The Next Leap in Productivity: What Top Managers Really Need to Know about Information Technology

1.6. Beyond the Numbers

Juran viewed quality management as more than a system of esoteric numerical techniques for reducing errors in manufacturing processes. He saw quality management as a way of making the world a better place. He was a brilliant and decent man.

Although I was trained as a theoretical physicist, I consider myself a student of the great philosophers of modern business—visionary thinkers such as Juran, W. Edwards Deming, and Peter Drucker.

What their teachings share, I believe, is a sense that business is about more than business results. Business is about life. Good businesses—that is, businesses that are well organized and well managed—improve the lives of their employees, customers, and stakeholders.

Bad businesses, however, affect life negatively. When a business is poorly organized and mismanaged, especially if it is a large business, many people suffer.

If parts of this book seem like angry rants against mismanagement, it is because I believe passionately in the power and potential of a well-run business to accomplish good things.