W. Edwards Deming

Competition should not be for a share of the market-but to expand the market.

The job can't be finished only improved to please the customer.

Don't expect smart people to listen to you without proof.

Quality begins with the intent, which is fixed by management.

Learn the basics of analytics and people will love you. If you don't have time to learn, hire someone.

Just because you can measure everything doesn't mean that you should.

The only useful function of a statistician is to make predictions, and thus to provide a basis for action.

The average American worker has fifty interruptions a day, of which seventy percent have nothing to do with work.

He that would run his company on visible figures alone will in time have neither company nor figures.

Eighty-five percent of the reasons for failure are deficiencies in the systems and process rather than the employee. The role of management is to change the process rather than badgering individuals to do better.

People with targets and jobs dependent upon meeting them will probably meet the targets - even if they have to destroy the enterprise to do it.

To manage one must lead. To lead, one must understand the work that he and his people are responsible for

When a system is stable, telling the worker about mistakes is only tampering.

You can only elevate individual performance by elevating that of the entire system.

No one knows the cost of a defective product - don't tell me you do. You know the cost of replacing it, but not the cost of a dissatisfied customer.

Without theory, there are no questions.

Information is not knowledge. Let's not confuse the two.

Long-term commitment to new learning and new philosophy is required of any management that seeks transformation. The timid and the fainthearted, and the people that expect quick results, are doomed to disappointment.

A system must be managed. It will not manage itself.

All anyone asks for is a chance to work with pride.

Eliminate numerical quotas, including Management by Objectives.