Fit to Compete

Introduction

Why Your Strategy Needs an Honest Conversation

Management systems require knowledge of the interrelationships between all components within the system and of everybody that works in it.

—W. Edwards Deming, presentation at Western Connecticut University, February 1990

“Courage is the most important of all the virtues, because without courage you can’t practice any other virtue consistently. You can practice any virtue erratically, but nothing consistently without courage.”

—Maya Angelou, as quoted in Diversity: Leaders Not Labels, by Stedman Graham

In 2010, Ed Ludwig, CEO of global medical technology maker Becton Dickinson (BD), was a year away from his planned retirement but was by no means ready to coast. In fact, he and his designated ...