Podcast appearances and mentions of mary ellen

(Disclaimer: Click 'more' to see ad disclosure) Geobreeze Travel is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as MileValue.com. This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers. Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more.  ➤ Free points 101 course (includes hotel upgrade email template)https://geobreezetravel.com/freecourse  ➤ Free credit card consultations https://airtable.com/apparEqFGYkas0LHl/shrYFpUr2zutt5515 ➤ Seats.Aero: https://geobreezetravel.com/seatsaero ➤ Request a free personalized award search tutorial: https://go.geobreezetravel.com/ast-form If you are interested in supporting this show when you apply for your next card, check out https://geobreezetravel.com/cards and if you're not sure what card is right for you, I offer free credit card consultations athttps://geobreezetravel.com/consultations!Timestamps:00:00 Introduction to Mary Ellen and The Wonderland on Points Podcast03:35 First redemptions and early mistakes booking via portals04:30 Switzerland trip that convinced her husband of points value08:00 Flights overview – Air France business class with Amex MR09:25 Return flights – Iberia business class via Madrid + transfer bonus10:45 Layover in Madrid and surprising their son with a soccer jersey11:45 Using positioning flights within Europe with no extra points12:45 Why Air France is family-friendly13:30 Hotel 1: Lausanne Palace via Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts14:55 Hotel 2: Interlaken hotel with Capital One credit15:55 Hotel 3: Paid using Hotels.com gift cards via Fetch16:20 Hotel 4: Mount Pilatus mountaintop splurge 17:35 Hotel 5: Zurich Hyatt Place using Chase points17:55 Using maxfhr.com and strategy for choosing $200/night 19:25 Capital One Travel portal tips & 10x point earnings21:45 Upcoming France trip booked with Capital One Travel22:15 How she earned $200+ in Hotels.com gift cards via Fetch23:00 Fetch strategies – referrals, receipts, game hacks24:00 Fetch = free Starbucks or long-term savings for travel25:45 How they avoid budget blowouts by prepping menus and prices26:45 Using Swiss Travel Pass to cover transport and museums27:45 Saving on rainy day activities with free museum access28:25 Budgeting for big excursions like paragliding29:20 Paragliding Interlaken – why they picked a reputable company30:30 Don't skimp on safety with skydiving, LASIK, or paragliding31:15 Visiting Crash Landing on You K-drama filming locations32:45 How the show created a tourism boom in Switzerland33:30 K-drama favorites: Extraordinary Attorney Woo, Vincenzo, Good Boy34:20 Final tip: pick a dream trip to guide your points strategy35:00 Where to find Mary Ellen online and request her Switzerland itinerary35:45 Closing reflection and full-circle podcast momentYou can find Julia at: ➤ Free course: https://julia-s-school-9209.thinkific.com/courses/your-first-points-redemption➤ Website: https://geobreezetravel.com/ ➤ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/geobreezetravel/ ➤ Credit card links: https://www.geobreezetravel.com/cards ➤ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/geobreezetravelYou can find the Wonderland on Points Podcast at:➤ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WonderlandonPointsPodcast Opinions expressed here are the author's alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post. The content of this video is accurate as of the posting date. Some of the offers mentioned may no longer be available.

