# Subir Chowdhury

Subir Chowdhury (Bengali: সুবীর চৌধুরী; born 12 January 1967) is a Bangladeshi-American author of 15 books and noted for his work in quality and management. He is currently the chairman and CEO of ASI Consulting Group, LLC, in Bingham Farms, Michigan.

## Early life and education

Born in Chittagong, Bangladesh, Chowdhury received his undergraduate degree in aeronautical engineering from the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) in Kharagpur, India (from which he received the Distinguished Alumnus Award) and a graduate degree in industrial management from Central Michigan University, Mt. Pleasant, Michigan where he also received the Distinguished Alumnus Award. He came to the United States 1991 and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2004.

## History

Chowdhury started his career as a quality and systems engineer assigned to General Motors' Delphi Division in 1993. From 1998 to 2003 Chowdhury worked as an executive vice president of the American Supplier Institute, which at the time was a provider of technical training for mostly automotive manufacturing companies in the U.S.
In 1996, Chowdhury co-authored with Ken Zimmer a book titled QS-9000 Pioneers. The book was an early effort to demonstrate how companies "revitalized" their manufacturing practices with standardized quality management processes. According to the book jacket, the book was endorsed by quality management experts Dr. Armand Fiegenbaum, Philip B. Crosby, J.D. Power III, and Dr. Genichi Taguchi.
Joining American Supplier Institute in 1997, Chowdhury began to work with his mentor Dr. Genichi Taguchi, developer of robust engineering theory, and Taguchi's son, Shin Taguchi who is also an engineer. Together, they co-authored a book titled Robust Engineering (2000) that was designed to help producers bring products to market at a faster rate and at lower cost, and yet maintain a high level of quality.
Inspired by a book titled The Leader of the Future, Chowdhury began collaborating with other management thinkers to analyze leadership and organizational development. Management 21C was published in 2000 with contributions from Peter Senge, C K Prahalad, James Kouzes, Barry Z. Posner, Sumantra Ghoshall, Christopher A. Bartlett, and Rosabeth Moss Kanter.
The Six Sigma quality movement was reaching its height in popularity in 2001 when Chowdhury wrote his next book, The Power of Six Sigma. Reported as a bestselling nonfiction book, some reviewers noted that Chowdhury made complex topics quality management issues easy to understand by using a fictionalized story to model important concepts.
Continuing the collaborations he began with Management 21C, Chowdhury completed work on Organization 21C, published in 2002. According to the book, his goal was to present ideas and strategic solutions to "guide, influence and help" individuals and organizations with management and leadership challenges. Among the contributors listed are Richard E. Boyatzis, James A. Champy, Allan R. Cohen, Jay A. Conger, Samuel A. Culbert, Christopher DeRose, Dexter Dunphy, David Finegold, Elizabeth Florent-Treacy, Rob Goffee, Robert L. Heneman, Harvey A. Hornstein, Andrew, Kakabadse, Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries, Edgar H. Schein, and Noel M. Tichy.
In 2002, Chowdhury wrote two more books on Six Sigma. Design for Six Sigma helped draw attention to emerging DFSS methodology that simplifies an otherwise complex management theory. The follow-up book The Power of Design for Six Sigma, stood out because unlike other books on the topic, Chowdhury successfully engaged a broad audience that included assembly line workers and CEOs to make Six Sigma even more accessible. These books lead Chowdhury to create a management implementation system he called "LEO" (Listen-Enrich-Optimize). This concept was later highlighted his book The Ice Cream Maker (2005) and later expanded in The Power of LEO (2011). His latest book is Robust Optimization (2016) co-authored with Shin Taguchi.
In 2003, Chowdhury formed ASI Consulting Group, LLC and became its chairman and CEO.
From 2011, Chowdhury and his wife, Malini, began a foundation that has seeded several programs at major universities in India, the U.S., and the U.K. The latest in this work is at the Indian Institute of Technology, an inter-disciplinary school on Quality and Reliability (Q&R), which is the first of its kind in India.
In 2017, Chowdhury published his 15th book titled The Difference: When Good Enough Isn't Enough.
The following themes are found in most of his books:
* Problems can be prevented through continuous improvement—getting it right the first time—and should be the goal of every organization as it designs, develops and deploys products and services.
* Quality must be the responsibility of every individual in all organizations. The “quality mission” cannot be delegated to one group or individual. It cannot be a ‘top down’ management process. For quality to be robust and sustainable, everyone in the organization must not only accept it, they must believe in it.
* Quality begins at the top. Without the commitment of leadership—and without them demonstrating that commitment in every aspect of their own lives, initiatives will stall or fail over time.
* Everyone has a stake in Quality. Not only must quality involve everyone all the time, but in order to achieve robust and sustainable results, everyone must have a stake in its implementation and continuous improvement through peer reinforcement and other methods.
* Quality is a balance of people power and process power, where “people power” takes into account the role of the Quality mindset”—approaching quality with honesty, empathy and a resistance to compromise. Process power is about solving problems, developing ideas and solutions, and then perfecting those ideas and solutions.
* Improving quality using a cookie cutter managerial approach does not work. Every organization is unique. Every problem has different issues. Every individual brings different knowledge, skills, and abilities. Therefore, the methods, processes, and procedures used to solve quality issues must be tailored to the specific situation.

