Michael Bremer

Michael Bremer, born in St. Louis, MO. Started business career in public accounting, migrated to operations and information systems. Worked for a number of highly effective leaders and a few not so effective senior executives. Learned much from both groups. Those experiences sparked in interest in understanding why leaders do what they do and a curiosity about why some organizations work very hard to improve, but fail to improve their competitive position. Was given the responsibility for creating a company wide improvement effort in 1980 for a Fortune 30 company. Had no idea what I was supposed to do. Spent time with Dr. W. Edwards Deming and Joseph Juran, as well as a few leaders in other companies, and they gave me a few ideas on how to do my job. But early in my improvement career, I simply did not have enough pegs on my knowledge board (brain) to understand. It took me a very long time to more fully understand the principles Deming and Juran were trying to impart. I am still learning. I have had the good fortune to be able to travel all over the world. Beyond North America my travels have included: Asia, South America, Australia and the non-exotic parts of Africa. As I interacted with people in their communities a common pattern emerged. Many of them have strong spiritual beliefs, they work hard, they want to provide a better place for their children and they wish to live a life safe from physical threats to their family. There is also another common pattern. There is not enough critical thinking from the top to the bottom of most organizations, and in today's world. Knowledge and an ability to act against fundamentalism (be it nationalistic, religious or corporate greed - where one set of people believe they are much better than another set of people) is important to our society. The problems we face as a society are large. But every generation feels that way to some degree. Some generations are builders and create a better society and community. Other generations go the other way, it is a cycle that has been repeated through-out history. I get very excited when I see people learn, gain confidence and take action on new knowledge. Sometimes you literally see people grow before your eyes. It is an intoxicating experience! My goal for the remainder of my life is to shine a small light on an alternative path. Where we can make our organizations, our communities and our global society a better place.