Step into a treasure trove of rare stories, photos, and audio clips as Bill Scherkenbach shares his decades with Dr. Deming. From boardrooms to sleigh rides, discover the moments, minds, and memories that shaped modern quality thinking, told by someone who lived it. A powerful blend of insight, humor, and history you won't want to miss. (You can see the slides from the podcast here.) TRANSCRIPT 0:00:02.4 Andrew Stotz: My name is Andrew Stotz, and I'll be your host as we dive deeper into the teachings of Dr. W. Edwards Deming. Today, I'm continuing my discussion with Bill Scherkenbach, a dedicated protégé of Dr. Deming since 1972. Bill met with Dr. Deming more than a thousand times and later led statistical methods and process improvement at Ford and GM at Deming's recommendation. He authored 'The Deming Route to Quality and Productivity' at Deming's behest and at 79 is still championing his mentor's message. Learn, have fun, and make a difference. Bill, take it away.   0:00:41.2 Bill Scherkenbach: Well, thank you. Thank you, Andrew. It's an honor to be asked back. Many places don't.   0:00:48.7 Andrew Stotz: I really enjoyed our first discussion, and particularly towards the end of it, it got a little personal and emotional, and I appreciate that you shared your journey. That was amazing.   0:01:00.9 Bill Scherkenbach: Thank you. Thank you. It is personal.   0:01:05.2 Andrew Stotz: Yeah.   0:01:05.4 Bill Scherkenbach: But today, along that wavelength, I brought some pictures or photos and letters and audios of my association with Dr. Deming. So, if you might bring them up, we can start the commenting.   0:01:27.9 Andrew Stotz: Wonderful. Well, hopefully you see a screen now up.   0:01:34.8 Bill Scherkenbach: Yes. Yep.   0:01:35.8 Andrew Stotz: Okay. And for the audience, just to let you know, for the listeners, we're going to show these and I'll try to explain a little bit about what we're talking about because you're not going to be able to see the pictures. But the first thing is the title is An Insider's View of Deming. Learn, have fun, make a difference. And we see a great picture on the left-hand side, and then I threw in a picture of a Lincoln Continental, which we're going to talk about later, which is kind of fun. But maybe you can take it from there, Bill.   0:02:07.2 Bill Scherkenbach: Yeah. Well, we can talk a little bit later on on that, but this is a picture of me and my wife, Mary Ellen, with Dr. Deming having fun. We were at a restaurant in Northville called Elizabeth's, and it's something that he enjoyed to do just about every evening.   0:02:31.3 Andrew Stotz: Great. Well, what a kickoff. So let's go to the next one. And you guys all look great in that photo.   0:02:38.2 Bill Scherkenbach: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. This is a letter that I received from Dr. Deming back in May of '85, auspicious because the letter dated 13 May, that's my birthday. But for those who cannot read it, should I read the letter for you?   0:03:05.2 Andrew Stotz: Either you or I can read it for you. You tell me.   0:03:08.3 Bill Scherkenbach: Okay. Well, yeah. Why don't you read it?   0:03:10.9 Andrew Stotz: Okay. So, the letter is addressed to a particular person. It says, this is written by Dr. Deming, this acknowledges your kind letter of the 29th April. He that depends solely on statistical process control will be out of a job in three years. The record is clear, the record is clean, no exceptions. A whole program of improvement of quality and productivity is necessary, and it requires that top management learn what their job is. No part of the program will by itself suffice. Your letter does not describe your program, hence comment is difficult. I am happy to learn that Bill Scherkenbach will work with you. His achievements are renowned. He is excelled by nobody. I am sure that you will follow his guidance, not only while he is there with you, but from that then on out. I send best wishes and remain yours sincerely, W. Edwards Deming.   0:04:19.2 Bill Scherkenbach: Yes. I did spend a week with this organization, and as Deming said, and in many, many cases, the local management or local part of the organization get very enthusiastic, but the top management did not buy in. And so very little happened there, unfortunately.   0:04:53.9 Andrew Stotz: Yeah. And I missed that the top right-hand corner in handwritten, it says Portland, 20 May 1985. Dear Bill, I neglected to hand this to you in San Francisco, W. E. D.   0:05:08.1 Bill Scherkenbach: Yeah. We went to, we. Dr. Deming and I were in San Francisco to meet with Shoichiro Toyoda and his wife. It was a social call. Shoichiro was in town. I don't know where his brother Tatsuro was. Tatsuro headed up NUMI, but Shoichiro was head of it all and was in the US. And wanted to just have a dinner with Dr. Deming. I'm embarrassingly cloudy. We met in a hotel and I can't tell you which one, but it was a nice, relaxing dinner. The English was a bit stilted, but Soichiro wanted to have a dinner with Dr. Deming and to express his appreciation.    0:06:31.3 Andrew Stotz: And he was a titan of industry at the time and in 1985 was really making a beachhead and a real expansion into the US market. Why did he want to meet with Dr. Deming? What was the connection there? Maybe for those that don't know.   0:06:55.2 Bill Scherkenbach: He was in town and Deming was nearby in town and just wanted to express his appreciation. I guess, Tatsuro, his brother wasn't there, and Tatsuro headed up NUMI, the partnership between GM and Toyota. But Shoichiro was there and just wanted to express appreciation.   0:07:35.1 Andrew Stotz: Great. Okay. So shall we continue on?   0:07:40.0 Bill Scherkenbach: Yeah. We have a Where is Quality Made? Famous talking from Dr. Deming, and hopefully the audio translates well.   0:07:55.3 Andrew Stotz: Yes, we'll see. Let's go.   0:07:59.5 Speaker 3: Where is quality made, Andrew, in the top management? The quality of the output of a company cannot be better unless quality is directed at the top. The people in the plant and in the service organization can only produce and test the design a product and service prescribed and designed by the management. Job security and job are dependent on management's foresight to design a product and service to entice customers and build a market.   0:08:31.6 Andrew Stotz: So where did that come from? And tell us more about that.   0:08:36.2 Bill Scherkenbach: Well, I'm not exactly sure which particular seminar or meeting that was, but over the years I have, have, we've made a number of audio recordings and videos of Dr. Deming in his meetings. And so we're looking to get them to the Deming Institute so they can process them and distribute.    0:09:11.8 Andrew Stotz: And why is this so important? He's talking about quality is made at the top where we can see many people think that quality is made by the worker. Do your best. Quality is your responsibility. Tell us more about why you wanted to talk about this.   0:09:32.9 Bill Scherkenbach: Well, it's a common, it's a common, very common mistake. He learned back in 1950, and I think I mentioned it in our first talk, that he gave a number of courses at Stanford during the war and people learned SPC. But when the war was over, over here, because management didn't buy in, nothing really happened. And he learned in his visit in 1950 when he was able, as we said, Mr. Koyanagi was able to get a meeting, a number of seminars done with top management in Japan after the war. And he thought that that, he saw that that actually did make a difference, that management was absolutely key. And in every one of his seminars, he would make, he would make  this point, that quality is made at the top.   0:10:54.0 Andrew Stotz: And what was interesting is that, of course, the Japanese senior management, were very receptive. It's many times the case that Deming may have interacted with some senior management at the top of a company, but they weren't receptive or willing to implement what he's talking about.   0:11:12.6 Bill Scherkenbach: Yeah. I think I mentioned last time that you need maybe a significant physical or logical or emotional event. And Ford lost a few billion dollars and was then looking, is there a better way? Japan lost a war, and the tradition over there is to perhaps listen to the conqueror. But MacArthur was very astute, my understanding, that you're not going to go in and replace the emperor and really mix the place up from what their culture is, which is very, very, very astute, in my opinion.   0:12:11.4 Andrew Stotz: Okay. So let's continue. And we see a document now up on the screen and a diagram. And maybe you can explain this one.   0:12:24.8 Bill Scherkenbach: Yeah. This is one of the foils, as he called them, that he wrote on his lantern, which is the overhead projector for all the young people. And making another very, very important point. And that is, he's quoting John Tukey, "the more you know what's wrong with a figure, the more useful it becomes." And he also, at various times, would, would, would talk about George Gallup. And Gallup was his friend. And George Gallup would say that unless you've gone through the slogging of collecting data, you shouldn't be too quickly using data or analyzing data. Because if you go to collect it, you know that some people just aren't there. And this is primarily survey stuff that Gallup was talking about. But Tukey was talking about anything. And Deming, along the way, with his learnings from Shewhart, what I've developed is based on Deming's questions come from theory, created a theory, question, data, action cycle, similar to a PDSA. And so that you need to know what the question was before you can use the data. And Dr. Deming's example was you can't use manganese dioxide for just anything. If it's really, really critical work, then you need to know what's in it that could contaminate it or interact with the other chemicals that you're trying to mix it with. Hugely important in chemistry, hugely important anywhere. And he talked, yes, we do have some audio from Dr. Deming talking about another analogy, on I can't even wash the table unless you tell me what you're going to use it for.   0:15:24.0 Andrew Stotz: I remember watching a video of this with him, with Robert Reich, I think it was, being interviewed. And it was such an impactful thing because I always thought you just tell people what to do and they go do it. And so let's listen to the audio. I'm going to play it now. One second.   0:15:42.6 Speaker 3: I can teach you how to wash a table, teach you how to rub, scrub, use brushes, rags. I'd be pretty good at it. But you know, I could not wash this table suppose you told me my job is to wash this table. I have no idea what you mean. There's no meaning to that. You must tell me what you're going to use the table for. I want to see a flow diagram, work moving. Here I am. My job is to wash this table. I do not understand what you mean. Wash this table. There's no meaning to that. I must know what you're going to use the table for, the next stage. What happened to the table, next stage, in the flow diagram? You want to put books on it? Well, it's clean enough for that now. To wash the table, I just go through it from just here, make a look at it. If I work a little, good enough. If I clean enough to eat off of it, well, it's good enough now. Or use it for an operating table? Oh, totally different now. Totally different. Now I scrub it with scalding water, top, bottom, legs, several times. I scrub the floor underneath for some radius. If I don't know the next stage, I cannot wash the table.   0:17:28.8 Andrew Stotz: Tell us your thoughts on that.   0:17:31.5 Bill Scherkenbach: Yep. Yep. Well, again, my theory, question, data, action cycle, if you're asking a question, you, you, if you can, and there are some confidential considerations, but if you can, you need to tell the people who are trying to answer the question what you're going to do with it. And so if you want the table washed, tell them you're going to just eat off of it or assemble microchips on it. If you, so that's the responsibility of the manager or anyone who is asking the question. So if you want to improve your questions, you got to go back up and think of, well, what's my underlying theory for the question? If this, then that, that prompts a question and the circle continues. And if you, the only reason to collect data is to take action. Both Eastern and Western philosophers absolutely have said that for centuries.   0:18:55.2 Andrew Stotz: Yeah. What's interesting, I didn't hear him say it in any other cases when he was talking about the next stage. I did hear him say before, like, what's it going to be used for? But you could hear when he's talking about the next stage, it's saying to me, that's saying the responsibility of management is looking at the overall system and communicating that and managing that, not trying to, you know, just give some blind instruction to one group, one team, one person without thinking about how it all interacts.   0:19:29.9 Bill Scherkenbach: Absolutely. Absolutely. But in the local aspect of, well, some question answers are not so local, but it's what the question asker's responsibility to let the people know what they're going to use the data for.   0:19:51.9 Andrew Stotz: Yep. Great lesson. All right. So now I've got a interesting picture up on the screen here. We have Dr. Deming and there's John Turkey, Tukey how do you say his last name?   0:20:05.6 Bill Scherkenbach: John Tukey, T-U-K-E-Y, yep. George Box and Sir David Cox. Anyone in the statistics arena knows them. We also had Stu Hunter and I believe John Hunter was there. They're not in the picture. I took the picture. But we were at Meadowbrook, which is, which is, on the old Dodge estate where Oakland University is near Detroit. And had a, we called the meeting to discuss the importance and the various perspectives of enumerative and analytic. Now, each of these men, Box, Tukey, and Cox, and all of them, all of us in the university, quite honestly, were brought up with enumerative methods. And so your standard distributional stuff and T-tests and whatever. And Deming and Tukey realized the importance of being able to not just take action on the sample, but the cause system, the system that caused the sample, or the process term, in process terms. So yeah, John Tukey was strangely enough, well, not strangely enough, but came up with a graphical method to look at data called the box and whiskers plot, with George Box standing next to him, but it's not that George didn't shave. But Tukey, very, very well known for graphical methods.   0:22:24.2 Bill Scherkenbach: George, well known for experimental methods. One of the Box, Hunter and Hunter book on statistical design of experiments is legendary. And Sir David Cox, logistic regression, which is hugely, strangely, well, not strangely enough, but huge nowadays, very important in AI, in how you would be looking to teach or have your model learn what it is that you would like them to learn to look for. So each of these gentlemen, very, very much a pinnacle of the statistical career. We were very, in a large company like Ford, we were very lucky to be able to make big meetings like this, or meetings with very influential people happen.   0:23:38.9 Andrew Stotz: Yeah. That's got to be amazing because I think when most of us listen to Dr. Deming and all that, we get a lot of what he says. But I would say that the statistical aspect and his depth of statistical knowledge is what many people, you know, it's hard for many Deming followers to deeply connect with that. And I think even myself, having, you know, read everything, listened to him, learned as much as I can, the best that I probably come up with is the idea that once I started understanding variation, one of the things I started realizing is that it's everywhere and it's in everything. And I didn't understand...   0:24:27.3 Bill Scherkenbach: Well, I still have the cartoon of a popcorn maker that was very surprised when he said, "They all popped at once." And his popcorn stand has blown up. So yeah, variation is everywhere, a lot or a little. And the thing is that you need to be able to take appropriate action. Sometime, I can remember, I can remember Bob Stemple asking me, "What did I think of the Shainin methods, Dorian Shainin, and technical approach?" And I wrote back to him and I said, "It's no better or worse than any of the other methods we don't use here at GM." The point is, all of these methods are better than Bop-A-Mole. And one of the things, well, one of the things that concerns me is that in these tool areas, and Deming's counsel to me long ago was he remembers the fights that the technical people, the statisticians in the quality profession, would have over which one is a tenth of a percent better or more effective doing this and that. And they would publicly argue, and Deming said, "Stop. It confuses management because they don't have a clue and they're staying away from all forms of quality." So, you, and I don't know the solution in this day and age where everyone is connected. But all of these methods have their strengths and weaknesses, but you have to have the savvy to figure out which one to use to help you improve. All of, each of these four were great teachers, and I have a comment from Dr. Deming on that.   0:27:11.7 Andrew Stotz: And just in wrapping this up, it's like, I think one of the things that you realize when you see this one and what you're talking about, what I realize is what a powerhouse Dr. Deming was in the area of statistics. And in some ways, it's kind of like seeing a rock star that you love to listen to and that rock star is great. And then one day on a Sunday, you go to the church and you see he's a reverend and a very solemn man who is a very, very devout devotee of Christianity and something. In some ways, that's the way I feel when I look at this, like, wow, just the roots of the depth of that is so fascinating.   0:28:03.2 Bill Scherkenbach: As you mentioned that, I'm thinking back, we were in Iowa and one of the professors there, and I forget his name, but you're right. Deming was held in awe and he was riding in the backseat. I'm driving and this professor is beside me and Dr. Deming said something and I said, how do you know? And the guy thought the world was going to come to an end that I dared ask the master, how did he know? Well, it, it, it ended up fine.   0:28:52.9 Andrew Stotz: That was the question he was trying to teach you to ask.   0:28:55.3 Bill Scherkenbach: Absolutely. You don't accept it at face value.   0:29:02.2 Andrew Stotz: So we got this other slide now. It says, what do you mean by a good teacher? Maybe you want to set this up and then I'll play the audio.   0:29:10.7 Bill Scherkenbach: Yeah. This was one of his favorite stories when he studied under Ronald Fisher, who is the big godfather of statistics, well, relatively modern stuff. So, Fisher was there at University College, as Deming will describe, and Deming wanted to know, and this is where a number of you will have recognized, he wanted to know what great minds were thinking about.   0:29:56.7 Andrew Stotz: All right. I'm going to play the clip right now.   0:30:00.2 Speaker 3: What do you mean by a good teacher? I taught with a man, head of a department. The whole 150 students spellbound him, teaching him what is wrong. And they loved it. What do you mean by a good teacher? Holding students spellbound around him. What do you mean teaching them something? I've had a number of great teachers. One was Professor Ronald Picker, University of London, University College I should say, part of the University of London. In London, 1936, no teaching could be worse. A lovable man, if you tried to work with him, could not read his writing, could stand in the way of it, room was dark and cold, he couldn't help the cold, maybe he could have put some light in the room, make mistakes, Professor Paul Ryder in the front row always helped him out. He'd come in with a piece of paper in his hand the ink not yet dry, talk about it. Wonder why the room was full of people from all over the world. I was one of them. Made a long trip, at my own expense, to learn, and we learned. We learned what that great mind was thinking about, what to him were great or important problems today.   0:31:45.9 Speaker 3: And we saw the methods that he used for solutions. We saw what this great mind was thinking about. His influence will be known the world over for a long, long time. He would rated zero by most people that rate teachers. Another teacher that I had was Ernest Crown at Yale, very poor teacher. We'd get together afterwards, some of us, and try to figure out what he was teaching us. He was not even charismatic the way Ronald Fisher was, but we learned. We learned what that great mind was thinking about, what he thought was the problem. We learned about perturbation. His work on lunar theory will be a classic for generations. We learned. Worst teacher there could be, but we learned.   0:32:49.0 Andrew Stotz: Wow. Tell us more about that.   0:32:53.6 Bill Scherkenbach: Well, he also had a similar story because, from great teachers at NYU, and that's where I first met him and learned from him. He was my teacher, but NYU had a, they had nominations for great teachers. And Deming was able to convince, and I forget who was the, Ernest Kurnow was the dean, and he convinced the dean to wait 10 years before you survey any of the students. And the question was, did any teacher you have really make a difference in your life? And he was able to get that done or get that process agreed to, and it was for the better because in, and I don't want to... I mean, every generation has said this new generation is going to hell in a handbasket, I mean, that for forever. That's nothing new. But what's popular, it's great to be entertained, and as he said, teaching what is wrong. And so did someone make a difference in your life? And not surprisingly, Deming was one of the people selected as a great teacher from NYU Graduate Business School.   0:35:15.4 Andrew Stotz: So that's your review after 50 years after the course, huh?   0:35:21.6 Bill Scherkenbach: Yeah.   0:35:24.5 Andrew Stotz: Yeah. And so the point is that, let's separate popularity from original thinking. And also he highlighted the idea that some teachers may not come across very organized, very polished. They may need assistance to help them clarify what they're trying to get across. But just because they're kind of a mess in that way, doesn't mean they're not thinking very deeply. In fact, it may be a sign that they're thinking very deeply about it.   0:36:01.9 Bill Scherkenbach: Yeah. Now, again, remember, and I know it's a broad brush, but Deming was eminently logical. Crosby would have loved it. Wine and cheese parties showed Juran more physical. And so I think Deming's preferences there, the key to his statement is teaching what was wrong. Some people get excited in class for a variety of reasons, but the key is what are you teaching? The method depends on the ability of the teacher to connect to the students and actually teach. So it gets you back to physical, logical, and emotional. But for Deming, Fisher struck a chord with him.   0:37:09.9 Andrew Stotz: Yeah. And I think for the listener, the viewer, think about some teacher that really made an impact on you. And it could be that there was a teacher that was able to connect with you emotionally.   0:37:25.2 Bill Scherkenbach: Absolutely.   0:37:26.7 Andrew Stotz: So there's different ways. But I think of Dr. Deming wasn't a teacher of mine in university, but at the age of 24 to learn from him was definitely a teacher that left me with the most to think about. And I would say there was one other teacher, a guy named Greg Florence that was at Long Beach City College who taught me argumentation and debate. And he also really encouraged me to join the debate team, which I really couldn't because I didn't have time because I didn't have money and I had to work. But he really saw something in me, and now I love to teach debate and helping young people construct arguments. And so for all of us, I think this idea of what do you mean by a good teacher is a great discussion. So, love it. Love it. Well, we got another picture now. Speaking of teaching, the City University of New York is in the backdrop. Maybe you can set this one up.   0:38:27.0 Bill Scherkenbach: Yeah. This was a one-day, maybe one and a half with some pre-work, but essentially a one-day meeting in New York that was able to gather some of the top educators in the US, the head of the schools in California. There were some folks from Chicago. We had, as I mentioned, Albert Shanker, who was head of the American Federation of Teachers, was sitting right beside me. Other teacher organizations and education organizations. And we got together for a very meaningful thing. We got together to try and determine what is the aim of education in America. And it turned out that everyone was looking for their mic time, and we couldn't even agree on an aim for education in America. And if you can't agree on an aim, your system is everyone doing their best, and it's all, there's not too much progress, except locally or suboptimally.   0:40:02.3 Andrew Stotz: Yeah. That's a good illustration of the concept of best efforts. Dr. Deming often talked about best efforts. And here you're saying, without an aim, everybody's going to just go in their own direction. And it reminds me of a story I tell people in relation to management, which was that I had a really great boss many years ago in the field of finance research in the stock market. He was very brilliant, and he hired really good analysts. I was surrounded by the best. But he never once really brought us together to say, this is our aim. And so what ended up happening was that each person did their best, which was very good as an individual, but as a group, we never were able to really make an impact. And I explain that to my students nowadays, that I believe it's because he didn't set an aim and bring us together for that.   0:41:09.1 Bill Scherkenbach: Now, one of the, I mean, one of the things Deming very predictably talked about, as I recall, is the grades and gold stars, which were part of his forces of destruction. And the education is the way we approach education here was part of that, even before people get to get beat further down by corporate and other organizational stuff. And the grading and gold stars, I don't know how much that was, that criticism was appreciated. But everyone had a chance to talk. And in my opinion, not too many people listened.   0:42:09.3 Andrew Stotz: Now, the next one is titled Mongolian Rat. What the heck, Bill?   0:42:17.1 Bill Scherkenbach: Well, this is part of teaching what good teaching would be. You've got to listen. It's one of my favorite stories of his.   0:42:30.3 Andrew Stotz: Well, let's roll the tape.   0:42:33.3 Speaker 3: I met a professor in New York. He was a surgeon, professor of surgery. He did gave out some marble, had plenty. One student in the class, he told them describe the surgical procedure on the jaw in which a certain breed of Mongolian wrap was very helpful. The rat, the flesh right down the bone cleaner than a surgeon could do it. Very important wrap. Describe it in details to the listeners and students. On examination, one, the question was to describe the surgical procedure by use of the Mongolian rat. Plenty of students gave him back the same marbles that he doled out. He described it in exactly the same words that he described it. He flunked them all, all the time. One of them said, my dear professor, I have searched the literature. I've inquired around in hospitals and other teachers, I can find no trace of any such procedure. I think that you were loading us. He laughed. He had to take a new examination. He gave them back the same marbles he doled out to them. He wanted to think.   0:43:55.0 Andrew Stotz: Marbles. I haven't heard that expression. Tell us a little bit more about what you want us to take from this.   0:44:02.6 Bill Scherkenbach: Well, I think it's pretty self-explanatory. His comment on education that teachers are handing out marbles and pieces of information, not necessarily knowledge, and the testing, you're expected to give them back what the teacher said instead of how can you process it and put it in the context of other things, as well as, I mean, maybe not in the early grades, but in the later ones, you need to be able to look at various perspectives to see who has this opinion and that opinion. And unfortunately, today, that discourse is nicely shut down.   0:45:07.3 Andrew Stotz: At first, when I heard him saying marbles, I thought he was kind of using marbles as a way of kind of saying pulling their legs, but now I understand that he was trying to say that he's giving something and then the students give it back.   0:45:24.1 Bill Scherkenbach: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.   0:45:26.0 Andrew Stotz: Okay. Mongolian rats.   0:45:31.0 Bill Scherkenbach: Yep. Yep. So we go from learning to having fun, and here's a picture of our statistical methods office at Ford.   0:45:48.1 Andrew Stotz: And you're sitting in a sleigh? Is that what's happening there?   0:45:50.0 Bill Scherkenbach: We're sitting in a sleigh, yes, at Greenfield Village, which is where the Henry Ford Museum is, and it happened to snow, so we've got the, we've got the horse-drawn sleigh, and I was listening to your first interview of me, and I want to deeply apologize. It's Harry Artinian, and so from the left, you've got Ed Baker and Bill Craft and Pete Jessup, Harry Artinian, Narendra Sheth, Dr. Deming, Debbie Rawlings, Ann Evans, my secretary, uh ooooh, and the gentleman who worked with Jim Bakken, and then me. So, we were working and decided to have a good lunch.   0:46:58.5 Andrew Stotz: And it's a horse-drawn sleigh. And I wasn't sure if you were pulling our leg here because you said, I'm second from the far right. First from the far right, to me, looks like the horse.   0:47:09.0 Bill Scherkenbach: Yes. That's the horse's ass. Yep.   0:47:14.6 Andrew Stotz: That's a big one.   0:47:16.1 Bill Scherkenbach: It is what it is.   0:47:18.7 Andrew Stotz: Yep. Okay. Next one. Who's Sylvester?   0:47:22.3 Bill Scherkenbach: Sylvester is my son's cat. And this is one of the times Dr. Deming was in my home. And he sat down in my office at my home. And Sylvester saw a good lap and he jumped up on it and took it. And as I said, I couldn't tell who was purring louder. They both were content.   0:47:52.7 Andrew Stotz: Yeah. That looks beautiful.   0:47:55.4 Bill Scherkenbach: Yeah. It was very, very peaceful. Another fun thing, after a long day of work at Ford, we would go to Luigi's restaurant in Dearborn. I think there was a Dearborn Marriott, a big hotel. I don't know if it's there now. But that's Larry Moore, director of quality, next to Dr. Deming and me. I had a mustache back then.   0:48:30.4 Andrew Stotz: Yes. And we all loved soft serve ice cream.   0:48:34.0 Bill Scherkenbach: Soft serve ice cream. Yep.   0:48:38.0 Andrew Stotz: Yep. All right. Star-Spangled Banner.   0:48:40.9 Bill Scherkenbach: Yep. Now we're at one of my earlier houses in Northville. And Dr. Deming had written a new tune for the Star-Spangled Banner because it was an old English drinking song, Anna, the what? The Anacrocronistic Society. And he thought it was just too bawdy. I mean, you're an unsingable, except if you're drinking. So he rewrote the music for the Star-Spangled Banner. I have a copy of it here. But he, my son Matthew, my oldest son Matthew, we had just gotten one of those first Macs from Apple, Macintosh. And it had a very elementary music thing. So he put the notes that Deming had handwritten. And we put it in there and it played the tune. And so Deming was playing on our piano the Star-Spangled Banner.   0:50:04.7 Andrew Stotz: So he had a musical talent.   0:50:10.8 Bill Scherkenbach: Oh, yeah. He was a very serious study of, a student of music. Very much so. He wrote a complete Mass. He was a high church Episcopalian. And he wrote a complete Mass of the Holy Spirit with all parts. So, very much a student of music.   0:50:41.8 Andrew Stotz: And how did his religious beliefs, like Episcopalian, as you mentioned, how did that come across? Was he a person who talked about that? Was he a person that didn't talk about that? Like, how did that come across?   0:50:59.2 Bill Scherkenbach: It was more of a private thing. But then again, on every one of his books, he would begin a chapter with some quotation from different books. And many of them were from the Bible. I can remember one time in London, I'm Catholic, and so we were celebrating the St. Peter and Paul that Sunday. But he was in London and he was at St. Paul's and they weren't giving Peter any traction. But he looked up and he said, yep, you're right. It was both of those saint days.   0:51:58.3 Andrew Stotz: All right. Next one, Drive Out Fear.   0:52:01.8 Bill Scherkenbach: Oh, yeah. This was Professor Arnold. And we were having lunch in the Ford dining room, one of the Ford dining rooms. And Dr. Deming wasn't too happy of what Professor Arnold was talking about. And Professor Arnold didn't look too happy either. So, I framed the picture and put Drive Out Fear underneath it and hung it in my office. And Deming came and looked at it and smiled.   0:52:46.5 Andrew Stotz: And what was the background on Professor Arnold? And in this case, did they have opposing views or was it a particular thing or what was it that was...   0:52:58.4 Bill Scherkenbach: I don't remember the particular conversation, but Professor Arnold was head of the statistics department at Oakland University. And Ford had an agreement with Oakland University that we established a master's degree in statistics, according to Dr. Deming's viewpoint on enumerative and analytic. And no, he was very, very capable gentleman. I mean, one of the things Dr. Deming mentioned to me is if the two of us agreed all the time, one of us is redundant. So there were always discussions. This is just a snapshot in time.   0:53:52.3 Andrew Stotz: I love that quote, that one of us is redundant. That's powerful, powerful.   0:53:59.4 Bill Scherkenbach: Absolutely. Yep. This is another having fun after learning in... There were a number of restaurants we went to. He particularly liked Elizabeth's,   0:54:16.1 Andrew Stotz: And how was their relationship? How did he treat your lovely wife?   0:54:22.5 Bill Scherkenbach: Oh, I mean, very lovingly. I mean, I don't know how to describe it, but one of the family.   0:54:36.2 Andrew Stotz: Yeah. He seemed from my observation, like a true gentleman.   0:54:42.5 Bill Scherkenbach: Absolutely. Absolutely.   0:54:46.0 Andrew Stotz: Well, here we come to the Lincoln that we started off with. This is a great picture too.   0:54:51.4 Bill Scherkenbach: Yeah. That's a picture I had. It wasn't a Hasselblad, but it was a two and a quarter frame. And I had black and white film in it, but this is one of a number of pictures I took of him at the Cosmos Club. I think it was a very good picture. And in any event, it was blending learning and having fun.   0:55:19.7 Andrew Stotz: Yeah. And the Cosmos Club was near his house?   0:55:22.5 Bill Scherkenbach: Yeah. Well, it was depending on who drove. I mean, it was just, it was down a few blocks and then a number of blocks on Massachusetts Avenue. I enjoyed the drive from his house because you'd pass the Naval Observatory, which for years was the home of the chief of naval operations here. But a few decades, a few, I don't know how long ago, the vice president pulled rank on him. And so the Naval Observatory, beautiful, beautiful old house. So, the vice president lives there now. And a lot of people think Massachusetts Avenue in that area is Embassy Row. So you're passing a number of embassies on the way. And the Cosmos Club, anyone can look up. I mean, it's by invitation, members only, and Nobel laureates and Pulitzer Prize winners and a very distinguished membership, let's say.   0:56:39.3 Andrew Stotz: Here was another one, Making a Difference with Don Peterson.   0:56:43.0 Bill Scherkenbach: Yep. Yep. We're, we're, this is one of the meetings we had with Don. And it wasn't this meeting, but we were in one of them. Okay. You have it on the right there. That we periodically would have, Dr. Deming and I would have breakfast with Jim Bakken in what was known as the Penthouse at Ford. There are 12 floors, and then there was the 13th and 14th, which were private quarters, essentially. And so we were having breakfast one morning and finishing breakfast, and I'm walking a little bit ahead, and I run ahead and press the elevator button to go down one floor, and the door opens, and there's Henry Ford II in cowboy belt buckle and boots, no hat. He's going to a board meeting, he says, and Jim shied away, said, "Oh, I'm sorry, Mr. Ford." He said, "Shut up, Jim, get in here." And so we got in the elevator, and it was the small elevator. And so we're back to back, belly to belly, and Jim introduces Dr. Deming to Mr. Ford, and Ford said, "I've heard of you, Dr. Deming. God, we really need your help." And Deming had the presence of saying, "I heard of you too, Mr. Ford." It was the longest one-floor elevator ride I've ever had in my life.   0:58:49.1 Andrew Stotz: That's fascinating. All right. Next one, talking with workers.   0:58:54.1 Bill Scherkenbach: Yep. Yep. He made it a point. And this is a fine line, because you want to be able to have workers say, how, how, are they able to take pride in their work? And are there any problems and all of that? But you don't want to be in a position of then going to management and telling them because of fear in the organization. So, Dr. Deming was very good at listening and getting people to talk about their jobs and their ability to take joy and, well, pride in their work. So we had many, many meetings, different places. And this next one is with the Ford Batavia plant, I think.   1:00:01.2 Andrew Stotz: Yep.   1:00:02.4 Bill Scherkenbach: Yeah. We're riding on the tractors and having a good time.   1:00:11.3 Andrew Stotz: Who's driving?   1:00:14.2 Bill Scherkenbach: The plant manager, Ron Kaseya, was driving.   1:00:16.9 Andrew Stotz: Okay.   1:00:17.9 Bill Scherkenbach: And so I absolutely do not recall what we were laughing at, but we were having a good time. And the Batavia transaxle plant, a number of people will recognize as where Ford, it really made the point that doing better than spec is really what the job is. And it's a very powerful video that's been out there and people would recognize it as well, because we were producing the exact same transaxle in Mazda. And Mazda was influenced a lot of by Genichi Taguchi and looked to reduce variation around the nominal and not just be happy that we made spec. And John Betty, who was head up of powertrain operations and then went to the Department of Defense as assistant secretary of defense for procurement, I think, because of the quality expertise. Betty is in the front of the video saying he's absolutely convinced that this is a superior way to look at manufacturing, to look at the management of any process. You want to get your customers to brag, not just not complain.   1:02:10.3 Andrew Stotz: Yeah. Courage.   1:02:11.8 Bill Scherkenbach: And all of this takes courage. And especially in his seminars in London say, the Brits had the advantage. You guys can take courage every day. We can't get that in the US anymore. Or it's very rare to be able to buy it here.   1:02:36.3 Andrew Stotz: For the listeners, there's a logo of the John Courage beer, premium beer.   1:02:45.7 Bill Scherkenbach: Yes. Yes. It's an amber pills.   1:02:49.8 Andrew Stotz: Okay.   1:02:52.4 Bill Scherkenbach: And last but not least, well, not last, but we're looking for, and I ran across this quote from Yogi Berra, and it's very applicable right now. And Yogi Berra said, I never said... Well, what did he say?   1:03:19.2 Andrew Stotz: Never said most of the things I said.   1:03:21.4 Bill Scherkenbach: Most of the things I could have said. I never said most of the things I said. Yeah. And every day online, I see people saying Dr. Deming said this, and he said that. And if he did, I've never heard him say it. And not that I've heard him say everything. But if he did say something like, if it's not measurable, you can't manage it. He would have followed it with, that's not right. The unknown and unknowable. And so you've got a lot of people misunderstanding what Dr. Deming said. And you've got to go with, I never said most of the things that I said.   1:04:24.0 Andrew Stotz: Well, that's the great thing about this discussion is that we're getting it from the horse's mouth, someone that was there listening and being a part of it.   1:04:32.1 Bill Scherkenbach: Well, I'm glad you saw the other end of the horse.   1:04:37.5 Andrew Stotz: Yeah. So, I'm going to close out this by just sharing a little personal connection. And that is, I'm showing a picture of me in my 1963 suicide door Lincoln Continental, which I owned for 10 years in beautiful Bangkok, Thailand. And much like being kind of wild taking a ride to the Cosmos Club with Dr. Deming driving his Lincoln Continental, you could imagine how odd it looked seeing this American guy driving this 1963 Lincoln Continental on the streets of Bangkok. But I just thought I would share that just to have some fun. So, yeah.   1:05:14.3 Bill Scherkenbach: That's beautiful. Absolutely. Yeah. I didn't think the streets were that wide.   1:05:22.1 Andrew Stotz: It gets stuck in traffic, that's for sure. But wow, there's so many things that we covered. I mean, I just really, really enjoyed that trip down memory lane. Is there anything you want to share to wrap it up?   1:05:36.1 Bill Scherkenbach: No. As I said, our last conversation, we've just scratched the surface. There's so much, so much more to talk about and preserve, I think.   1:05:48.9 Andrew Stotz: Yeah. Well, I really enjoyed it.   1:05:52.1 Bill Scherkenbach: I have done my best.   1:05:53.6 Andrew Stotz: Yes, you have. You have. I've enjoyed it, and I'm sure the listeners and the viewers will enjoy it too. So, on behalf of everyone at the Deming Institute, I just want to thank you for taking the time to pull that together and to walk us through it. And for listeners out there, remember to go to Deming.org to continue your journey. And of course, go to LinkedIn to find Bill and reach out and share your interpretations of what we went through. And maybe you have a story that you'd like to share also. So, this is your host, Andrew Stotz, and I'm going to leave you with one of my favorite quotes from Dr. Deming. And that is, “people are entitled to joy in work."