## Education and philanthropic work

Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur, India
The Subir Chowdhury School of Quality and Reliability has been created for all IIT students who desire academic training in the concepts of quality assurance. The school was inspired by Chowdhury who is an IIT alumnus. Modules on quality and reliability are designed on engineering processes and their impact on environment and life in general.
London School of Economics and Political Science
The Subir Chowdhury Fellowship on Quality and Economics Fellow is expected to complete publishable research on people quality and behaviour of the economies of Asian nations "prioritising, but not restricted to, India and Bangladesh." The fellowship is awarded annually.
Harvard University
The Subir Chowdhury Fellowship on Quality and Economics Fellow is expected to engage in research examining the impact of people and process quality on the economic advancement of the United States. This is a graduate Fellowship for the graduate students in the Harvard University to be given annually.
University of Southern California (USC)
The Chowdhury Prize is an annual international mid-career prize for writers, presented at the University of Southern California through the auspices of the Subir and Malini Chowdhury Foundation and in collaboration with Kenyon College and The Kenyon Review. The prize seeks to identify authors who are at an inflection point, with a body of work already behind them, but also with significant future potential.
University of California, Berkeley
The Subir and Malini Chowdhury Center for Bangladesh Studies was established at University of California, Berkeley, January 2014. The center's mission is to the build ties between institutions in Bangladesh and the University of California. It will also will conduct research, promote art and culture, and offer three scholarships, namely: The Subir Chowdhury Fellowship on Quality of Life in Bangladesh for graduate students; The Malini Chowdhury Fellowship on Bangladesh Studies for graduate students in any field that concentrates on Bangladesh studies; and The Subir Chowdhury Undergraduate Scholarship awarded to students concentrating in South and Southeast Asian Studies at Berkeley with matching awards from the Ford Challenge, a fund provided by a Berkeley donor to match undergraduate scholarship gifts.
Global Quality Awareness (GQA)
A non-profit initiative of the Subir and Malini Chowdhury Foundation created to improve the lives of individuals and their communities around the world by promoting a personal understanding of, and commitment to a "Quality mindset".
Frances Hesselbein Medal for Excellence in Leadership and Service
Subir and Malini Chowdhury Foundation provided a lifetime endowment for the award, given annually to a West Point cadet who best exhibits excellence in mentorship and leadership by example at the United States Military Academy at West Point

## Personal life

Chowdhury is married to Malini Chowdhury. They have one son, Anish Chowdhury and one daughter, Anandi Chowdhury.