The Symphony of Profound Knowledge

Dr. Edward Baker first met Dr. W. Edwards Deming when Deming became a consultant for Ford Motor Company in the early 1980s. Baker became corporate director, Quality Strategy and Operations Support, worked closely with Deming and became one of his most valued associates until Deming's death thirteen years later. Believing that others would benefit from a fresh perspective of his theories and philosophies, Deming encouraged Baker to write this book. As a tribute to Deming who was a music lover, Baker has titled and structured "The Symphony of Profound Knowledge" as a musical score, Deming was sometimes referred to as the "Father of Quality Evolution". Trained as a physicist, he was a statistician, educator and business consultant to some of the top corporations and organizations worldwide. He described his "System of Profound Knowledge" as all-encompassing and believed that individuals should live joyful and dignified lives whether at work, play, school or with family. He taught that it was the responsibility of leadership to engage the individual by connecting their role and contribution in a meaningful way to a greater purpose and collaborative effort. His theories contradicted traditional thinking. He believed that the vast majority of employees perform within the enabling or constraining forces of the organization's systems and that one of the responsibilities of leadership is to organize a system in which the individual can be successful. He felt that too often in traditional organizations it's "trust the system and blame the individual" whereas he would reverse that to "trust the individual and blame the system". In "The Symphony Of Profound Knowledge", Baker presents Deming's sometimes complicated theories clearly and concisely while providing hilarious anecdotes reflecting Deming's wit and intelligence. This is an excellent book for students or anyone interested in improving their leadership skills!

Being a long time Deming aficionado, I was delighted when I happened upon a review of this book. Mr. Baker has a very well reference, long, luxurious walk through every piece of Deming that I already knew, and shed light on several topics that have been misunderstood or miscommunicated over the last 30 years. An exceptionally well referenced book, I personally was glad to see the affirmation and additional detail around all of the four parts of Profound Knowledge, and wonderful in-depth description of the Funnel experiment. I especially liked Mr. Baker’s resounding affirmation of the enabling joy in work principle that is actually pretty hard to find in other Deming references. The only reason I didn’t make this a 5 star is because I did find it a bit cumbersome to get through some parts especially operational definitions. Overall, thanks to Mr. Baker for following through on this work, perhaps the best overall work on Deming I have ever read. Even if you don’t want to read this, it should be on your kindle library as a reference!

A review by Ron Moen, March 30, 2017Brilliant! Deming knew what he was doing when he asked Ed Baker to write a book (in 1988) about his teachings. No author has captured the depth of Deming’s message better. This book clarifies and extends his work in the four components and their connections of the System of Profound Knowledge. The 440 notes at the end of the book document the depth of this book from a wide range of sources. The chapters on Theory of Knowledge (First Movement) require additional study and reflection. Moreover, Ed Baker has captured insights to Deming’s personality and interests that few people have experienced.Deming said on the first paragraph of his 1993 book, The New Economics for Industry, Government, and Education, “The people of the world no longer live in isolation. Information flows across borders.”As we are moving farther away from Deming’ message 24 years after his death, the System of Profound Knowledge is the guiding light to put us on track to an improved quality of life on this world. This book is a must read for all people that want to move us in a better direction. Ed Baker just made that light a little brighter.W. Edwards Deming would be proud!

I have been a student and teacher of Dr. Deming's Management Philosophy since attending one of his public four day seminars in 1991. I became familiar with Dr. Baker's work with Dr. Deming when I adopted his first book--Scoring a Whole in One. I adopted this book in 1999 for my core MBA class in Managerial Accounting and have continued to use this book until he finished his Symphony of Profound Knowledge. His new book will continue to be used in our core MBA class.To date, I do not believe anyone has been able to capture and explain Dr. Deming's System of Profound knowledge with the elegance and clarity of Dr. Baker. His ability to explain the connections of the four parts and his personal insights into the life and philosophy of Dr. Deming bring new insights to the reader not only about Dr. Deming's management methods but also why the prevailing style of management has failed us in so many ways. I firmly believe that Dr. Baker's Symphony of Profound Knowledge will be the definitive work on the philosophy and teachings of Dr. W. Edwards Deming.

Good talk through Demings theory of profound knowledge- nice balance to Out of the Crisis