"We are here to make another world"
About this Quote
The words sound utopian, but from W. Edwards Deming they are a practical mandate. A statistician and architect of modern quality management, Deming spent his career showing that organizations and societies are built, not inherited. If the current world of work produces waste, fear, and mediocrity, make another one: redesign the systems that yield those outcomes.
Deming argued that most problems arise from the system, not from the people inside it. That conviction turns the sentence into an ethics of responsibility. Do not blame workers; reimagine processes. Do not accept defects as inevitable; change the method by which work is done. The word make matters. Improvement is not a wish but a craft, rooted in data, experiment, and learning. Plan-Do-Study-Act is not a slogan but a disciplined way to create a different reality.
Another world points beyond incremental tweaks. Deming challenged the reigning assumptions of 20th-century management: short-term financial targets, inspection over prevention, competition within firms, fear as a motivator. His 14 points and the system of profound knowledge urged constancy of purpose, cooperation, knowledge of variation, and respect for psychology. When postwar Japanese industry embraced these ideas, the change was not cosmetic. Quality became built-in, workers were treated as partners in learning, and markets noticed. A different managerial world produced different social outcomes: reliability, pride in work, and long-term prosperity.
The phrase is also humane. Making another world means designing institutions that do not waste human potential. Deming linked quality to dignity, arguing that joy in work is a valid aim and a source of better results. The call is not to escape this world but to remake it through better systems and better relationships. Individuals have agency when they collaborate to alter the conditions under which they operate. Measured innovation, patience, and courage can turn aspiration into architecture.
Deming argued that most problems arise from the system, not from the people inside it. That conviction turns the sentence into an ethics of responsibility. Do not blame workers; reimagine processes. Do not accept defects as inevitable; change the method by which work is done. The word make matters. Improvement is not a wish but a craft, rooted in data, experiment, and learning. Plan-Do-Study-Act is not a slogan but a disciplined way to create a different reality.
Another world points beyond incremental tweaks. Deming challenged the reigning assumptions of 20th-century management: short-term financial targets, inspection over prevention, competition within firms, fear as a motivator. His 14 points and the system of profound knowledge urged constancy of purpose, cooperation, knowledge of variation, and respect for psychology. When postwar Japanese industry embraced these ideas, the change was not cosmetic. Quality became built-in, workers were treated as partners in learning, and markets noticed. A different managerial world produced different social outcomes: reliability, pride in work, and long-term prosperity.
The phrase is also humane. Making another world means designing institutions that do not waste human potential. Deming linked quality to dignity, arguing that joy in work is a valid aim and a source of better results. The call is not to escape this world but to remake it through better systems and better relationships. Individuals have agency when they collaborate to alter the conditions under which they operate. Measured innovation, patience, and courage can turn aspiration into architecture.
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