In Their Own Words Ed Baker, author, consultant, and former corporate director, Quality Strategy and Operations Support for the Ford Motor Company, "The Symphony of Profound Knowledge"
In our second podcast in April 2017, Ed Baker, author, consultant, and former corporate director, Quality Strategy and Operations Support for the Ford Motor Company, offers insights on his latest book, The Symphony of Profound Knowledge (W. Edwards Deming’s Score for Leading, Performing, and Living in Concert).
Nearing 20 years with Ford, including the last 10+ years guiding the tactical and strategic influence of Dr. Deming’s theory of management across Ford, Ed was asked by Dr. Deming to write a book to offer his own understanding of his System of Profound Knowledge. For those who have heard Dr. Deming say "You can learn a lot about ice and know nothing about water," he credited Ed with this point of enlightenment.
Ed met recently with Tripp Babbitt to share highlights from his book (in one of Tripp’s longest interviews to date), as well as inspirations from Dr. Deming, covering topics including:
- Ed’s first contact with Dr. Deming
- Dr. Deming’s first visits to Ford
- Ed’s role in choreographing Dr. Deming’s visits across Ford
- Dr. Deming’s early impact on Ford
- The pace of change within Ford under Dr. Deming’s influence
- Ed’s book, Scoring a Whole in One
- Deming management, TQM, Six Sigma, and Lean
- Tom Johnson’s influence on his thinking
- Mechanistic and random sampling
- Is the map the territory?
- Joy in work
- Strong support for The Symphony of Profound Knowledge from Clay Mathile and the entire staff of Aileron
In addition to this podcast, link here to watch a recent interview with Ed (and here for a full-length interview), also with a focus on his book, The Symphony of Profound Knowledge. Link here to listen to a radio interview.