Question 2

Can you comment on the importance of making the business case for quality and performance initiatives?

I think the differentiator with quality professionals or actually any individuals in an organization going forward is really demonstrating not only their efforts, but the results of their efforts on an organization in terms of overall financial performance. So the biggest turn in my life was when I finally made that connection between quality performance, customer satisfaction performance, and the impact it has had on the bottom line of the organization. As an example, at IBM if we improved customer satisfaction one percentage point that was worth $257 million of additional revenue, and $13 million at Johnson Controls. Or we used Six Sigma tools and techniques to roll over half a billion dollars of savings to the business at Johnson Controls. So it is a matter of demonstrating the effectiveness of your results on the financial performance of the organization, because that is what really drives business leaders and shareholders.