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W. Edwards Deming, American statistician and management thinker whose ideas rebuilt postwar Japanese industry, gets quoted everywhere and sourced almost nowhere. The 8 quotes below are different: each one is checked word for word against the cited work, starting with Out of the Crisis, not copied from aggregator sites that pass misattributions along. The source is named under every line, so you can trace each quote back to the page it came from.
Read W. Edwards Deming's full profile and how they reason →7 verified quotes
On blaming yourself for failing inside a broken process:
A bad system will beat a good person every time.W. Edwards Deming, Out of the Crisis
On working hard at the wrong thing:
It is not enough to do your best; you must know what to do, and then do your best.W. Edwards Deming, Out of the Crisis
On why your team hides problems from you:
Drive out fear, so that everyone may work effectively for the company.W. Edwards Deming, Out of the Crisis
On catching mistakes after the fact instead of preventing them:
Cease dependence on inspection to achieve quality. Build quality into the product in the first place.W. Edwards Deming, Out of the Crisis
On choosing long term partners over cheaper one off deals:
The result of long term relationships is better and better quality, and lower and lower costs.W. Edwards Deming, Out of the Crisis
On why change has to start with how you think, not just what you do:
Long term commitment to new learning and new philosophy is required of any management that seeks transformation.W. Edwards Deming, Out of the Crisis
On motivating people with a poster instead of a better system:
Eliminate slogans, exhortations, and targets for the workforce asking for zero defects and new levels of productivity.W. Edwards Deming, Out of the Crisis
1 verified quote
On expecting a new tool to fix a people problem:
The transformation can only be done by man, not hardware.W. Edwards Deming, The New Economics