Brian Joiner on Dr. Deming: Energy

Dr. Brian Joiner is author of Fourth Generation Management and The Team Handbook Third Edition co-author with Peter Scholtes of published by Joiner Associates and one of the best selling business books of all time, having now sold over one-and-a-half million copies. Brian was a protege of Dr. W.. Edwards Deming. Both of these books have been a favorite of mine for many years. I was quite honored that Brian allowed me to interview him. Below is an excerpt from the upcoming Business901 podcast, when Brian reminded me of how much work Dr. Deming actually did for us in his later years.

Joe: When you look back on your career, Brian, what jumps out to you?

Brian:

What jumps out to me is how amazing Dr. Deming was. What he did for us, beginning when he was 80 years old. Here I am, just turning 75, and in five more years I’ll be in a bed. I don’t know how I’ll be functioning at all, but he took on this whole thing. For 13 years, he was working, not quite day and night but almost. He was working six and a half days a week to help us get out of the pit that we were in.

He had a big effect, and I thought, “Where do you get the energy and ability to do that?” He just was an amazing man. That’s one of the things that sticks out to me when I think about my career and what I’ve done, in the future to do more things and so on. I say, “Well if he did it…”

Joe: So you’re just starting out? You just learned what you needed to learn, and now you’re going to start out and teach us a little.

Brian:

I don’t know, but it’s interesting that I do find that people think I have wisdom sometimes, and I’ve never got accused of that before. They thought I might know something, but to have something that, every now and then, something just comes out of my mouth. I don’t know where it came from, but in reflection, from other people, it was a wise statement. So maybe that’s some wisdom building up over the years.

I think you will enjoy the podcast as we discussed many different subjects to include Brian’s latest passions on sustainability and health systems.