409: Kevin Cahill, part 2: Systems change, fast and effective

11/14/20 • 56 min

Everyone gets we have to change system, which means global economy. They think we have to start huge. If it's not big enough, it's not worth doing.

History suggests otherwise, in particular Edwards Deming's results transforming Japan in the 50s, or the U.S. war efforts before that, or several American companies since.

Kevin runs the Deming Institute, which trains people in the Deming philosophy and practice. Kevin speaks from experience as the grandson of Dr. Deming. They didn't start by doing big huge things. They started with a systemic perspective, understanding where and how to act. Kevin's personal project of changing light bulbs in his house illustrates how leading this way leads to results beyond what we see with just going big from the start.

I won't like that I often felt slack-jawed at Kevin saying exactly what I've tried to share with others but they never get, but Kevin speaks with decades of experience. Actually generations. I also can't wait to start working with leaders and people in organizations who have approached and solved problems systemically, and who saw that they had to change industries and a nation for their personal benefit.

What we need to to to reverse our environmental course!

Call me crazy, but I see combining my sustainability experience and perspective with Deming company and leadership experience getting results like Japan did in the 50s and beyond.

If Japan Can Why Can't We? is the name of the show that restarted Deming's influence in the US. I see the question as poignant today. I believe we can turn around as fast as they did, this time on sustainability.

Let's do this.

The Deming Institute

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Everyone gets we have to change system, which means global economy. They think we have to start huge. If it's not big enough, it's not worth doing.

History suggests otherwise, in particular Edwards Deming's results transforming Japan in the 50s, or the U.S. war efforts before that, or several American companies since.

What we need to to to reverse our environmental course!

Call me crazy, but I see combining my sustainability experience and perspective with Deming company and leadership experience getting results like Japan did in the 50s and beyond.

Let's do this.

The Deming Institute

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Previous Episode

408: Nancy Reagan and the Environment

Here are my notes I read from for this episode:

Just say no

drugs winning

Try telling smoker that cigarettes cause lung cancer and see if it stops.

Doesn't. It takes work but rewarding

Try giving more and more facts. They heard already.

Now imagine Nancy Reagan was a smoker or cocaine user while saying just say no

Imagine she smoked or did drugs while saying not to.

That's Al Gore, DiCaprio, everyone!

The problem isn't hypocrisy. I can't stand people making environment into moral issue. I'm not good for not polluting. You live by your values as much as I live by mine. If you don't value stewardship I'm not good by your values. If you value it as much as I do, then fix your problem.

The point is effectiveness. It doesn't work to lead Alcoholics Anonymous sessions with a fifth of gin half finished in your hand or weight watchers full of doof.

DiCaprio, flying your whole film crew around the world when you lack snow because of global warming, can you see how you're leading AA while drunk? With your notoriety, you should have a legacy to last millennia. Instead, you undermine it. Al Gore and all the rest, same thing.

Muhammad Ali as a conscientious objector. Now there's a man who acted with integrity, transcended sport, and become one of the greatest not athletes but humans of all time. We can learn from him. He knew standing tall meant getting on your knees, not flying first class and hiding it.

I know, most don't want to change the world. You just want your 401k to clear. I didn't ask for back-to-back 500-year hurricanes. You didn't ask the science to predict 2 billion climate refugees this century and more. But those are our times.

I didn't ask that we can do something about it, or decline, but we can.

More smokers telling us not to smoke won't help, nor more alcoholics telling us to stop drinking, or polluters telling us to stop polluting.

If you want to stand tall, you have to get on your knees. If you want to reach the mountain top, you have to climb, which means getting your knees dirty, meaning dropping the addiction to polluting.

Because only from the mountain top can you see the promised land, a world I've seen where stewardship of nature and other people trumps self-serving excuses that you have no choice or baseless accusations that someone who acts has more time, money, resources, or privilege than you. Look deep and you'll see you have all the means you need, as does any addict to overcome their habits.

I'm calling on you to lead yourself, not manage like Nancy Reagan. To lead, to find it within yourself, to dig deep, to see that how you lead others will be your greatest legacy.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Next Episode

410: Race, part 2: How do you learn when people respond to questions with criticism and judgment?

Here is my second episode with guest Dan McPherson of Leaders Must Lead on race. Probably one more after this one.

Say someone doesn't know something about race but wants to. If that person sees others talking about the subject get chastised and even fired, how can that person learn? If anything, won't they learn not to ask? If so, won't they remain ignorant? Doesn't ignorance contribute to racism.

Dan and I discuss these questions and more. He shares some surprising personal stories of being attacked and more, as do I.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.