Inaugural Address: Incoming ASQ President Mike Nichols on Three Factors that Mold the ASQ Community

Remarks of Michael D. Nichols, Incoming ASQ President
As prepared for delivery at the ASQ Annual Banquet
May 1, 2007
Orlando, Florida

Thank you Ron.  I appreciate the leadership you, Jerry and Danny have provided coming before me.  As well as the many other leaders who have come before them—Deb, Chuck, Jack, Mike, Steve, Ron, Ron, Greg, Ken, Liz, Tom, where do I stop?  So many of you are like family to me, relatives that I see at the reunion once a year.  I am here tonight because of the support of so many others over the past few decades. 

There were many leaders who have supported my involvement in the society, like William (Trip) Jones III from FedEx.  Trip, please stand.

Trip began his voyage into quality as an auditor at the International Harvester plant in Memphis.  He then went on to a 25 year career with FedEx.  I’d also like to acknowledge and thank many other leaders and mentors who helped and supported me, but unfortunately they could not be here tonight. 

There are also our families who support us when we travel to attend conferences and board meetings.  I have been coming to this conference since shortly after my youngest son was born and my daughter was 9.  Lindsay and Aaron, please stand. 

Obviously they have grown some since then.  

I have to be honest—for years I thought about what I would say if I was ever in this position.  Well, here I am and let’s see if you like my thoughts.  What I have to say is not new, it is not rocket science and if you listen carefully you will hear it all around you.  A sage once stated “there is something to be learned from everyone.”

Often when I am giving speeches I like to ask an audience to stop and think about why they are here.  Seriously, why are you here tonight?  All of us had at least two or three other choices.  There is no shortage of work waiting for us or of family obligations demanding our attention. 

Most of you are here because you are passionate and dedicated to this concept of quality, as I am, and to the society that leads the effort.  So how did this happen? 

I would like to propose that there are three reasons why you are here.  Most of us first came because we were looking for knowledge and someone said you should check out this organization called ASQ.  For many of us it was ASQC at that time. 

For me it was a professor in graduate school who very thoughtfully informed our class that you would not learn everything you needed for your work or your career at work.  That we all needed to reach out for other sources, and he recommended a few.  Because of him, I went to a local ASQ section meeting in Memphis; I heard a presentation on basic quality tools from an experienced engineer at the former GE lighting plant.  While he is no longer with us, the lessons I carried away from that evening are.  My participation grew from the associates I met that evening.  That eventually led me to assuming the chair of the Memphis section.  (As a side note, in preparing for this speech I reached out to the current leaders of that section who promptly sent me a list of activities they wanted me to share with you tonight!) 

Once I began to participate I found that I began to grow and learn more.  I found more resources in ASQ Divisions and other conferences such as these.  Many of you have shared similar stories with me as well about how you reached out and found ASQ. 

We have a very short but critical window of opportunity to make an impression on those who are new to quality.  When someone visits our Web sites, we have to make sure they can easily access information they can’t get anywhere else.  When a newcomer attends a Section meeting, we have to welcome him or her warmly, get to know them, and give them reasons to want even stronger connections to our quality communities.  Attendance at an ASQ course or a conference should lead them easily and naturally to seek membership.  And above all they should be able to readily see the value in everything we do.

Members who assume a volunteer position in the first two years of their membership are more likely to become lifelong members.  Our new approach to membership that began with the Living Community Model is to offer options for people so they can tailor an ASQ membership experience that meets their needs.  This approach is successful as both new memberships and member retentions are on an uptrend.

The first lesson here is that we need to keep trying to reach out to those who are new to quality by continuing to provide these same types of opportunities, small and large. Every day there are people who are in the same position we were in and are looking for help just as we were.  We also need to look at how we can be that resource to more people in more places throughout the world.

So again, why are we here? 

The second most important reason why you stay with ASQ is because you want to network with other people who are interested in quality.  While the knowledge I learned in my early years of membership in ASQ helped me to attain two different jobs, it soon became the network of peers and associates that helped me evolve from there.  It was due to the people I had met in this ASQ network that led me into my last two career changes. 

This is the second lesson tonight, in that we need to continue to provide new and meaningful ways for people to connect with each other, to share ideas and to create new communities of practice.  We have to ensure that members around the world can access these networks and create local networks of their own.  Ever expanding the body of knowledge and the growth opportunities for our members.

Since we started the Living Community Model we now have more than a dozen ASQ networks, and the number is growing rapidly.  Individuals are able to connect with others who share their interests in things as diverse as innovation, environmental microbiology, probabilistic technology, and applications of Baldrige in education and healthcare.  We’ve made it easy for these interest groups to form quickly under the welcoming ASQ umbrella.  And they’re dictated not by what WE want, but rather by those members’ interests and needs.  This bodes well for the future of our society.

So again, why are we here tonight?  Many of us have learned and have networked, so now what?  Most of us reach a point in our lives where it is no longer just about us.  This is the third most important reason why you stay a member.  Those who continue to be involved do so because they have something they want to give back.  For me the role of president is the ultimate form of giving back to the organization that nurtured and developed me in my professional career.

This is the third and final lesson: Just as you have evolved in your growth so must we guarantee the organization grows as a result of our personal benefit.  Another sage once said “from my teachers I learned much, from my colleagues I learned more, but most of all do I learn from my students.” 

We need to provide more ways that our members can give back to those who are starting their journey.  We must find ways to bridge across to new and old markets and help others see the value and understand the application of what we consider as basic or fundamental techniques. 

How are we doing this?  For one, we have launched a mentoring program where Fellows can mentor those new to quality.  Our Community Good Works program continues to do great things with grants throughout the United States, Canada, and now Brazil. The Community Good Works program in Porto Alegre, Brazil—the first outside North America—involves a pilot project to provide support for children and teenagers at risk of exploitation.

Recently ASQ entered a whole new realm of activity when we were awarded administration of the ISO Social Responsibility Technical Advisory Group.

Our effort to increase the Quality Body of Knowledge has been especially productive in the area of content that would appeal to “new to quality” individuals. 

I recently helped a friend of mine who owns a furniture company in High Point, North Carolina.  Supposedly the furniture industry is a dying industry in the US, one with no future.  To lead his front line team through something as simple as a process mapping exercise using sticky notes and see them light up and engage confirmed for me that I had made the right career choice, that of a quality professional.

At the same time we need to be the leaders in the next wave of innovation techniques.  A vast weakness in most of our continuous improvement methodologies. 

We also need to make sure that those new to quality have equal access to the value we provide regardless of where in the world their desk is.

So in summary, let me close by asking you again, why are you here tonight?  Which one of these three reasons brought you here? 

• If you came for knowledge, turn to someone at your table and find out what you can learn from them.
• If you came to network turn to someone at the table next to you and ask for a business card; find out what they do and how they use quality.
• And if you came to give back, find yourself a student, because we are all students and all still have so much to learn.

And again, thank you for the opportunity to come before you tonight.