Competition should not be for a share of the market-but to expand the market.
W. Edwards DemingRead
The average American worker has fifty interruptions a day, of which seventy percent have nothing to do with work.
Interpretation
This quote highlights the distractions and non-work-related interruptions that impede productivity in the workplace.
W. Edwards Deming emphasizes the challenges faced by the average American worker, who experiences numerous interruptions throughout their workday. A staggering seventy percent of these interruptions are irrelevant to their actual jobs, suggesting that the work environment can often be chaotic and fragmented, ultimately affecting overall productivity and job satisfaction.
In practice
In a seminar on workplace efficiency, a speaker could use this quote to illustrate the importance of minimizing distractions.
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.
I have a job I'm pretty good at. I am in charge of things. I am on committees. People respect me and take my counsel. I want to be strong and professional, but I resent how hard I have to work to be taken seriously, to receive a fraction of the consideration I might otherwise receive.
That's the great irony of allowing passionate people to work from home. A manager's natural instinct is to worry that her workers aren't getting enough work done. But the real threat is that they will wind up working too hard. And because the manager isn't sitting across from her worker anymore, she can't look in the person's eyes and see burnout.
A day's work is a day's work, neither more nor less, and the man or woman who does it needs a day's sustenance, a night's repose and due leisure, whether they be painter or ploughman.
Do not hire a man who does your work for money, but him who does it for love of it.
I love to be busy. I'm envious of people who are able to take their spare time and relax. All I like to do is work. Perhaps it's lingering Calvinist guilt?
When you start to confuse Freddie Mac, Sallie Mae and Fannie Mae with members of your family, and you remember 2,000 stock symbols but forget the children's birthdays, there's a good chance you've become too wrapped up in your work.
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