Guest post by Mike Stoecklein I’ve been involved with healthcare most of my life. I blogged about my experience in healthcare back in 2011 and described how my “hope level” for improvement in healthcare has gone up and down like a sine-wave pattern over the last 20-30 years. I described this as “I can’t tell […]

By John Hunter, founder of CuriousCat.com. Join us November 6 to 8 for the First Annual Deming in Education Conference at the Cedarbrook Lodge in Seattle, Washington. See the agenda. Hear the stories of leaders who are challenging the status quo to create exceptional learning environments that preserves our children’s natural curiosity and “yearning for […]

By John Hunter, author of the Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog. our system of make-and-inspect, which if applied to making toast would be expressed: “You burn, I’ll scrape.” Joe Sensennbrer quoting Dr. Deming in his article, Quality Comes to City Hall This wonderful quote highlights Dr. Deming’s ability to use humor and create a simple […]

By John Hunter, founder of CuriousCat.com. W. Edwards Deming enjoyed meeting the local people during the course of his business travels. This photo was taken in Greece in 1946. We have been posting old photos of Dr. Deming to our Facebook page for throwback Thursdays. Check it out to see more photos of Dr. Deming. […]

By John Hunter, author of the Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog (since 2004). This recent article, Has Uber Forced Taxi Drivers to Step Up Their Game?, explores how competition from Uber has pressured the legacy taxi business to improve customer service. In exploring whether the data supports the idea that there has been an effort […]

"Get out of the motivation business. Create a work environment where people love to come to work and do their work." - Kelly Allan

By John Hunter, author of the Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog. It is easy to become so busy with work that seems urgent today that you don’t find time for the important-but-not-urgent work. Failing to prioritize the important-but-not-urgent work is a common weakness in business today. To counter this situation you should build into your […]

By John Hunter, founder of CuriousCat.com. This year The W. Edwards Deming Institute’s conference will be held in September. The theme of the conference is Next Generation Leadership: Disruptive by Design. Join us September 18th to the 20th at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa for the 2015 annual conference. Speakers: Jim Benson, Founding Partner, […]

By John Hunter, author of the Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog (since 2004). Motivation – nonsense. All that people need to know is why their work is important. W. Edwards Deming, From a speech at General Motors in 1992: Introduction to a System. The Essential Deming We do a great disservice to our organizations when […]

By John Hunter, author of the Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog (since 2004). Paula Marshall, CEO, The Bama Companies presentation at The W. Edwards Deming Institute 2014 annual conference. Her company bakes all the apple pies for McDonalds. When the quality issues were failing to meet McDonalds rising expectations in 1988, she was told to […]