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give unto you. (John 14:27) The peace of God has already been given to each of us. Why then are we not seeing peace in the world? Because peace doesn't exist anywhere outside of us. Peace abides within us and we have the power to choose it at any moment. Listen as Mary Ellen shares practical thoughts about choosing peace even when things don't look the way we would like.Support the show

In this heartfelt midweek mini, Joanna and Mary Ellen open up about the deeper meaning behind points and miles — how these travel tools can bring joy and relief during challenging times. They share moving listener stories about caretakers and families who used points to create precious travel memories amid hardship, reminding us all why this podcast exists: to empower people to travel smarter and live fuller.Their guest Lindsay, a longtime friend and foster mom, joins the conversation to talk about how points helped her family carve out a much-needed mini escape during a difficult season of caregiving. From canceled trips to spontaneous getaways, Lindsay's story highlights the true power of points beyond the glam.Then the duo dives into a practical, insider tip for Broadway lovers: the Broadway Direct app. Mary Ellen discovered this lottery-based ticket app that scores you deeply discounted tickets for top New York shows like Stranger Things and Death Becomes Her — often at a fraction of the regular price. They break down how the app works, how to navigate its quirks, and share their own winning experiences (including front-row seats and first-class flights!).Submit Your Summer Road Trip Series Story HEREFacebook GroupWonderland On Points BlogFind Us On InstagramMary Ellen | JoLinks30% off the CardPointers subscription!FlyKitt- the BEST Jet Lag Solution!Tripiamo Driving TutorialsOur Favorite Travel NecessitiesCredit Card Affiliate LinksThe above link includes referrals for Capital One Travel Cards. If you need AMEX or Chase please reach out and we would be happy to send you our personal referral links.We receive a small commission when you use our links. This is an amazing way to show your support for the show at no cost to you ❤️

Resurrection Church is honored to support Mary Ellen Lovin, a missionary serving in the Middle East. In this powerful conversation, she shares her experiences, the realities of cross-cultural ministry, and how God is at work in some of the world's most challenging places. Be encouraged and inspired by the faithfulness of a servant following God's call to the nations.Learn how you can pray for and support missions like Mary Ellen's as we continue to live out the Great Commission together.Support Mary Ellen at:https://rceinternational.givingfuel.com/staff?staffId=25953https://www.thriftbooks.com/list/share/5c7bd446e3e9f7ca756df5efddbdc02e/

I just spent three hours watching Hunter Biden, and I have a lot of thoughts. The interview, done by Andrew Callahan for Channel 5, is something like a confessional crossed with a stand-up set crossed with a Twitter thread that never ends. It's raw, it's chaotic, and weirdly, it's compelling. If you're a politics junkie, a media analyst, or just curious about the human side of scandal, there's a lot to pick apart.First off, the man is online. Not just vaguely aware of what's being said about him — he's terminally online. He knows the jokes, the subtext, the usernames. I'm convinced he has burner accounts. He's tracking how people talk about him in real time, and it bleeds through every answer. He's got a list — Tapper, the Pod Save crew, Alex Jones, Stephen Miller, and on and on. He names names, and he torches them. It's Seth Rollins with a flamethrower.But what's interesting is how seriously he talks about addiction, sobriety, and crack — yes, crack specifically. He draws lines between drugs, dives into the stigma, and explains how being labeled a “crack addict” shaped public perception of him. These are by far the most honest and lucid parts of the interview. And they reveal someone who's done the work of recovery — while still slipping into the old reflexes of deflection when the political heat turns up.He has this quote about “an evil symbiosis between money and power” — and I couldn't help but think, does he hear himself? He's talking about systems he's literally a product of. And yet, he stays focused on everyone else's money. When he brings someone up, it's almost always first by how rich they are. Soros, Tapper, Bannon — doesn't matter who it is, the cash comes first. There's this constant undercurrent of scorekeeping.He also confirms, in his way, that the laptop is real — then turns around and champions the “hallmarks of Russian disinfo” letter like it was gospel. The tension never resolves. He owns up to some things, skirts others, and delivers just enough contradiction to keep everyone debating. Even when he talks about Burisma, he says the quiet part out loud: “I had connections.” That's the trick, the real reason he was on that board. And he knows it.What stuck with me, though, was his resentment. Not anger — that's expected — but a deep, lingering bitterness toward the people he feels used him, abandoned him, or dismissed him. It gives the whole interview a kind of edge that goes beyond politics. When he talks about the media, about Democrats who've distanced themselves, or even about his father, there's a tension. Like he's still waiting for someone to publicly say they screwed him over. He wants vindication as much as he wants attention.And that's where it lands. This wasn't an attempt to reset the narrative — it was a live demo of the very chaos people accuse him of embodying. He wants to be understood, but not too clearly. He wants to admit things, but only on his terms. He wants to lash out, but still come off sympathetic. It's maddening, self-aware, and oddly human. If anything, the interview shows us who Hunter Biden is — and exactly why nobody in the Democratic Party knows what to do with him.Chapters00:00:00 - Intro00:01:09 - Epstein00:05:56 - Hunter Biden00:32:18 - Update00:33:34 - NC Senate Race00:36:40 - Wisconsin Gov. Seat00:38:19 - Florida Redistricting00:39:08 - Interview with Mary Ellen Klas01:17:30 - Wrap-up This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.politicspoliticspolitics.com/subscribe

In 2008, Tom Vander Woude died saving the life of his youngest son. But this radical self-gift was really the culmination of a quiet life of daily virtue with a heart of faith. Chris Vander Woude, the fifth of Tom and Mary Ellen's seven sons, now carries the story of his father's life and death across the country, as well as sharing the process towards canonization that began this year with the assignment of a postulator in Rome. Chris joins us today to speak about fatherhood and the extraordinary man who exemplified it for him. Chris invites you to reach out to him at 5thvwson@gmail.com or info@tvwguild.org. Chapters: 00:04:50 The life of Tom Vander Woude 00:07:34 His sacrificial death 00:17:17 His character 00:23:23 Physical strength: one's readiness for action 00:28:52 Faith: one's trust and mission 00:39:18 Fatherhood and Down syndrome 00:50:52 Father of seven sons: tandem work 01:00:10 Tom's discipline: priorities and good humor 01:04:39 Hosting and friend culture 01:07:44 Tom as a husband 01:13:03 Balancing family and community 01:17:22 Towards canonization 01:28:44 “Man fully alive” Links: Tom Vander Woude Guild, website A Father's Sacrifice, video interviews with the Vander Woude family The Father: 30 Meditations to Draw You into the Heart of God by Fr. Mark-Mary Ames, featuring Tom Vander Woude's story Tragedy at Rattlesnake Falls: Opus Dei Mourns the Drowning of Three of Its Members, National Catholic Register, 3 July 2025 Also on the Forum: Forming Families, Forming Saints featuring Fr. Carter Griffin To the Glory of God and the Memory of Emil Beer by Mark Grannis Featured opportunities: Convivium for Teaching Men at The Heights School (November 13-15, 2025)

On this episode of the Westminster Effects Doxology Podcast, we sit down with Mary Ellen Lovin, a missionary to the Middle East supported by Resurrection Church. Mary Ellen shares what it's like to do ministry in a region rich in both history and hardship, how the gospel is moving, and what the Western Church can learn from believers abroad.This conversation is part of our Common Thread series, highlighting faithful Christians from across traditions and contexts.Support Mary Ellen at:https://rceinternational.givingfuel.com/staff?staffId=25953https://www.thriftbooks.com/list/share/5c7bd446e3e9f7ca756df5efddbdc02e/

Get ready for a fabulous episode with the one and only Mary Ellen O'Brien—a real estate rockstar with over 30 years in the business and a heart for service! Mary Ellen shares how getting involved with local, state, and national associations has shaped her career—and why it's something every Realtor® should consider. She also opens up about her passion for giving back through the Bucks County Housing Group. And of course, we'll talk about her signature drink—a refreshing Limoncello Spritz with Grey Goose—because all great stories deserve a great cocktail.

