The Little Book of Big Management Wisdom

QUOTATION 37

EDWARD DEMING ON BUILDING CREDIBILITY WITH FOLLOWERS

Use this to help you build credibility with your staff.

Edward Deming (1900–93) was the foremost authority on quality improvement in the second half of the twentieth century. A fierce critic of management, which he thought was responsible for over 90 per cent of all the problems, he argued that:

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

Edward Deming

One of the most pernicious lies about leaders is that, if they can lead a factory, they are equally capable of leading a fashion house because leadership skills are generic and therefore transferable. What rubbish. Leaders must have credibility with their followers ...