Tribus received his doctorate from UCLA where he also became a full professor. Xerox Corp. In 1974, he directed MIT's center for advanced engineering study where he and Deming became friends. Well unfortunately, I've been spending a good deal of time on my own company, which is introducing a new type of power plant that will result in huge fuel savings. The rest of the time I spend helping schools and communities with their quality councils.
New ideas come more easily to people who are habituated to change.
If you have a society that believes in continuous quality improvement, it's easier to introduce new ideas. I think that's related to the fact that their people are so accustomed to continuous improvement, they no longer fear that if something different is done, they won't be caught and exposed for being inadequate. Yes, I do, particularly with those who've been teaching for 10-15 years. So, they find all kind of reasons to not do it. Let me give you a specific example.