What was it like to learn from Dr. Deming himself -- a decade before his name became legend in U.S. business circles? In this deeply personal episode, William Scherkenbach shares with host Andrew Stotz what it was like to sit in Deming's classroom in 1972, join him for late-night chats at the Cosmos Club, and help ignite transformational change at Ford and GM. Learn how Deming's teachings shaped a lifetime of purpose, and why Scherkenbach, now in his 80th year, is stepping back into the arena with lessons still burning bright. TRANSCRIPT 0:00:02.3 Andrew Stotz: My name is Andrew Stotz, and I'll be your host as we continue our journey into the teachings of Dr. W. Edwards Deming. Today, I'm here with featured guest William Scherkenbach, and he is known as one of the men who has spent a huge amount of time with Dr. Deming, as he mentioned to me previously, starting from 1972, over a thousand meetings and many other activities that he's been involved in. So, Bill, welcome to the show. Why don't you give us a little background about you?   0:00:39.5 William Scherkenbach: Oh, okay. Good to be here, Andrew. Well, I'm going to start with, since it's about Deming, in '72, I was newly married in April, but had been accepted to NYU Graduate School of Business, and I don't know, I never found out who wrote the course syllabus, but whoever did wrote something that it sounded like a darn interesting course, sampling, manufacturing. I was a protocol officer at the United Nations at the time and was going to night school at the New York University Graduate School of Business. So, I said, this sounds like a good course, interesting course. Had no idea who Dr. Deming was, and I walked into the first class, and there was an old, I'm 26, so he was 72 in 1972, and he was one of the first, one of the only old person who didn't say, I used to be, and I don't want to stereotype all of my peers now that I'm 79, but hopefully I don't fall into the, well, I used to be and what happened. But he did tell, I mean, statistics can be a very technical subject, and the way he taught it, I had courses in some theory of sampling, which was one of his books.   0:02:52.2 William Scherkenbach: He had three, I said three courses. The other course that I took was based on his lectures in Japan in 1950, and in fact, two of them. The third course was an extension of that. So, he was, he would teach the statistics, but he was able to tell the history of the people behind all of the thoughts and the formulas and approaches, and I found that extremely, extremely interesting. And he handed out tons of papers and material, and it was just a very, very good experience. I know he had, and he had, in my opinion, a great sense of humor, but then statisticians, what's our status? Yeah, we're like accountants, in any event. .   0:04:12.2 Andrew Stotz: Why was he teaching? I mean, at 72, most men, you know, maybe women also, but most of us are like, it's the twilight of our years, and we now know he had 30 more years to go, but why was he teaching? And also, what's interesting is when I think about Deming, I think about his overall system of what he's teaching, whereas it's interesting to think about how he taught one relatively narrow subject.   0:04:43.7 William Scherkenbach: I'll get to that as to why I think he was teaching. But yeah, back then there were no 14 Points, no glimmer of Profound Knowledge. It was, not theoretical statistics, but applied statistics with a theory behind it. And he still was really expanding on Shewhart 's work with the difference between enumerative and analytic. He used his own. Now, why he was teaching, years later, probably 1987, so yeah, a bunch of years later, when I was at Ford and I had attended at the time, I attended a senior executive week-long get-together in order to get constancy of purpose or more continuity in the senior executive group. One of the people we brought in was Dr. Peter Kastenbaum. And I found as I attended his lecture in that week-long meeting, he was a student of CI Lewis. And CI Lewis, Deming learned about from Walter Shewhart and his work in the epistemology theory of knowledge. And in any event, Deming, when he was asked, and at the time it was still in the '30s, I think, when he was at the School of Agriculture, or the agriculture department, and bringing in Shewhart, he had tried to get CI Lewis to come talk. And CI said, I would love to, but I have a commitment to my students. And so I can't adjust my schedule.   0:07:33.9 William Scherkenbach: And the students, the people who wanted to learn were sacred. And I think that had a huge impact on Dr. Deming. I mean, he spoke about it a lot. And the way, you know, in a lot of the videos that Clare Crawford-Mason did, lovingly called the old curmudgeon. But for students, he had the greatest empathy and charity for, he just didn't suffer fools gladly. If you showed him that you weren't willing to learn, he took great joy in letting them know where they, where they stood.   0:08:43.1 Andrew Stotz: And one of the things when I went into my first Deming seminar in 1990, so now we're fast forwarding 30 years from when you first met him. It was almost like there was a safe harbor for workers, for young people, for people with open minds. I mean, I didn't, I watched as he didn't suffer fools, but I'm just curious, when you go back to 1972 in those classes, I'm assuming that he was pretty gentle with the students, encouraging them and all that was...   0:09:19.0 William Scherkenbach: Oh, absolutely. In my experience, I mean, if you were by, you know, in a student in graduate school, even though the graduate school of business in New York, down on 90 Church Street, Wall Street area, there were very few people going directly from your bachelor's to the master's program. And so these were people that had probably 10 years experience in business doing stuff. And yet by going to the class, absolutely were willing to learn, listen to different points of view, which is absolutely crucial. As you progress with theory of knowledge to be able to get different perspectives on whatever it is you're trying to look at.   0:10:23.2 Andrew Stotz: I would like to continue on this period of time just because it's a snapshot we don't get that often or that easily. You mentioned CI Lewis, a man who lived from about 1880 to about the year I was born, around 1964-65, and he was known for his understanding and discussion about logic and things like that. But why was CI Lewis someone that was interesting to Dr. Deming? What was the connection from your perspective?   0:10:59.6 William Scherkenbach: Well, my understanding is Shewhart referred to him, and Lewis was a professor at Harvard, and he was in the Peirce, I believe it's called. It looks like Peirce, but it's Peirce School of, or Chair of Philosophy, and Charles Sanders Peirce was a huge, huge influence in epistemology. And so that whole chain of thought or train of thought interested Deming, but it really was, he was introduced to it by Walter Shewhart.    0:11:48.3 Andrew Stotz: There's a famous quote, I believe, by Deming about CI Lewis and his book Mind and the World Order.   0:11:56.0 William Scherkenbach: Mind and the World Order, yeah.   0:11:59.9 Andrew Stotz: Deming said he had to read it six times before he fully understood and could apply its insights. And sometimes I think maybe Dr. Deming was truly inspired by that because when I think about his work, I'm still reading it and rereading it. And just listening to the video that you did many years ago with Tim talking about reduced variation, reduced variation, what he was talking about. Sometimes when we see the big picture, there's many different components of Deming's teachings. But if you had to bring it down to kind of its core, you know, he mentioned on that video that I just watched this morning, he mentioned reduced variation, and that will get you lower costs, happier customers, more jobs. How would you say, after you've looked at it from so many different angles over so many different years, how would you say you would sum up Dr. Deming's message to the world?   0:13:01.5 William Scherkenbach: Well, that's a difficult thing to sum up. Back then, when we did the video, which was in the early '80s, maybe '84, again, he had his 14 Points by then, but he hadn't, it hadn't really, the Profound Knowledge part of that wasn't there. Now, he had used what Shewhart said, and he had read, tried to read CI Lewis, and when he spoke about the connection between theory and questions, that's what he got from Shewhart and, well, and from Lewis, and a bunch of other pragmatist philosophers. So, he, you know, he was influenced by it, and, well, that's all I can say.   0:14:27.5 Andrew Stotz: So, let's go back in time. So, you're sitting in this classroom, you're intrigued, inspired. How did the relationship go at, towards the end of the class, and then as you finished that class, how did you guys keep in touch, and how did the relationship develop?   0:14:51.0 William Scherkenbach: Well, that is an interesting story. I usually am, well, I am introverted. So I had, after I moved from New York, I got a job at Booz Allen and Hamilton in Washington, DC. So in '74, when I got the degree from NYU, we moved to Silver Spring. And obviously, he's lived on Butterworth Place since there was a Butterworth Place. So we were able to, one of the things, and this is, well, I will say it, one of his advice to me, although he gave everyone an A, I later kidded him, he didn't remember that he gave me a B. No, he gave me an A. In any event, but one of his piece of advice was, you really don't need to join ASQC. You know more about quality than any of those inspectors. And so he had learned from the '50s in the past 20 years from the 50s that inspection wasn't going to do it. Well, I didn't take his advice, and I joined ASQC, and I was reading...   0:16:36.1 Andrew Stotz:Which for those who don't know is the American Society for...   0:16:41.6 William Scherkenbach: Quality Control, back then, now it's just the American Society for Quality. I had recommended when we did a big recommendations and forecasts for the year 2000 that quality, it should be the Society for Quality worldwide, but it's ASQ now. Let's see.   0:17:07.7 Andrew Stotz: So he recommended you don't join and you didn't follow his recommendation.    0:17:12.1 William Scherkenbach: I don't join, and I read an article, and it was by a professor in Virginia Tech, and he was showing a c-chart and the data were in control, and his recommendations were to penalize the people that were high and reward the people that were low, which is even back then, Dr. Deming was absolutely on track with that. If your process is in control, it doesn't make any sense to rank order or think that any of them are sufficiently different to reward or penalize. And I had never done this, but it was, I wrote a letter to quality progress. I sent a copy to Dr. Deming, and he said, "By golly, you're right on, that's great." And so I think it probably was '75, yeah, 1975. So I had been a year or so out, and he started inviting me over to his place at Butterworth, and we would go to the Cosmos Club. And that was a logistical challenge because at the time he had, well, his garage was a separate, not attached, it was in the backyard and emptied onto an alley. And he had a huge Lincoln Continental, the ones with the doors that opened from the center.   0:19:29.0 William Scherkenbach: And he would get in and drive and then park it in back of the club and someone would watch over it. But those were some good memories. So that was my introduction to keep contact with him. As I said, I had never done that. I don't think I've written a letter to an editor ever again.   0:20:04.8 Andrew Stotz: And you're mentioning about Butterworth, which is in DC.   0:20:12.6 William Scherkenbach: Butterworth Place, yeah.   0:20:14.7 Andrew Stotz: And Butterworth Place where he had his consulting business, which he ran, I believe, out of his basement.   0:20:18.3 William Scherkenbach: Out of the basement, yep, yep, yep.   0:20:21.2 Andrew Stotz: And just out of curiosity, what was it like when you first went to his home? Here, you had met him as your teacher, you respected him, you'd been away for a little bit, he invited you over. What was that like on your first walk into his home?   0:20:38.5 William Scherkenbach: Well, went down the side, the entrance to the basement was on the side of the house, and Seal had her desk set up right by the door. And then, I don't know if you can see, this is neat compared to his desk. It was filled with books and papers, but he knew where everything was. But it was a very cordial atmosphere.   0:21:25.2 Andrew Stotz: So when you mentioned Cecelia Kilian, is that her name, who was his assistant at the time?   0:21:36.3 William Scherkenbach: Yes, yes.   0:21:38.0 Andrew Stotz: Okay, so you...   0:21:38.8 William Scherkenbach: Yeah. For Jeepers. I don't know how long, but it had to be 50 years or so. So I don't, I mean, back in the '70s, I don't know of any other. He might have had, well, okay. He, yeah.   0:22:01.1 Andrew Stotz: I think it's about 40 or 50 years. So that's an incredible relationship he had with her. And I believe she wrote something. I think I have one of her, a book that she wrote that described his life. I can't remember that one right now but...   0:22:14.2 William Scherkenbach: Yeah. A lot of, yeah, it contained a lot of...   0:22:16.6 Andrew Stotz: The World of Dr. W. Edwards Deming, I think was the name of it, yeah.   0:22:20.6 William Scherkenbach: Okay. It contained a lot of his diaries on a number of his visits to Japan and elsewhere.   0:22:32.1 Andrew Stotz: So for some of us, when we go into our professor's offices, we see it stacked full of papers, but they've been sitting there for years. And we know that the professor just doesn't really do much with it. It's just all sitting there. Why did he have so much stuff on it? Was it incoming stuff that was coming to him? Was it something he was writing? Something he was reading? What was it that was coming in and out of his desk?   0:22:55.7 William Scherkenbach: A combination of stuff. I don't know. I mean, he was constantly writing, dictating to seal, but writing and reading. He got a, I mean, as the decades proceeded out of into the '80s, after '82, the NBC white or the '80, the NBC white paper calls were coming in from all over, all over the world. So yeah, a lot of people sending him stuff.   0:23:35.8 Andrew Stotz: I remember seeing him pulling out little scraps of paper at the seminar where he was taking notes and things like that at '90. So I could imagine he was just prolific at jotting things down. And when you read what he wrote, he really is assembling a lot of the notes and things that he's heard from different people. You can really capture that.   0:23:59.0 William Scherkenbach: Yeah. He didn't have an identic memory, but he took notes and quite, you know, and what he would do at the end of the day before retiring, he'd review the notes and commit them to memory as best he could. So he, yeah, very definitely. I mean, we would, you know, and well, okay. We're still in the early days before Ford and GM, but.   0:24:37.6 Andrew Stotz: Yeah. And I want to, if I shoot forward to '90, '92, when I studied with him, I was impressed with his energy at his age and he was just on a mission. And when I hear about your discussion about the class and at that time, it's like he was forming his, you know, System of Profound Knowledge, his 14 Points. When do you think it really became a mission for him to help, let's say American industry?   0:25:09.0 William Scherkenbach: Oh, well, I think it was a mission when Ford began its relationship with him. The ability of a large corporation, as well, and Ford at the same time Pontiac, the Pontiac division, not the whole GM, but Pontiac, was learning as well. But the attachment to Ford was that you had Don Peterson at the time was president of Ford, and he was intellectually curious, and he and Deming were on the same frequency. Now, I don't want to jump ahead, but if anyone has, well, you've read my second book there, you'll know that I have mentioned that the way to change is physical, logical, and emotional. And when you look at the gurus back then, there was Deming, who was the logical guru. You had Phil Crosby, who was the emotional guru. You go to the flag and the wine and cheese party, and Deming would say, "No," and Joe Juran, who was interested in focusing on the physical organization, you report to me kind of a thing. And so each of these behemoths were passing each other in the night with the greatest respect. But, but, and so they had their constituents. The challenge is to be able to broaden the appeal.    0:27:33.8 Andrew Stotz: So we've gone through '72, and then now '75, you've written your piece, and he's brought you into the fold. You're starting to spend some time with him. I believe it was about 1981 or so when he started working with Ford. And at that time, the quality director, I think, was Larry Moore at the time. And of course, you mentioned Donald Peterson. Maybe you can help us now understand from your own perspective of what you were doing between that time and how you saw that happening.   0:28:13.4 William Scherkenbach: Well, I had, my career was, after Booz Allen, mostly in the quality reliability area. I went from Booz Allen and Hamilton to, I moved to Columbia, Maryland, because I can fondly remember my grandfather in Ironwood, Michigan, worked at the Oliver Mine. There's a lot of iron ore mines up in the UP. ANd he would, and his work, once he got out of the mines later on, was he would cut across the backyard, and his office was right there. And so he would walk home for lunch and take a nap and walk back. And I thought that really was a good style of life. So Columbia, Maryland, was designed by Rouse to be a live-in, work-in community. And so we were gonna, we moved to Columbia, and there was a consulting firm called Hitman Associates, and their specialty was energy and environmental consulting. So did a bunch of that, worked my way up to a vice president. And so, but in '81, Deming said, you know, Ford really is interested. He was convinced, and again, it's déjà vu, he spoke about, when he spoke fondly about his lectures in Japan in 1950 and onward, that he was, he was very concerned that top management needed to be there, because he had seen all the excitement at Stanford during the war, and it died out afterwards, because management wasn't involved.   0:30:42.8 Andrew Stotz: What do you mean by that? What do you mean by the excitement at Stanford? You mean people working together for the efforts of the war, or was there a particular thing that was happening at Stanford?   0:30:51.7 William Scherkenbach: Well, they were, he attributed it to the lack of management support. I mean, they learned SPC. We were able to improve quality of war material or whatever, whoever attended the Stanford courses. But he saw the same thing in Japan and was lucky to, and I'm not sure if it was Ishikawa. I'm just not sure, but he was able to get someone to make the call after a few of the seminars for the engineers to make the call to the top management to attend the next batch. And he was able, he was able to do that. And that he thought was very helpful. I, I, gave them a leg up on whatever steps were next. I'm reminded of a quote from, I think it was Lao Tzu. And he said that someone asked him, "Well, you talk to the king, why or the emperor, why are things so screwed up?" And he said, "Well, I get to talk to him an hour a week and the rest of the time his ears are filled with a bunch of crap." Or whatever the Chinese equivalent of that is. And he said, "Of course the king isn't going to be able to act correctly." Yeah, there are a lot of things that impacted any company that he helped.   0:33:07.6 Andrew Stotz: It's interesting because I believe that, I think it was Kenichi Koyanagi.   0:33:15.8 William Scherkenbach: Koyanagi, yes, it was.   0:33:17.8 Andrew Stotz: And it was in 1950 and he had a series of lectures that he did a series of times. But it's interesting that, you know, that seemed like it should have catapulted him, but then to go to where you met him in 1972 and all that, he still hadn't really made his impact in America. And that's, to me, that's a little bit interesting.   0:33:44.4 William Scherkenbach: Yeah, and quite, my take, I mean, you could tell even in '72 and '3 in classes, he was very frustrated that he wasn't being listened to. I mean, he had, his business was expert testimony in statistical design of surveys. He did road truck, truck transport studies to be able to help the interstate commerce commission. And made periodic trips back to Japan, well known in Japan, but frustrated that no one really knew about him or wasn't listening to him in the US. And that was, I mean, for years, that was my, my aim. And that is to help him be known for turning America around, not just Japan. But it's usually difficult. I mean, we did a great job at Ford and GM and a bunch of companies, but it's all dissipated.   0:35:25.9 Andrew Stotz: It's interesting because it's not like he just went as a guest and gave a couple of guest lectures. He did about 35 lectures in 1950. About 28 or almost 30 of them were to engineers and technical staff. And then about seven of them were to top level executives. And, you know, one of the quotes he said at the time from those lectures was, "the problem is at the top, quality is made in the boardroom." So just going back, that's 1950, then you meet him in 1970, then in '72, then you start to build this relationship. You've talked about Booz Allen Hamilton. Tell us more about how it progressed into working more with him, in particular Ford and that thing that started in, let's say, 1981 with Ford.   0:36:22.0 William Scherkenbach: Well, again, he was very enthusiastic about Ford because Peterson was very receptive to this, his approach. And again, it's, I think the British philosopher Johnson said, "there's nothing like the prospect of being hung in the morning to heighten a man's senses." So he, Ford had lost a couple billion bucks. They hadn't cashed in like Chrysler. GM lost a bunch too, but that, and Japan had lost a war. So does it take a significant emotional, logical, or physical event? For some folks it does. So he was very encouraged about what he was seeing at Ford. And he had recommended that Ford hire someone to be there full time to coordinate, manage, if you will. And I was one of the people he recommended and I was the one that Ford hired. So I came in as Director of Statistical Methods and Process Improvement. And they set it up outside, as Deming said, they set it up outside the quality. Larry Moore was the Director of Quality and I was Director of Statistical Methods. And that's the way it was set up.   0:38:08.0 Andrew Stotz: Were you surprised when you received that call? How did you feel when you got that call to say, "Why don't you go over there and do this job at Ford?"   0:38:18.6 William Scherkenbach: Oh, extremely, extremely happy. Yeah. Yeah.   0:38:23.1 Andrew Stotz: And so did you, did you move to Michigan or what did you do?   0:38:27.7 Andrew Stotz: I'm sorry?   0:38:29.4 Andrew Stotz: Did you move or what happened next as you took that job?   0:38:32.0 William Scherkenbach: Oh yeah, we were living in Columbia. We moved the family to the Detroit area and ended up getting a house in Northville, which is a Northwest suburb of Detroit.   0:38:49.9 Andrew Stotz: And how long were you at Ford?   0:38:53.8 William Scherkenbach: About five and a half years. And I left Ford because Deming thought that GM needed my help. Things were going well. I mean, had a great, great bunch of associates, Pete Chessa, Ed Baker, Narendra Sheth, and a bunch of, a bunch of other folks. Ed Baker took the directorship when I left. That was my, well, I recommended a number of them, but yeah, he followed on. Deming thought that there was a good organization set up. And me being a glutton for punishment went to, well, not really. A bunch of great, great people in GM, but it's, they were, each of the general managers managed a billion dollar business and a lot of, difficult to get the silos to communicate. And it really, there was not much cooperation, a lot of backstabbing.   