Poor Deming never stood a chance
Lorin Hochstein systems February 16, 2026 5 Minutes This post is an elaboration of a shorter post I wrote about five years ago. The two management giants of the mid-twentieth century were Peter Drucker and W. Edwards Deming. Ironically, while Drucker hails from Austria-Hungary (like me, Drucker emigrated to the U.S. as an adult) and Deming was born in the U.S., it was Drucker that proved to be more influential in America. Deming’s influence was much greater in Japan than it ever was the U.S. If you’ve ever been at an organization that uses OKRs, then you have worked in the shadow of Drucker’s legacy. While you can tell a story about how Deming influenced Toyota, and Toyota inspired the lean movement, I would still describe management in the U.S. as Deming in exile. Deming…
