of Knowledge and Psychology. Through the memorable story of a young boy trying to understand how his father's scooter starts, Balaji illustrates how we build
Go Small or Go Home
Go Small or Go Home Jul 13, 2026 22:57 What if the best leaders are not the ones with the biggest ideas? In this episode, John Dues argues that the leaders who make the greatest impact are the ones who create the fastest learning cycles. John and Andrew Stotz explore why small tests often outperform large initiatives, how PDSA builds real organizational knowledge, and why improvement is a learning process, not an implementation proces
A New Lens with Balaji Reddie (Part 4)
A New Lens with Balaji Reddie (Part 4) Jun 29, 2026 40:33 What if better management starts with seeing connections that were there all along? In this conversation, Balaji Reddie and Andrew Stotz unpack one of the most powerful and overlooked ideas in management: that everything is connected. Drawing on Dr. W. Edwards Deming's systems thinking, he explains why the problems we face today were set in motion long before we noticed them, and why the solutions

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