0:40:25.0 Andrew Stotz: And how did Dr. Deming take this project on? And what was the relationship between him and, you know, let's say Donald Peterson, who was the running the company and all the people that he had involved, like yourself, and you mentioned about Ed Baker and other people, I guess, Sandy Munro and others that were there. And just curious, and Larry Moore, how did he approach that? That's a huge organization and he's coming in right at the top. What was his approach to handling that?   0:41:02.1 S2  Well, my approach was based on his recommendation that the Director of Statistical Methods should report directly to the president or the chairman, the president typically. And so based on that, I figured that what I would, how we would organize the office, my associates would each be assigned to a key vice president to be their alter ego. So we did it in a, on a divisional level. And that worked, I think, very well. The difficulty was trying to match personalities and expertise to the particular vice president. Ed Baker had very good relations with the Latin American organization, and, and he and Harry Hannett, Harold Hannett helped a lot in developing administrative applications as well. And so we sort of came up with a matrix of organization and discipline. We needed someone for finance and engineering and manufacturing, supply chain, and was able to matrix the office associates in to be able to be on site with those people to get stuff, to get stuff done.   0:43:09.5 Andrew Stotz: And what was your message at that time, and what was Dr. Deming's message? Because as we know, his message has come together very strongly after that. But at that point, it's not like he had the 14 Points that he could give them Out of the Crisis or you could give them your books that you had done. So what was like the guiding philosophy or the main things that you guys were trying to get across?   0:43:35.9 William Scherkenbach: Well, I mean, he had given in, I think, Quality, Productivity, Competitive Position back in the late '70s, and he was doing it through George Washington University, even though Myron Tribus at MIT published it. But it was a series of lectures, and he didn't really, even in the later 70s, didn't have the, the, the 14 Points. And so those came a couple years later, his thinking through, and Profound Knowledge didn't come until much later over a number of discussions of folks. But the, I mean, the key, I mean, my opinion of why it all dropped out is we dropped the ball in not working with the board. And at Ford, we didn't, weren't able to influence the Ford family. And so Peterson retires and Red Poling, a finance guy, steps in and, and everything slowly disintegrates. At least not disintegrates, well, yes. I mean, what was important under Peterson was different. But that happens in any company. A new CEO comes on board or is elected, and they've got their priorities based, as Deming would say, on their evaluation system. What's their, how are they compensated?   0:45:46.8 William Scherkenbach: And so we just didn't spend the time there nor at GM with how do you elect or select your next CEO? And so smaller companies have a better, I would think, well, I don't know. I would imagine smaller companies have a better time of that, especially closely held and family held companies. You could, if you can reach the family, you should be able to get some continuity there.   0:46:23.5 Andrew Stotz: So Donald Peterson stepped down early 1995. And when did you guys make or when did you make your transition from Ford to GM?   0:46:38.5 William Scherkenbach: '88.   0:46:39.6 Andrew Stotz: Okay, so you continued at Ford.   0:46:42.1 William Scherkenbach: The end of '88, yeah, and I left GM in '93, the year Dr. Deming died later. But I had left in, in, well, in order to help him better.   0:47:07.8 Andrew Stotz: And let's now talk about the transition over to General Motors that you made. And where did that come from? Was it Dr. Deming that was recommending it or someone from General Motors? Or what...   0:47:21.4 William Scherkenbach: Yeah, Deming spoke with them and spoke with me. And I was a willing worker to be able to go where he thought I could be most helpful.   0:47:41.9 Andrew Stotz: And was he exasperated or frustrated that for the changes that happened in '95 when Peterson stepped down, he started to see the writing on the wall? Or was he still hopeful?   0:47:55.4 William Scherkenbach: No, Deming died in '93, so he didn't see any of that.   0:47:58.9 Andrew Stotz: No, no, what I mean is when Peterson stepped down, it was about '85. And then you remain at Ford until '88.   0:48:08.0 William Scherkenbach: No, Peterson didn't step down in '85. I mean, he was still there when I left.   0:48:14.0 Andrew Stotz: So he was still chairman at the time.   0:48:17.3 William Scherkenbach: Yeah.   0:48:17.6 Andrew Stotz: Maybe I'm meaning he stepped down from president. So my mistake on that.   0:48:20.3 William Scherkenbach: Oh, but he was there.   0:48:24.3 Andrew Stotz: So when did it start...   0:48:25.9 William Scherkenbach: True. I mean, true, he was still there when Deming had died.   0:48:31.3 Andrew Stotz: Yeah, okay. So did the whole team leave Ford and go to GM or was it just you that went?   0:48:39.1 William Scherkenbach: Oh, just me. Just me.   0:48:42.8 Andrew Stotz: Okay. And then.   0:48:44.0 William Scherkenbach: Yeah, because we had set up something that Deming was very pleased with. And so they were, everyone was working together and helping one another.   0:48:59.5 Andrew Stotz: Okay. So then you went to General Motors. What did you do different? What was different in your role? What did you learn from Ford that you now brought to GM? What went right? What went wrong? What was your experience with GM at that time?   0:49:16.5 William Scherkenbach: Well, I've got a, let's see. Remember Bill Hoagland was the person, Hoagland managed Pontiac when Deming helped Pontiac and Ron Moen was involved in the Pontiac. But Bill Hoagland was in one of the reorganizations at GM was head of, he was group, group vice president for Buick, Oldsmobile, Cadillac. And so I went over and directly reported to him and each of the, I mean, Wendy Coles was in, Gypsy Rainey, although Gypsy was temporary, worked for powertrain and Pontiac and still, but powertrain was where a lot of the expertise was and emphasis was, and then Buick and Cadillac and so, and Oldsmobile. So we, and in addition to that, General Motors had a corporate-wide effort in cooperation with the UAW called the Quality Network. And I was appointed a member of that, of that and, and helped them a lot and as well as the corporate quality office, but focused on Buick, Oldsmobile, Cadillac.   0:51:18.6 Andrew Stotz: And then tell us about what was your next step in your own personal journey? And then let's now get into how you got more involved with Deming and his teachings and the like.   0:51:32.8 William Scherkenbach: Well, I mean, he would be at GM two and three days a month, and then every quarter he'd be here for, just like Ford, for a four-day seminar. And while at Ford and at GM, I took uh vacation to help him as he gave seminars and met people throughout the world. Even when he was probably 84, 85, I can remember, well, one of the, he always, not always, but he would schedule seminars in England over the Fourth of July because the English don't celebrate that, although he said perhaps they should, but right after the Ascot races. And so he would do four-day seminars. And on one case, we had one series of weeks, the week before Fourth of July, we did a four-day seminar in the US and then went to London to do another four-day seminar. And he went to South Africa for the next four-day seminar with Heero Hacquebord. I didn't go, but I went down to Brazil and I was dragging with that, with that schedule. So he was able to relish and enjoy the helping others. I mean, enjoy triggers a memory. We were at helping powertrain and Gypsy was there, Dr. Gypsy Rainey.    0:53:59.2 William Scherkenbach: And she, we were talking and goofing around and he started being cross at us. And Gypsy said, "Well, aren't we supposed to be having fun?" And Deming said, "I'm having fun." "You guys straighten out." Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy, yeah.   0:54:40.6 Andrew Stotz: And for the typical person to imagine a man at the age of 80, 85, traveling around the world. And it's not like you're traveling on vacation in London, you're walking into a room full of people, your energy is up, you're going and it's not like he's giving a keynote speech for an hour, give us a picture of his energy.   0:55:09.5 William Scherkenbach: And over in London, it was brutal because the hotel, I forget what hotel we're in. When he started there, I think it was Dr. Bernard that he wanted to help. And Bernard wasn't available. So he recommended Henry Neave. And so Henry was a good student, a quick learner. So he helped on a few of them. And I can still remember, I mean, the air, it was 4th of July in London and the humidity was there. There's no air conditioning in the hotel. I could remember Henry, please forgive me, but Henry is sitting in his doorway, sitting on a trash can, doing some notes in his skivvies. And it was hot and humid and awful. But so it reminded Deming a lot of the lectures in Japan in 1950, where he was sweating by 8 AM in the morning. So, yeah.   0:56:30.6 Andrew Stotz: What was it that kept him going? Why was he doing this?   0:56:39.5 William Scherkenbach: I think he, again, I don't know. I never asked him that. He was very, to me, he was on a mission. He wanted to be able to help people live better, okay, and take joy in what they do. And so he was, and I think that was the driving thing. And as long as he had the stamina, he was, he was in, in, in heaven.   0:57:21.1 Andrew Stotz: So let's keep progressing now, and let's move forward towards the latter part of Dr. Deming's life, where we're talking about 1990, 1988, 1990, 1992. What changed in your relationship and your involvement with what he was doing, and what changes did you see in the way he was talking about? You had observed him back in 1972, so here he is in 1990, a very, very different man in some ways, but very similar. How did you observe that?   0:57:56.6 William Scherkenbach: Well, toward the end, it was, I mean, it was, it was not, not pleasant to see him up there with oxygen up his nose, and it just, there had to have been a better way. But Nancy Mann was running those seminars, and they did their best to make life comfortable, but there had to have been a better way to, but I don't know what it was. He obviously wanted to continue to do it, and he had help doing it, but I don't know how effective the last year of seminars were.   0:59:01.1 Andrew Stotz: Well, I mean, I would say in some ways they were very effective, because I attended in 1990 and 1992, and I even took a picture, and I had a picture, and in the background of the picture of him is a nurse, and for me, I just was blown away and knocked out. And I think that one of the things for the listeners and the viewers is to ask yourself, we're all busy doing our work, and we're doing a lot of activities, and we're accomplishing things, but for what purpose, for what mission? And I think that that's what I gained from him is that because he had a mission to help, as you said, make the world a better place, make people have a better life in their job, and help people wake up, that mission really drove him.   0:59:57.8 William Scherkenbach: Yeah, and it, it really did. But for me personally, it was just not pleasant to see him suffering.    1:00:09.6 Andrew Stotz: And was he in pain? Was he just exhausted? What was it like behind the scenes when he'd come off stage and take a break?   1:00:18.7 William Scherkenbach: Yeah, yeah.   1:00:20.8 Andrew Stotz: And would he take naps or?   1:00:23.2 William Scherkenbach: In the early days, we'd go to, well, at Ford and GM, we would go out to dinner just about every night and talk and enjoy the conversation. We'd, my wife Mary Ellen, went many, many times. He enjoyed Northville, some of the restaurants there, and enjoyed the Deming martinis after the meetings at the Cosmos Club. So very, very much he enjoyed that, that time off the podium. So, but he couldn't do that in the, in the later years.   1:01:28.7 Andrew Stotz: And let's now try to understand the progression as you progress away from General Motors and did other things. How did your career progress in those years until when you retired or to where you are now? Maybe give us a picture of that.   1:01:51.4 William Scherkenbach: I tried to help. I've developed my view on how to operationalize change, worked for, was vice president of a company in Taiwan, spent a couple of, and before that had helped Dell, and would spend probably ending up a couple of years in PRC and Taiwan, and growing and learning to learn, in my opinion, there's too much generalization of, well, Asians or Chinese or whatever. There are many, many subgroups, and so change has to be bespoke. What will work for one person won't work for another. For instance, trying to talk to a number of Chinese executives saying, drive out fear, and they will, oh, there's no fear here. It's respect. And so, yeah. But that was their sincere belief that what they were doing wasn't instilling fear. But it broadened my perspective on what to do. And then probably 10 years ago, my wife started to come down with Alzheimer's, and while we lived in Austin, Texas, and that I've spent, she died three years ago, but that was pretty much all-consuming. That's where I focused. And now it's been three years. I'm looking, and I'm a year younger than Deming when he started, although he was 79 when he was interviewed for the 1980 White Paper.   1:04:36.3 William Scherkenbach: So I'm in my 80th year. So, and I'm feeling good, and I also would like to help people.   1:04:46.6 Andrew Stotz: And I've noticed on your LinkedIn, you've started bringing out interesting papers and transcripts and so many different things that you've been coming out. What is your goal? What is your mission?   1:05:02.3 William Scherkenbach: Well, I also would like to take the next step and contribute to help the improvement, not just the US, but any organization that shows they're serious for wanting to, wanting to improve. On the hope, and again, it's hope, as Deming said, that to be able to light a few bonfires that would turn into prairie fires that might consume more and more companies. And so you've got to light the match somewhere. And I just don't know. Again, I've been out of it for a number of years, but I just don't know. I know there is no big company besides, well, but even Toyota. I can remember Deming and I were in California and had dinner. Toyoda-san and his wife invited Deming and me to a dinner. And just, I was blown away with what he understood responsibilities were. I don't know, although I do have a Toyota Prius plug-in, which is perfect because I'm getting 99 miles a gallon because during my, doing shopping and whatever here in Pensacola, I never use gas. It goes 50 miles without needing to plug in.   1:07:00.6 William Scherkenbach: And so I do my stuff. But when I drive to Texas or Michigan, Michigan mostly to see the family, it's there. But all over, it's a wonderful vehicle. So maybe they're the only company in the world that, but I don't know. I haven't sat down with their executive.   1:07:26.4 Andrew Stotz: And behind me, I have two of your books, and I just want to talk briefly about them and give some advice for people. The first one is The Deming Route to Quality and Productivity: Roadmaps and Roadblocks, and the second one is Deming's Road to Continual Improvement. Maybe you could just give some context of someone who's not read these books and they're new to the philosophy and all that. How do these books, how can they help them?   1:07:58.8 William Scherkenbach: Well, the first book, Deming asked me to write in, I think it was '84. And I don't remember the first edition, but it might be '85, we got it out. But he asked me to write it, and because he thought I would, I could reach a different audience, and he liked it so much, they handed it out in a number of his seminars for a number of years. So.   1:08:40.7 Andrew Stotz: And there's my original version of it. I'm holding up my...    1:08:47.0 William Scherkenbach: Yeah, that's a later version.   1:08:49.7 Andrew Stotz: And it says the first printing was '86, I think it said, and then I got a 1991 version, which maybe I got it at one of the, I'm sure I got it at one of the seminars, and I've had it, and I've got marks on it and all that. And Deming on the back of it said, "this book will supplement and enhance my own works in teaching. Mr. Scherkenbach's masterful understanding of a system, of a process, of a stable system, and of an unstable system are obvious and effective in his work as well as in his teaching." And I know that on Deming's Road to Continual Improvement, you do a good amount of discussion at the beginning about the difference between a process and a system to try to help people understand those types of things. How should a reader, where should they start?   1:09:42.8 William Scherkenbach: Well, not with chapter six, as in CI Lewis, but well, I don't know what... I don't remember what chapter six is. As I said, the first book, and a lot of people after that did it, is essentially not regurgitating, but saying in a little bit different words about Deming's 14 Points. What I did on the first book is arrange them in the order that I think, and groupings that I think the 14 Points could be understood better. The second book was, the first half was reviewing the Deming philosophy, and the second half is how you would go about and get it done. And that's where the physiological, emotional, and all of my studies on operationalizing anything.   1:10:55.4 Andrew Stotz: And in chapter three on page 98, you talk about physical barriers, and you talk about physical, logical, emotional. You mentioned a little bit of that when you talked about the different gurus out there in quality, but this was a good quote. It says, Dr. Deming writes about the golfer who cannot improve his game because he's already in the state of statistical control. He points out that you have only one chance to train a person. Someone whose skill level is in statistical control will find great difficulty improving his skills.   1:11:32.1 William Scherkenbach: Yeah. Well, yeah, I mean, well, you're old enough to know the Fosbury Flop. I mean, for all high jumpers did the straddle in jumping and made some great records, but many of them had difficulty converting their straddle to the Fosbury Flop to go over backwards head first. And that's what got you better performance. So anything, whether it's golf or any skill, if you've got to change somehow, you've got to be able to change the system, which is whether you're in production or whether it's a skill. If you're in control, that's your opportunity to impact the system to get better.   1:12:40.3 Andrew Stotz: Yeah, and this was Dick Fosbury in 1968, Mexico City Olympics, where he basically went in and blew everybody away by going in and flipping over backwards when everybody else was straddling or scissors or something like that. And this is a great story.   1:12:57.0 William Scherkenbach: You can't do that.   [laughter]   1:12:58.8 Andrew Stotz: Yeah, and it's a great story of something on the outside. An outsider came in and changed the system rather than an existing person within it. And that made me think about when you talked about Ford and having an outsider helping in the different departments. You know, what extent does that reflect the way that we learn? You know, can we learn internally, or do we need outside advice and influence to make the big changes?   1:13:29.7 William Scherkenbach: Yeah. I mean, we had a swim coach, Higgins, at the Naval Academy, and he was known for, again, following in Olympic swimming. And I'm probably going to get the strokes wrong, but there was no such thing as a butterfly stroke. And he used it in swimming the breaststroke, and supposedly the only criteria was recovery had to be underwater with two hands. But I'm screwing up the story, I'm sure, but Higgins rewrote, rewrote the book by doing something a little bit different or drastically different.   1:14:25.4 Andrew Stotz: I'd like to wrap up this fascinating discovery, or journey of discovery of you and your relationship also with Dr. Deming. Let's wrap it up by talking about kind of your final memories of the last days of Dr. Deming and how you kind of put that all in context for your own life. And having this man come in your life and bring you into your life, I'm curious, towards the end of his life, how did you process his passing as well as his contribution to your life?   1:15:08.1 William Scherkenbach: That's, that's difficult and personal. I, he was a great mentor, a great friend, a great teacher, a great person, and with, on a mission with a name and impacted me. I was very, very lucky to be able to, when I look back on it, to recognize, to sign up for his courses, and then the next thing was writing that letter to the editor and fostering that relationship. Very, very, very difficult. But, I mean, he outlived a bunch of folks that he was greatly influenced by, and the mission continues.   1:16:34.1 Andrew Stotz: And if Dr. Deming was looking down from heaven and he saw that you're kind of reentering the fray after, you know, your struggles as you've described with your wife and the loss of your wife, what would he say to you now? What would he say as your teacher over all those years?   1:16:56.3 William Scherkenbach: Do your best.   1:16:59.0 Andrew Stotz: Yeah, wonderful.   1:17:01.4 William Scherkenbach: He knows, but he knows I know what to do. So, you need to know what to do and then to do the best. But I was, I mean, he was very, he received, and I forget the year, but he was at Ford and he got a call from Cel that his wife was not doing well. And so we, I immediately canceled everything and got him to the airport and he got to spend that last night with his wife. And he was very, very appreciative. So I'm sure he was helping, helping me deal with my wife.   1:17:56.4 Andrew Stotz: Yeah. Well, Bill, on behalf of everyone at the Deming Institute and myself personally, I want to thank you for this discussion and opening up you know, your journey with Dr. Deming. I feel like I understand Dr. Deming more, but I also understand you more. And I really appreciate that. And for the listeners out there, remember to go to Deming.org to continue your journey. And also let me give you, the listeners and viewers, the resources. First, we have Bill's book, which you can get online, The Deming Route to Quality and Productivity. We have Deming's Road to Continual Improvement, which Bill wrote. But I think even more importantly is go to his LinkedIn. He's on LinkedIn as William Scherkenbach and his tagline is helping individuals and organizations learn, have fun, and make a difference. So if you want to learn, have fun, and make a difference, send him a message. And I think you'll find that it's incredibly engaging. Are there any final words that you want to share with the listeners and the viewers?   1:19:08.9 William Scherkenbach: I appreciate your questions. In thinking about this interview, we barely scratched the surface. There are a ton of other stories, but we can save that for another time.   1:19:26.1 Andrew Stotz: Something tells me we're going to have some fun and continue to have fun in these discussions. So I really appreciate it and it's great to get to know you. Ladies and gentlemen.   1:19:36.7 William Scherkenbach: Thank you, Andrew.   1:19:37.7 Andrew Stotz: You're welcome. This is your host, Andrew Stotz, and I'm going to leave you with one of my favorite quotes from Dr. Deming, and that is that "people are entitled to joy in work."    

