In this country we have a grand tradition of “defending the old ways”. While that may make a great basis for a novel, it does not help us out of the mess we are in. Before WWII Japan had plenty of “old ways” that they had relied on for centuries, after the war they had to adopt new ways to rebuild the nation. The U.S. has been in decline in world markets for the last 30 years, and not just to Japan but to many nations that are adopting new ideas about how business is done. It was first in 1950 that W. Edwards Deming taught the Japanese control of quality through statistical methods. It took Japan just 30 years from then, using what an American taught them, to fundamentally change the way things of high quality are made. As a result, Deming was discovered in America. By 1980, Deming was 80 years old. No matter, as it was his dream to see his own country succeed the way the Japanese had. Working long hours the last 13 years of his life, Dr. Deming was able to effect the same kind of change in companies such as Ford Motor Company, Xerox, and Procter and Gamble.
So don’t defend the old when it is holding us back from a new fresh approach that will bring this nation it’s greatest successes yet.