Bobby MoestaInnovator, Entrepreneur, Professor and Advisor

BAD SYSTEMS vs GOOD PEOPLE #edwardsdeming #innovation #productdevelopment #entrepreneurs

1 Aug 2024 · 1 min

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In this YouTube segment, Bobby Moesta reflects on W. Edwards Deming’s teaching that the majority of workplace issues stem from flawed systems rather than individual employees. He cites Deming’s claim that 85% of problems are system problems and emphasizes that managers bear the responsibility to design work environments that enable people to thrive. Moesta warns that a bad system will inevitably break a good person, urging leaders to understand and improve the systemic factors that drive behavior.

Chapters

So one of the things that Dr. Deming would tell me all the time was that a bad system would break a good person every time. And sometimes when I come to a place like this from, from long ago, you start to realize the fact that, again, not everything was perfect and we had very bad working conditions, but ultimately it's the manager's responsibility to build a system where people want to work. And so ultimately, I think Deming's quote was that 85% of all problems are system problems, not people problems. And so lots of times we have to take the time to really understand the system and what the system is actually causing the behavior change, not the people. Bad system will break a good person every time.