 What is joy? Many think of joy as an emotion that is evoked by having something one desires. But where is joy when we don't have something we desire?  Where can joy be found then? No one can give you joy and no one can take joy away from you.  Listen as Mary Ellen reminds you that joy is already within you. As you practice attuning to the Presence within you begin to feel the joy that's already there. Practicing gratitude and making a gratitude list of even the smallest things can be a way of stirring up the joy that is already within you. "The joy of the Lord is my strength." (Nehemiah 8:10) Joy is strength giving when we focus on the things of Spirit.Support the show

“Live From New York, it's Saturday Night!” That single sentence has become a catchphrase for devotees of comedy and popular culture over the past 50 years—generations of fans who willingly turn their attentions from the height of weekend revelry to the televised antics of Saturday Night Live. Week in, week out for more than two decades, a single photographer has conjured visual magic behind the scenes, creating inventive and irreverent portraits that air for three seconds each as so-called “bumpers” that transition to and from the show's commercial breaks. In this week's podcast, SNL's photographer in residence Mary Ellen Matthews regales us with details about what's undoubtedly the world's best photo gig—a position she's held for 25 years. From the fateful phone call she got in 1993, inviting her to assist the show's founding photographer, Mary Ellen offers candid insights into her journey from mentee to team leader. Along the way, we pull back the curtain on the creation of some iconic images and learn what it takes to be “in the driver's seat [with] a whole busload of very important people to take care of.” “My job is to make this easy and fast,” she notes. “And I don't want anyone to be overthinking anything because they've got enough to worry about with all the sketches and all the pre-tapes and their responsibilities to the rest of the show, which is the most important thing.” Guest: Mary Ellen Matthews   Episode Timeline: 2:58: Living the dream as SNL's resident photographer while being creative under stressful deadline pressure. 4:50: Mary Ellen's early immersion in photography, at the side of her hobbyist father. 7:02: Arriving in NYC, early work for a record label, and the call to assist SNL's founding photographer in residence, Edie Baskin. 12:02: SNL's transition from film to digital, plus the cameras Mary Ellen shoots with today. 15:46: Conceptualizing the weekly portrait shoots and collaborating with subjects. 20:16: Behind-the-scenes of a dicey photo shoot, plus SNL's weekly production timeline. 27:35: Episode Break 28:22: Beyond portraits, the images Mary Ellen shoots as props for SNL sketches—sometimes with a 4x5. 33:20: The scheduling of SNL portrait shoots and getting portrait subjects to have fun. 36:44: Testing for shoots, the atmosphere on-set, and flying by the seat of your pants. 40:15: Communicating with a celebrity's team to get everyone on the same page about shoots and concepts. 42:40: The general workflow of SNL portrait sessions: from shoot preparation to editing and post-production. 45:17: Advice for emerging photographers looking for work or applying for an internship.   Guest Bio: As a top entertainment portrait photographer, Mary Ellen Matthews is specialized in creating iconic images of well-known personalities—from pop stars to sports legends to rock gods. Since 1999, she has been photographer in residence at Saturday Night Live, where she's responsible for creating the distinctive look of the show's still images. Through her exuberant presence that puts subjects at ease, her creative and playful styling on set and intensive fine-tuning in post, Matthews produces unique and recognizable portraits under the manic deadlines of live TV. What's more, in 2010, she began directing SNL's video clips, including the show's opening title sequence. Recent clients include Peacock, Hulu, Netflix, Paramount Pictures, 20th Century Studios, and Prime Video, as well as publications such as Variety, Rolling Stone, Marie Claire, and the Spanish edition of Harper's Bazaar. Most notably, in March 2025, Matthews's first book, The Art of the SNL Portrait, was released to mark the 50th anniversary of this revolution in late night TV.    Stay Connected: Instagram: Saturday Night Live Instagram: Saturday Night Live on YouTube: -------- Host: Derek Fahsbender Senior Creative Producer: Jill Waterman Senior Technical Producer: Mike Weinstein Executive Producer: Richard Stevens

As a young academic professional, Mary Ellen Jukoski, age 75, wondered: “Where are the female college presidents? I want to become one.” So, she did, serving the first 20 years as President of Mitchell College in Connecticut where she transformed a struggling two-year institution into a thriving four-year college, inspired by her feminine leadership style of inclusiveness and collaboration. Her special mission has been to mentor young women to seek and succeed at leadership roles. She credits her husband, Matt, for supporting her cherished career while they raised their daughter. In 2024, Mary Ellen and Matt moved to an independent living community where they can be closer to their daughter and her family and enjoy social and intellectual stimulation. Meeting many women in their 90s, Mary Ellen expresses new appreciation for the notion that “age doesn't' define the person.” As she contemplates retirement, Mary Ellen looks forward to a new purpose. She says, “It's all about having a positive attitude and being open to opportunities.” As a leader, I come to serve, not to be served; I am a presence, being there for others. - Mary Ellen JukoskiConnect with Mary EllenEmail: maryellen.jukoski@ctstate.eduMary Ellen Jukoski, Ed.D. - CT StateSponsor AppreciationPlymouth Place, LaGrange Park, IL., where senior living is redefined with options and opportunities to fit individual needs and preferences. https://plymouthplace.org Plymouth Place is the Diamond Sponsor for our Symposium, October 8, 2025.Podcast CollaboratorThis month's podcast recommendation (member of Aging-Well Collective) is Host Beverly Glazer, Aging With Purpose and Passion, a weekly podcast inspiring women over 50 to embrace bold life shifts, and unlock their potential, through captivating stories from trailblazing senior women. https://www.agingwithpurposeandpassion.com

In this first half of our London two-parter, Joanna went on a whirlwind two-day adventure in the city before heading into the countryside — and she's sharing EVERY DETAIL.She traveled with her mom and daughter, flew Virgin Atlantic using points, and tried a new system to beat jet lag that changed everything. From a rainy New York layover to a luggage-saving trick that helped them hit the ground running, this episode is packed with practical advice and plenty of inspiration for your own trip.Whether you're heading to London soon or just dreaming about it, tune in for the tips — and stay for the real talk about navigating public transit, spending points wisely, and falling head over heels for a city you didn't expect to love this much.Part two is coming soon with Mary Ellen's London itinerary — totally different pace, totally different vibe.Submit Your Summer Road Trip Series Story HEREFacebook GroupFind Us On InstagramMary Ellen | JoAffiliate LinksMary Ellen's Chase Sapphire LinkJoanna's Chase Sapphire LinkMary Ellen's Freedom Flex LinkJoanna's Freedom Flex LinkMary Ellen's Ink Business Cards LinkJoanna's Ink Business Cards Link30% off the CardPointers subscription!Credit Card Affiliate LinksThe above link includes referrals for Capital One Travel Cards. If you need AMEX or Chase please reach out and we would be happy to send you our personal referral links.We receive a small commission when you use our links. This is an amazing way to show your support for the show at no cost to you ❤️

Get ready for an heartwarming episode of Reading with Your Kids that celebrates the power of storytelling, family, and imagination! Host Jed Doherty sits down with two incredible authors who are transforming children's literature one page at a time. First up is Mary Ellen Roberson, the creative mind behind "The Day Time Began," a beautiful picture book that explores God's creation with wonder and joy. Mary Ellen shares her 40-year journey of bringing this inspiring story to life, revealing how her passion for teaching and love for children drove her to create a book that helps kids understand their inherent worth and God's delight in them. Then we meet Jonathan Marshall, author of "Princess Tilu and the Queen," a touching tribute to the special bond between mothers and daughters. Jonathan's book springs from his own family's storytelling traditions, highlighting the importance of representation in children's literature. As a former social worker and teacher, he's passionate about creating stories that show positive family dynamics and celebrate diverse experiences. Both authors share powerful insights into the magic of reading with children. They discuss how just 15-20 minutes of daily reading can dramatically impact a child's vocabulary and emotional development. Their books aren't just stories—they're bridges connecting families, sparking conversations, and creating lasting memories. What makes this episode truly special is the genuine love both authors have for storytelling. Whether it's Mary Ellen's interactive Sunday school techniques or Jonathan's commitment to showing positive father figures, these writers are doing more than writing books—they're nurturing young minds and hearts. Parents, educators, and book lovers will be inspired by this episode's message: reading together isn't just about words on a page. It's about connection, understanding, and creating magical moments that last a lifetime. Grab a copy of "The Day Time Began" and "Princess Tilu and the Queen," cuddle up with your little ones, and let the storytelling begin! Click here to visit our website – www.ReadingWithYourKids.com Follow Us On Social Media Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/readingwithyourkids Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/readingwithyourkids/ X - https://x.com/jedliemagic LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/reading-with-your-kids-podcast/ Please consider leaving a review of this episode and the podcast on whatever app you are listening on, it really helps!

Send us a textThis week we're joined once again by the amazing Mary Ellen of Nourished by Mary Ellen. Before we delve into your area of expertise, we had to ask her some weird and wonderful witchy would you rather questions about the moon and the body.Then Mary Ellen shares her knowledge about how to nurture your whole self using the insights you can gain from  your natal moon sign in astrology. She teaches you how your unique moon sign can show you how and where to feed yourself, move your body, and heal your nervous system. She also talks about spirituality and play and how they're also crucial to our wellbeing. This episode is packed full of incredible information.Then, Renee is excited to reveal the name of her new coaching program, Louise is calling in exciting and powerful opportunities at work, and Mary Ellen is obsessed with the gong.Follow Mary Ellen on InstagramFor complete show notes and links, go to awesomeon20.com/episode213Follow Renee on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Renee_awesomeon20/Follow Louise on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Louise_awesomeon20Support the showIf you're able, give this podcast your support by joining the International Coven of Awesomeness on Patreon so we can keep sharing witchy content for that's free for all.Get your free ebook How to Work with the Moon to Get Things Done.Check out the latest workshop offerings from the STC Witchcraft Academy for both online workshops and in-person circles in the Glasgow, Scotland area.Find all your favorite recipes and witch tips at Awesome on 20 Kitchen Magick.Book a tarot reading with Renee at Sagittarian Tarot & Coaching. Join the Moon Magic Membership coven to receiving ongoing support in your witchcraft journey. Join our Coven of Awesomeness Facebook group open to everyone.

