Systems Intelligence & Deming Druid Metaphor

["Jim Clauson, Breakthrough Systems" <jim@jclauson.com>]

Forwarded for Clare:

As a writer, I admire his metaphors: Deming Druids worshiping at a religion 
long out of style; trying to teach the color-blind how to determine 
different shades of green…good stuff

I am cheered by his figure that 30-40 percent of the population has the 
abstraction skills to understand what I would call systems thinking. The 
figure from a Harvard PhD thesis that I heard about was only 20 percent.

Anyway, not to worry. In the early 1900’s less than 10 people understood 
Einstein’s theory of relativity. Today many high school students do. What 
happened?

The people who understood the theory learned to teach it.

I suggest that we have not.

And it is major problem for me because I have just spent the past five 
years working on a systems thinking for dummies book. (Actually the present 
working title is Systems Intelligence: the Next Step in Thinking.)

I have an outstanding collection of rejection letters from the leading 
publishers in the Western World. They love the idea, the titles, it is 
intriguing, but they don’t really understand it and maybe it’s like another 
book and since the book business may be the most bottom line industry on 
the planet, they don’t want to take a chance on it until I have a platform 
to launch it, e.g., a documentary series on PBS, a country that has rebuilt 
itself after being destroyed, (Could there be a grace in the upcoming Iraq 
situation?) or whatever. But enough about me.

Mike is right on that American industry doesn’t know they need Deming 
because they are making money. Generally only people in acute pain welcome 
change. And the Deming philosophy is anti-American, anti-competition, 
anti-elite and way too humanistic, etc. etc.
In fact, if we get the documentary going, I want to interview Mike on these 
very points. It is one of the best statements I have seen about the 
difficulties of explaining Deming or why people won’t listen to us.

But meanwhile, if the students aren’t learning, than the teachers need to 
regroup and find a way to teach them----not regard them as color-blind or 
unable to learn. Today, there are still people who never make it to 
conceptual thinking and many who don’t use it very often. Systems thinking 
is the next step beyond conceptual thinking (which was the step beyond 
perceptual thinking) and not all of the apes learned to sort and name the 
animals (the first conceptual task) or make choices like eating the apple 
anyway. Their descendants are in the zoo or endangered,,,not that we aren’t.

And since nobody’s perfect, will Mike settle for some companies who have 
applied a lot of Deming principles: Toyota, Harley, Ritz Carton, many of 
the Baldrige winners. I hope this is comforting.

And as for his question: do Deming adherents have a purpose beyond the 
forum of words and E-mails? I have a suggestion. Bob Mason and I will 
welcome anyone who wants to help raise the money and support to do the 
documentary series, “The New Systems Intelligence: How and Why Things 
Work.” (We will even entertain alternate titles.) We are not looking for 
personal contributions but introductions to companies and foundations that 
might lend support.)

A Deming believer in Oklahoma has sent $5000 because he wanted to help us 
get started. We were able to tape the Juran summit, which was excellent, 
even if the good Doctor is still annoyed with me for finding Deming in l980 
instead of himself. The Baldrige people are helping with footage of their 
winners. We need to hire a researcher.

We have partnered with the CTC Foundation so contributions are tax 
deductible. Bob will send you a copy of the treatment. We have recently 
expanded its purpose to helping teach the media how to cover business, 
education and health care stories from a wider point of view. We hope to 
draw some support from journalistic foundations.

Other good news is that new doctors are going to have to understand systems 
thinking (Thanks to Dr. Paul Batalden, a Dartmouth professor and early 
Deming student. He was at Henry Ford Hospital in the l980s and went to a 
seminar and was the only person in the room not from a manufacturing plant. 
So results can take awhile.)

Bad news is that the Navy has abolished its quality office and the 
Presidential quality awards have been abolished and fewer and fewer people 
are talking about the Baldrige award. And we don’t have a publisher for the 
book or sponsors for the documentary series.

We could also use any metaphors or examples for explaining systems 
thinking, or better yet, ways to help people experience it.

Just because something is impossible, doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be done.
And that is why I am writing you at the Deming Den and working on the 
systems book instead of my memoirs.

Best,

Clare Crawford-Mason



Clare Crawford-Mason
cc-m@cc-m.com

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