Happy Transformation Tuesday, y'all! It's admittedly been way too long. I took a summer pause to take my son to camp and decompress for awhile with the hopes that this time would inform future creativity. I have also been busy serving clients. On that note, if you would like a complimentary 20 minute consult to discuss any health improvement goals and see if we're a fit for working together, I'm here to listen. Simply connect with me at FavorFat@gmail.com.In this episode #68, we begin with a question from listener, Mary Ellen, who asked me about supplements. This is a topic on which I've evolved due to some personal experiences from experiencing “silent migraines” and learning about some mineral deficiencies. I answer Mary Ellen's good questions with some general advice about selecting supplements and share my own journey over the last couple of years regarding magnesium deficiency and finding Dolovent. If you have a question about supplements or anything else, be in touch!Then I move on to something that should NOT be controversial but is for some, especially the media funded heavily by Big Pharma and Big Food. Know that I aim to share my health-focused perspective and do not at ALL get political here. The Nourishment Mindset is apolitical; I can't think of a much worse way to get our cortisol levels up. Each time I do yoga, meditate, pray or engage in any form of self-care I'm actively trying to lower my stress hormones, which is why I generally avoid poly-tics as it has the opposite effect.The MAHA Report was authored by HHS and posted on the White House website. It focuses on identifying the root cause factors for the shocking levels of disease in our youth and how to Make America(‘s Children) Health Again. It's not perfect and frankly, there was almost nothing there that I didn't already know, but the point is that it's out there and it made national news. Although it should've been covered MUCH more extensively.We do not have a “health”care spending issue. We do have a massive problem with corporate capture and government entanglement, non-nutritive foods comprising the majority of our diets, being surrounded by endocrine disrupters, poor lifestyles and more. I dive into my take on each of these root causes then provide my answers to the necessary question of “what should my family do?” Tune in and then let me know your thoughts in the comments or directly.FINE READ-This is a heavy one! I'm nearing the half-way point of Dr. Jordan Peterson's 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos. This dude gets an A++ for straight talk! Pretty intense but also quite readable. I'm a large fan of personal responsibility which seems to have fallen out of favor in our culture but it doesn't mean its ineffective. It is reminding me of one of the reasons I left a job I loved with a leading metabolic healthcare company: I wanted to be much more direct with my patients. Being in private practice affords me the ability to do just this and I'm aware that I'm not a fit for some people and that's okay!FINE RECIPE- Spicy Tuna Melt CupsThis is a protein and nutrient packed household favorite developed by my husband, Patrick. YUM!1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a muffin tin.2. In large mixing bowl combine 5 oz tuna, 2 eggs, 1/4 cup sour cream, 1/4 cup mayo (watch out for seed oils!), 1/4 cup chopped onions, 1.5 cups shredded cheese, 2T minced herbs of your choosing and salt and pepper to taste. We also like to add a generous shake of Pluck seasoning!3. Fill the muffin tins with the mixture and top with a jalepeno or other pepper if you like.4.Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes and enjoy. They make a great snack or lunch when you add a salad topped with extra virgin olive oil and a side of fermented goodness such as kimchi or sauerkraut.FINE FIND-I'm loving this life hack taught to me by the wonderful Dr. Elizabeth Moran of Premier Gynecology in Charlotte, NC. She's not only my doctor but a lifelong friend and SO knowledgeable about women's health.I love a good sized squirt of lemon and lime juice in my morning “mocktail” of sparkling water (love my Soda Stream) with a pinch of salt. I buy organic limes and lemons but often can't get through them before they turn. When visiting Elizabeth, I noticed she had them stored in dispensers in her fridge. She juices them after purchase and therefore has no issue with spoilage in her fridge. I bought these glass dispensers on Amazon to avoid plastic contamination et voilà! (If you're wondering what's to the right of them, that's super nutrient dense fermented cod liver oil we take by the shot chez Huey.)That's a wrap, friends. Many thanks for your support, questions and more. If you haven't purchased my book, The Nourishment Mindset, please consider doin so on Amazon or my website for a signed copy. If you have ordered it from Amazon and benefited in any way, please consider leaving a quick review there. Santé and be nourished, y'all!LINKS:https://amzn.to/3kDN85zhttps://favorfat.substack.com/https://www.favorfat.comhttps://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/WH-The-MAHA-Report-Assessment.pdf This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit favorfat.substack.com

James Rojas

Dave and Mary Ellen review the topics covered and guests interviewed in Season 4. Mary Ellen makes some commitments for Season 5!

Have you ever wondered if there is a purpose or a type of plan within you? Or, have you wondered if there really is a purpose, how do you go about finding it? Listen as Mary Ellen shares this practical and helpful lesson about finding the purpose and plan that has already been implanted within you. For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11If you wish to share a gift please follow the link below.Support the show

Today on another Midweek Mini—road trip edition—we're bringing you a total gem for our Midwest listeners! Bentonville, Arkansas might not have been on your radar before, but it definitely will be after this episode. This small town is packed with surprises: world-class art at Crystal Bridges, a walkable downtown filled with charming shops and restaurants, incredible bike trails, and some seriously impressive food. Whether you're a history buff, foodie, art lover, or just need a peaceful weekend away, Bentonville truly has something for everyone. We walk you through where to stay, what to eat, and all the best things to do to make the most of your visit to this historic and unexpectedly cool destination.Submit Your Summer Road Trip Series Story HEREFacebook GroupFind Us On InstagramMary Ellen | JoHelpful LinksBentonville Interactive MapAffiliate LinksOur personal links may not YET reflect the elevated sign up bonus- but they will shortly! Thank you for choosing to use our links! These links can be used for ANY of the Sapphire cards.Mary Ellen's Chase Sapphire LinkJoanna's Chase Sapphire Link30% off the CardPointers subscription!Credit Card Affiliate LinksThe above link includes referrals for almost all travel cards (AMEX, CapitalOne, co-branded cards)We receive a small commission when you use our links. This is an amazing way to show your support for the show at no cost to you ❤️

Click here for the DRB Daily Sign Up form! TODAY'S SCRIPTURE: 1 Kings 22; 2 Chronicles 18-19; Colossians 4 Click HERE to give! Get Free App Here! One Year Bible Podcast: Join Hunter and Heather Barnes on 'The Daily Radio Bible' for a daily 20-minute spiritual journey. Engage with scripture readings, heartfelt devotionals, and collective prayers that draw you into the heart of God's love. Embark on this year-long voyage through the Bible, and let each day's passage uplift and inspire you. TODAY'S EPISODE: Welcome to the Daily Radio Bible! In today's episode, Host Hunter welcomes us to the 18th of June, guiding us through powerful passages from 1 Kings 22, 2 Chronicles 18 and 19, and Colossians 4. We'll hear the dramatic story of King Ahab, the courageous prophet Micaiah who stands for truth amidst a sea of deceit, and the steadfast leadership of Jehoshaphat. Turning to the New Testament, Paul's heartfelt words from prison in Colossians inspire us to let our conversations be gracious, to carry out our unique ministry, and to shine as children of light in a dark world. As we reflect together, Hunter draws a practical connection between the ancient stories and our lives today—reminding us that God calls not just prophets and apostles, but each of us, to be faithful lights wherever we are. The episode includes thoughtful prayers, encouragement to live with integrity and faithfulness, and a gentle reminder that, above all else, you are deeply loved. Join us as we journey through scripture and prayer, growing together in hope, purpose, and God's abundant grace. TODAY'S DEVOTION: Micaiah, the truth-speaking prophet, is a light. In the face of deceit, of dark kingdoms and dark prophets, he stands out. God always has his lights—those who are willing to speak the truth no matter the cost. Micaiah is one of them, refusing to be silenced, refusing to speak anything but what the Lord tells him. Even when the pressure mounted, when the crowds and the king himself wanted him to just go along, Micaiah remained faithful. He shone. God always has his lights because he is the Father of lights. That's what James tells us. In seasons of darkness and confusion, God's people—faithful men and women—shine with his light, reflecting truth, refusing to surrender, even if their voices tremble. Paul was one of those lights, too. Paul deeply desired to shine the truth of the Gospel in the darkness. He understood how difficult it could be—he wrote Colossians while in chains, and it would only get harder. But he kept shining and didn't do it alone; he asked for prayer. “Pray that I will proclaim this message as clearly as I should.” Paul knew how hard it would be, but he also knew who he was—a child of the light, called to be a light-bearer in a world that desperately needed it. But God, the Father of lights, isn't just the Father of prophets like Micaiah, or apostles like Paul. He is the Father of ordinary people as well. People whose names are often overlooked, whispered among the closing greetings of Paul's letters—faithful people like Aristarchus, Demas, Epaphras, Archippus, Tychicus, Nympha, Onesimus, and countless others through the age. People like you and me—Craig, Rebecca, Tom, Mary Ellen, Luz. All lights, born of the Father. We each have a ministry, a purpose to shine the Father's bright light in this dark world. Paul asked for prayer, for help to proclaim the truth. He exhorted others to carry out the ministry God had given them. You, too, have been given the light of the world—Jesus himself shining in your heart. Reflect that light. Do what God has called you to do, in his strength, bringing glory back to him. Let us all learn—together—what it means to shine our lights. That's my prayer for my soul, for my family, for my wife and daughters and son. And that's the prayer I have for you. May it be so. TODAY'S PRAYERS: Merciful God, you have brought us through the night. Into this new day we offer you our lives again. Our hopes, our fears, our work, our rest. Keep us faithful in the little things. And mindful of your presence in every moment. Let us not be led by anxiety or pride, but by your peace that passes all understanding through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. Lord Jesus, you stretched wide your arms on the cross to draw all people to yourself. Draw the hurting, the hungry, the weary. Break down every wall of hostility and build us into one family by your spirit. Amen. And now, Lord, teach me to walk not with fear, but with faith. Where there is noise, let me be still. Where there is boasting, let me be quiet. Where there is suffering, let me kneel. Let me not crave recognition, but righteousness. Not applause, but communion. For in you I have life, and in dying with you I rise. Amen. And now, as our Lord has taught us, we are bold to pray. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen. OUR WEBSITE: www.dailyradiobible.com We are reading through the New Living Translation.   Leave us a voicemail HERE: https://www.speakpipe.com/dailyradiobible Subscribe to us at YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Dailyradiobible/featured OTHER PODCASTS: Listen with Apple Podcast DAILY BIBLE FOR KIDS DAILY PSALMS DAILY PROVERBS DAILY LECTIONARY DAILY CHRONOLOGICAL  

In this episode of School Business Insider, host John Brucato sits down with Mary Ellen Normen, a retired school business official blazing new trails in the world of artificial intelligence. With presentations at ASBO and AASA conferences and a widely-read article on AI in school business, Mary Ellen unpacks how SBOs can use AI tools for budgeting, facilities, communications, and strategic planning.From ethical guardrails to getting started with your first AI prompt, this episode is a practical and inspiring roadmap for school business leaders navigating one of the most significant shifts in our profession.Listen now to learn how to leverage AI — wisely, ethically, and effectively.Contact School Business Insider: Check us out on social media: LinkedIn Twitter (X) Website: https://asbointl.org/SBI Email: podcast@asbointl.org Make sure to like, subscribe and share for more great insider episodes!Disclaimer:The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed are the speaker's own and do not represent the views, thoughts, and opinions of the Association of School Business Officials International. The material and information presented here is for general information purposes only. The "ASBO International" name and all forms and abbreviations are the property of its owner and its use does not imply endorsement of or opposition to any specific organization, product, or service. The presence of any advertising does not endorse, or imply endorsement of, any products or services by ASBO International.ASBO International is a 501(c)3 nonprofit, nonpartisan organization and does not participate or intervene in any political campaign on behalf of, or in opposition to, any candidate for elective public office. The sharing of news or information concerning public policy issues or political campaigns and candidates are not, and should not be construed as, endorsements by ASBO Internatio...

All of God is where you are and wherever you are all of God-good is there. Listen as Mary Ellen reminds you that your good is waiting for you to align with it. It has your name on it and knows where you are, at all times and in all places.If you are guided to share a gift of appreciation for our podcasts please follow the  link below. Support the show

Join WRBI News Director Tom Snape, and the rest of the WRBI Crew, for enlightening conversations with fascinating people in Southeastern Indiana. Brew up your favorite beverage, relax, and listen every weekday morning at 9:30.

When is remembering a good thing? When is forgetting a good thing? Listen as Mary Ellen shares this powerful message about remembering and appreciating those who have been a part of our lives. And, the importance of forgetting or letting go of what we think we should have done about something in the past.  If you feel guided to share a gift of appreciation for the podcast please follow the link below.Support the show

In this mini episode of our Summer Road Trip Series, we're heading just south of LA to explore a fun pairing: Catalina Island and Long Beach, California. Listener Jen shares how she turned a couple of Hyatt Free Night Awards into a perfect weekend escape—with ocean views, rooftop hangs, and even a bit of underwater adventure. Whether you're planning a Disneyland trip or just craving a coastal getaway, this itinerary is packed with smart tips, walkable charm, and creative ways to stretch your travel rewards.Submit Your Summer Road Trip Idea HEREFacebook Group | Support the Show: Buy Us A CoffeeFind Us On InstagramMary Ellen | JoSubmitted By@DiveIntoPointsMentioned in this EpisodeEpisode 21 - Channel IslandsEpisode 73 - San DiegoAffiliate Links30% off the CardPointers subscription!Mary Ellen's Chase Sapphire Preferred LinkJo's Chase Sapphire Preferred LinkSign up for the Daily Drop NewsletterCredit Card Affiliate LinksWe receive a small commission when you use our links. This is an amazing way to show your support for the show at no cost to you ❤️

My Friend, My Soulmate, My Sister… in-Law! Vicki's hilariously iconic sister-in-law, Mary Ellen, finally joins the show. Christian, Vicki and Mary Ellen reminisce on their fun times together, celebrate reuniting in California for Mike's surprise birthday party AND welcome a returning, surprise guest too! Cheers! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Wonderland On Points, we're joined AGAIN by our favorite surgeon, Kelly from @pointsandmilesdoc to talk about her recent trip to China—an incredible journey through a country rich in history, culture, and food. Kelly shares how she flew first and business class using points, and how award redemptions helped her save big on domestic flights as she traveled between major cities and scenic regions.We explore her itinerary across Shanghai, Hangzhou, Lijiang, and Chengdu, from high tea on the Bund to hiking historic trails, biking around ancient lakes, and tasting bold Sichuan flavors on a food tour. She also highlights unique hotel stays, including China's Aman properties—luxury experiences that, while not bookable with points, can be a smart way to earn them. We also dive into other options on places to stay if you DO want to use points!Whether you're planning your first trip to China or looking for new ways to explore it, this episode is full of tips for stretching your points and creating a five-star experience at a fraction of the price.Submit Your Summer Roadtrip Series Story HEREFacebook Group | Support the Show: Buy Us A CoffeeFind Us On InstagramMary Ellen | Jo | KellyMentioned in this Episode@TrippingonpointsAffiliate Links30% off the CardPointers subscription!Mary Ellen's Chase Sapphire Preferred LinkJo's Chase Sapphire Preferred LinkSign up for the Daily Drop NewsletterCredit Card Affiliate LinksThe above link includes referrals for almost all travel cards (AMEX, CapitalOne, co-branded cards)If you need Chase links please reach out! We would be happy to send you our personal referral links or the Daily Drop newsletter link that will allow you to access our affiliate links.We receive a small commission when you use our links. This is an amazing way to show your support for the show at no cost to you ❤️

This week on our Summer Road Trip Series, we're heading to Tucson, Arizona—and this episode is packed with creative travel tips thanks to a listener-submitted itinerary that blew us away. Cami, a writer over at Secrets of a Travel Journalist, shared a full plan featuring unique, budget-friendly ways to stay—using Capital One Venture X travel credits instead of the usual points and miles.She split her stay between the 3 Palms and the historic Lodge on the Desert, and we dive into both properties, plus her top picks for what to do in and around Tucson. From Saguaro National Park and Mount Lemmon to Biosphere 2, Sabino Canyon, and the city's incredible food scene (Tucson is a UNESCO City of Gastronomy!), this episode will have you planning a desert getaway in no time. There is so much in here we almost wish we had made it a full episode!Submit Your Summer Road Trip Idea HEREFacebook Group | Support the Show: Buy Us A CoffeeFind Us On InstagramMary Ellen | JoAffiliate Links30% off the CardPointers subscription!Mary Ellen's Chase Sapphire Preferred LinkJo's Chase Sapphire Preferred LinkSign up for the Daily Drop NewsletterCredit Card Affiliate LinksWe receive a small commission when you use our links. This is an amazing way to show your support for the show at no cost to you ❤️

For the first time EVER, we're recording an episode of Wonderland on Points from the SAME PLACE — in person, raw, real, and unedited!In this episode, we're diving into how to explore New York City using points — and trust us, it's one of the best destinations for a points-and-miles trip. We'll walk you through some incredible hotel options you can book with points, share our favorite budget-friendly activities that still give you that true NYC experience, and offer up delicious food recommendations along with tips for getting around the city with ease.If New York City has been on your list, or if you're planning yet another visit, this is definitely the episode for you!Firefly Recovery - Use code "WONDERLAND" for 15% off your orderBest Christmas Decorated New York RestaurantsSubmit Your Summer Road Trip Idea HEREFacebook Group | Support the Show: Buy Us A CoffeeFind Us On InstagramMary Ellen | JoAffiliate Links30% off the CardPointers subscription!Mary Ellen's Chase Sapphire Preferred LinkJo's Chase Sapphire Preferred LinkSign up for the Daily Drop NewsletterCredit Card Affiliate LinksWe receive a small commission when you use our links. This is an amazing way to show your support for the show at no cost to you ❤️

"For the love of money is the root of all evil" (1 Timothy 6:10) Have you mistakenly thought this scripture says that MONEY is the root of evil? It is the LOVE OF MONEY that causes all manner of problems for us. What do you believe about money?  Listen as Mary Ellen shares this important lesson about abundance and changing the belief in lack.If you are guided to share a gift of appreciation for our podcasts please follow the link below.Support the show

Mary Ellen Iskenderian of Women's World Banking shares her journey from traditional finance to leading global women's financial inclusion efforts. Drawing on 18 years as president and CEO, Mary Ellen explains how Women's World Banking evolved from its founding at the first UN women's conference to become both an NGO and an impact-focused asset manager.With hosts Penny Zacharias and Casey Nelson, Mary Ellen discusses how digital technology transformed financial inclusion during the pandemic, helping reach 86 million women with vital financial services. She reveals the $700 billion opportunity that financial institutions miss by not serving women as viable customers and shares insights on how gender-focused investment drives both social impact and strong business returns.Connect and Learn More☑️ Mary Ellen Iskenderian | LinkedIn☑️ Women's World Banking | LinkedIn | Facebook | Instagram | X | YouTube☑️ Penny Zacharias | LinkedIn☑️ Casey Nelson | LinkedIn☑️ McGuireWoods | LinkedIn | Facebook | Instagram | X☑️ Subscribe Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon MusicThis podcast was recorded and is being made available by McGuireWoods for informational purposes only. By accessing this podcast, you acknowledge that McGuireWoods makes no warranty, guarantee or representation as to the accuracy or sufficiency of the information featured in the podcast. The views, information

No life is free of conflict or work. The process of seeking for solutions will be the difference between humble growth and stagnant pride. Click here to see the speech page.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's week two of our Summer Mini Series, where we spotlight lesser-known domestic destinations across the U.S.—and the best part is, these spots were submitted by you! We've absolutely loved reading your recommendations, and this week's pick is a gem.We're headed to the Pacific Northwest to explore the charming town of Cle Elum, Washington, and the beautiful Suncadia Resort. Whether you're a local looking for a quick escape or planning a road trip or flight into Seattle, this hidden destination is worth your attention—especially if you're booking with points.Tune in to find out why Suncadia is the perfect blend of nature, luxury, and rewards travel. We can't wait for you to start planning your PNW getaway.Submit Your Summer Road Trip Idea HEREFacebook Group | Support the Show: Buy Us A CoffeeFind Us On InstagramMary Ellen | JoAffiliate Links30% off the CardPointers subscription!Mary Ellen's Chase Sapphire Preferred LinkJo's Chase Sapphire Preferred LinkSign up for the Daily Drop NewsletterCredit Card Affiliate LinksWe receive a small commission when you use our links. This is an amazing way to show your support for the show at no cost to you ❤️

Drawing from Numbers 27, Mary Ellen Azada reminds us of our unique call and God's affirmation of women in ministry. Mary Ellen Azada is a pastor and spiritual director of the Pastoral Formation Initiative at Fuller Seminary. Recorded at Fuller's All-Seminary Chapel on May 7, 2025.  

This week on the Wonderland on Points podcast, we're heading to the beautiful island of Aruba with special guest and Aruba expert @Erin_Loves_Travel. While most people have heard of Aruba, it doesn't get nearly enough attention in the points and miles community—and we think that needs to change. Erin has visited multiple times and brings a wealth of insider knowledge on how to experience Aruba using points.In this episode, she shares how to get to Aruba on points and miles, plus tips on where to stay using points—we even discuss two different hotel options. Erin also dives into her favorite places to snorkel, hidden gem activities that most tourists miss, and some of the best local food spots on the island.Whether you've always dreamed of visiting Aruba or have never considered it before, this episode is full of tips and inspiration that will make you want to add it to your travel plans.Submit Your Summer Roadtrip Series Story HEREFacebook Group | Support the Show: Buy Us A CoffeeFind Us On InstagramMary Ellen | Jo | ErinMentioned in this EpisodeErin's Facebook GroupKelsey GravesTrip Tales PodcastAffiliate Links30% off the CardPointers subscription!Mary Ellen's Chase Sapphire Preferred LinkJo's Chase Sapphire Preferred LinkSign up for the Daily Drop NewsletterCredit Card Affiliate LinksThe above link includes referrals for almost all travel cards (AMEX, CapitalOne, co-branded cards)If you need Chase links please reach out! We would be happy to send you our personal referral links or the Daily Drop newsletter link that will allow you to access our affiliate links.We receive a small commission when you use our links. This is an amazing way to show your support for the show at no cost to you ❤️

Listen as Mary Ellen shares a practical lesson found within the story of Ezekiel and his dream. (Ezekiel 34:1-14) The Hebrew name Ezekiel means God strengthens. Metaphysically Ezekiel means that in us that relies on God and shows us how to demonstrate strength even in the seemingly impossible. Please follow the link below if you are guided to share a gift of appreciation for our podcasts.Support the show

This week kicks off our Summer Road Trip series—and we're starting strong with one of the dreamiest New England getaways: Newport, Rhode Island! We dive into everything that makes Newport the perfect points-powered summer escape, from a perfect location to stay on Chase points, to stunning Gilded Age mansions and hot dogs with personality. We also cover the latest buzz in the points and miles world, including the return of Instacart credits on several Chase cards (and yes, you can stack those benefits!). Whether you're walking the halls of The Breakers, catching the historic Bristol 4th of July parade, or grabbing a fun bite at Wally's Wieners, Newport is a magical destination for families and budget travelers alike. The episode also includes helpful hacks for using grocery delivery to stick to your travel budget and a reminder that domestic adventures can be just as exciting as those overseas—especially when points are involved.Submit Your Summer Road Trip Idea HEREFacebook Group | Support the Show: Buy Us A CoffeeFind Us On InstagramMary Ellen | JoMentioned in this EpisodeLink for Adding Chase Inks to InstacartLink for Adding Chase Cobranded Cards to InstacartNewport MansionsNewport Cliff WalkFastFerry To Martha's VineyardNantucket FerryAffiliate Links30% off the CardPointers subscription!Mary Ellen's Chase Sapphire Preferred LinkJo's Chase Sapphire Preferred LinkSign up for the Daily Drop NewsletterCredit Card Affiliate LinksWe receive a small commission when you use our links. This is an amazing way to show your support for the show at no cost to you ❤️

Mary-Ellen McTague is a chef based in Manchester. She is the culinary driving force behind Aunbury, 4244, the Creameries and her newest venture, Pip at the Treehouse Hotel. Mary-Ellen is also the co-founder of Eat Well MCR, which has delivered almost 100,000 meals across Greater Manchester since 2020 to those sidelined by poverty. On the podcast, she tells Liv and Lara why, as a child, she would only eat orange cheese, why Lancashire hotpot is so nostalgic, her Eureka moment when she decided to become a chef – and where you should eat in Manchester.

Mary-Ellen McTague is a chef based in Manchester. She is the culinary driving force behind Aunbury, 4244, the Creameries and her newest venture, Pip at the Treehouse Hotel. Mary-Ellen is also the co-founder of Eat Well MCR, which has delivered almost 100,000 meals across Greater Manchester since 2020 to those sidelined by poverty. On the podcast, she tells Liv and Lara why, as a child, she would only eat orange cheese, why Lancashire hotpot is so nostalgic, her Eureka moment when she decided to become a chef – and where you should eat in Manchester.

We're thrilled to welcome back a returning guest and friend of the pod, Joy from Savvy Travel Mamas!When we first floated the idea of a Vegas episode, we were honestly a little skeptical—does Sin City really have anything to offer beyond the party scene? As family-focused travelers, we weren't sure it would resonate with our audience. But spoiler alert: we were totally wrong.Joy completely changed our perspective. From free and affordable attractions to stunning hikes and family-friendly experiences, she walks us through her surprisingly refreshing Vegas weekend getaway— which can be done using points ORRRRR a surprising hack that you might not have considered!Tune in to hear how Vegas can be more than neon lights and slot machines, and how you can plan an unforgettable trip without blowing your budget.Submit Your Summer Road Trip Series Story HEREFacebook Group | Support the Show: Buy Us A CoffeeFind Us On InstagramMary Ellen | Jo | JoyMentioned in this EpisodeEpisode 55 with Savvy Travel MamasGo City LinkAffiliate Links30% off the CardPointers subscription!Mary Ellen's Chase Sapphire Preferred LinkJo's Chase Sapphire Preferred LinkSign up for the Daily Drop NewsletterCredit Card Affiliate LinksThe above link includes referrals for almost all travel cards (AMEX, CapitalOne, co-branded cards)If you need Chase links please reach out! We would be happy to send you our personal referral links or the Daily Drop newsletter link that will allow you to access our affiliate links.We receive a small commission when you use our links. This is an amazing way to show your support for the show at no cost to you ❤️

Hi, Spring fans! In this installment I talk to Mary Ellen Bowman, a legendary Spring instructor!

This week on our Midweek Mini episode, we're going first but we want to hear from you next! We're diving into the things we wish we had known when we first started our journey into the world of points, miles, and travel rewards. From rookie mistakes to "a-ha!" moments, we're sharing the insights that could have saved us time, money, and missed opportunities.Whether you're new to the game or a seasoned pro, this episode is packed with reflections, tips, and lessons learned the hard way. Consider it the advice we wish someone had given us before our first credit card sign-up.But we also want to hear from you! What did we miss? What do you wish you'd known when you started?Join the conversation and let us know in the Facebook group, in our Instagram DMs, or by sending us a email at WonderlandonPoints@gmail.com. Your feedback might even make it into a future episode!Submit Your Summer Roadtrip Series Story HEREFacebook Group | Support the Show: Buy Us A CoffeeFind Us On InstagramMary Ellen | JoAffiliate Links30% off the CardPointers subscription!Mary Ellen's Chase Sapphire Preferred LinkJo's Chase Sapphire Preferred LinkSign up for the Daily Drop NewsletterCredit Card Affiliate LinksThe above link includes referrals for almost all travel cards (AMEX, CapitalOne, co-branded cards)If you need Chase links please reach out! We would be happy to send you our personal referral links or the Daily Drop newsletter link that will allow you to access our affiliate links.We receive a small commission when you use our links. This is an amazing way to show your support for the show at no cost to you ❤️

This week on the Wonderland on Points Podcast, Mary Ellen is back from an unforgettable girls' trip to stunning St. Kitts—and she's spilling every detail! While Jo sadly couldn't make it, she's hearing all about it for the first time, right along with you.From scoring a steal of a business class flight on points to navigating arrival, transportation, and luxury accommodations (think $7,300 room for zero dollars), Mary Ellen breaks down exactly how this dream trip came together.Plus, don't miss the wild story that almost turned this vacation into a Dateline episode—yes, really!Get ready to be inspired, amazed, and maybe even a little bit jealous—and of course, learn how you can plan your own points-powered island escape.Submit Your Summer Roadtrip Series Story HEREFacebook Group | Support the Show: Buy Us A CoffeeFind Us On InstagramMary Ellen | JoAffiliate Links30% off the CardPointers subscription!Mary Ellen's Chase Sapphire Preferred LinkJo's Chase Sapphire Preferred LinkSign up for the Daily Drop NewsletterCredit Card Affiliate LinksThe above link includes referrals for almost all travel cards (AMEX, CapitalOne, co-branded cards)If you need Chase links please reach out! We would be happy to send you our personal referral links or the Daily Drop newsletter link that will allow you to access our affiliate links.We receive a small commission when you use our links. This is an amazing way to show your support for the show at no cost to you ❤️

Today on our Midweek Mini, we're diving into some seriously sad news — the beloved AMEX to Alaska Airlines transfer loophole (aka our secret weapon for booking awesome American Airlines flights) might be coming to an end. Word on the street is that this workaround is on its last legs, and we're breaking down what that could mean for our points strategy.Should we be moving points speculatively to lock in sweet redemptions while we still can? We've got thoughts — and a few tips to help you navigate what's next.Then, to cheer things up, we're capping off the episode with a BIG ANNOUNCEMENT: our Summer Roadtrip Series is coming to your earbuds soon!

Award-winning bond manager Mary Ellen Stanek is finding unusual opportunities in the recent bond market turmoil. She shares what they are and her advice to investors on handling unsettling markets. WEALTHTRACK episode 2142 broadcast on April 18, 2025

This week on our Midweek Mini episode, we're sharing a truly chilling cautionary tale. One of our listeners recently experienced something that left us completely stunned — a major lesson in what can go wrong when adding someone as an authorized user.We've honestly never heard of a situation quite like this before. It's eye-opening, a little scary, and definitely something anyone in the points and miles world needs to hear.We hope this story helps you better understand the risks involved, how to protect yourself, and how to make smarter decisions as you build your strategy in this hobby.Facebook Group | Support the Show: Buy Us A CoffeeFind Us On InstagramMary Ellen | JoMentioned in this EpisodeCredit Score EpisodeFreezing Your Credit EpisodeAffiliate Links30% off the CardPointers subscription!Mary Ellen's Chase Sapphire Preferred LinkJo's Chase Sapphire Preferred LinkSign up for the Daily Drop NewsletterCredit Card Affiliate LinksThe above link includes referrals for almost all travel cards (AMEX, CapitalOne, co-branded cards)If you need Chase links please reach out! We would be happy to send you our personal referral links or the Daily Drop newsletter link that will allow you to access our affiliate links.We receive a small commission when you use our links. This is an amazing way to show your support for the show at no cost to you ❤️

Mary Ellen Matthews has been photographing the hosts and musical guests at SNL for 25 years. Hear about her creative process and peek in to a side of SNL you may not know. Mary Ellen might have the coolest job in the city, and her artistic approach is inspiring! Plus, a woo woo encounter she had just in time for the show. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Gertrude Chandler Warner's most well known writing is "The Boxcar Children." But that series is far from the only professional writing Chandler did – she made a career as a writer while also teaching elementary school for decades. Research: Abate, M.A. Not Hoovervilles, But Hooch: Gertrude Chandler Warner’s The Boxcar Childrenand The Roaring Twenties. Child Lit Educ 47, 257–266 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10583-016-9275-5 Braccidiferro, Gail. “The Boxcar Children: A Museum Caper.” New York Times. June 20, 2004. https://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/20/nyregion/the-boxcar-children-a-museum-caper.html Crowe, Chris. “Young Adult Literature: Rescuing Reluctant Readers.” The English Journal, vol. 88, no. 5, 1999, pp. 113–16. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/821799 Ellsworth, Mary Ellen. “Gertrude Chandler Warner and the Boxcar Children.” Albert Whitman & Company. Morton Grove, Illinois. 1997. Lindberg, Mary Anne. “Survival Literature in Children’s Fiction.” Elementary English, vol. 51, no. 3, 1974, pp. 329–35. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41387166 Meese, Ruth Lyn. “MODERN FAMILY: Adoption and Foster Care in Children’s Literature.” The Reading Teacher, vol. 66, no. 2, 2012, pp. 129–37. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/23322722 Tolentino, Jia. “’The Boxcar Children and the Spirit of Capitalism.” The New Yorker. June 2, 2016. https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-boxcar-children-and-the-spirit-of-capitalism#:~:text=The%20second%20time%20that%20Gertrude,and%20family%20and%20life's%20rewards. Warner, Gertrude Chandler. “The Box-Car Children.” Rand McNally. Chicago/New York. 1924. Accessed online: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/42796/42796-h/42796-h.htm Warner, Gertrude Chandler. “Good Americans: First Lessons for the Littlest Ones.” Educational Publishing Company. Boston. New York. London. 1926. Accessed online: https://books.google.com/books?id=gONow7KFCB0C&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false Warner, Gertrude Chandler. “The House of Delight.” Pilgrim Press. 1916. Accessed online: https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/62714/pg62714-images.html Warner, Gertrude Chandler. “Star Stories for Little Folks.” Pilgrim Press. Boston, Chicago. 1918. Accessed online: https://archive.org/details/starstoriesforli00warn/page/8/mode/2up Warner, Frances and Gertrude. “Life’s Minor Collisions.” Houghton Mifflin. Boston and New York. 1921. Accessed online: https://archive.org/details/lifesminorcollis00warnrich/page/n9/mode/2up See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.