He Who Dies With the Most Toys - Wins? Or Loses? Or Neither?

I've done some writing about the work of W.To alleviate this, a Japanese company has
Edwards Deming, quality guru from the 1950's todeveloped a sleep machine that is a combination
the 1980's. When his ideas were not initiallyof a very fancy chair, a large screen TV, and
welcome in the U.S., he turned to Japan.music. The company that created it, Matsushita
Business leaders in Japan were hungry forElectric Works, claims it will give its users a full 8
Deming's brilliant ideas that took employeehours of sleep. The chair transforms into a
relations into consideration as they built incrediblesort-of bed, the TV screen displays peaceful,
quality into their products.pastoral scenes, and the music is soothing. All of
When I was a child, the "made in Japan" insignia onthis sells for $30,000.
many goods meant that the item was cheap andI'm stressed out just from the price tag.
junky. By the late 1970's, however, cars andSo how did the Japanese get to such a stressful
electronics made in Japan were high quality andstate? Probably through a variety of means: their
sought-after. Deming's leadership and his teachingsintense work ethic, the high cost of living, habits
on quality, especially in the manufacturingformed in either childhood or young adulthood, the
environments of that time (and later in serviceculture, etc.
businesses), made the difference.While I acknowledge that producing a great
Deming's ideas transformed not onlyproduct or service is wonderful, when the stress
manufacturing processes but also how peopleof doing so interferes with my health, what's the
were treated in the workplace. From hiringpoint? When stress leads to a debilitating illness or
practices to training to evaluation to promotion,early death, that is not success.
employee relations were transformed in Japan.The person who dies with the most toys does
How have the Japanese people fared in the lastnot win! He dies!
20 years? Many of their products are stillFor much of my adult life I've focused on ways
considered to be the highest quality in the world.to reduce stress. While this focus has not been
I've also read, however, that their stress levelscontinuous, an increased stress level brings my
are quite high, so perhaps the people side ofattention back to the importance of 'managing
Deming's equations did not infiltrate the society asstress' every time.
much as he had hoped.My life has been far from stress-free. When I
I recall reading in the 1980's and 1990's aboutwas 22 or 23, I took one of those stress tests
stressed-out Japanese workers who werethat asks questions about various types of
developing stress-related illnesses and who wereevents that occurred in the previous 365 days.
suffering from depression in droves, some evenFor those events that occurred, a certain number
taking their own lives.of points is given. At the end of the questionnaire
The Chicago Tribune reported on June 13, 2004you add up all the points and compare the total to
that the Japanese people have a rising incidencea grid to determine your current stress level.
of sleep disorders. The article noted that it startsWhen I took that test, my stress level was sky
in elementary school, when children stay up latehigh. (I did not keep that test, but it's a good one.
studying, thus beginning a habit of working tooIf anyone knows where I can find a test like that,
hard. This continues into adulthood when theyplease contact me!)
regularly work long hours and commute longFinding out that your stress level is high is only
distances to their jobs.helpful if you can do something about it. Before
In 2000, Japan's Health Ministry reported that 31%you go out and spend $30,000 on a Matsushita
of Japanese people said they do not get enoughsleep machine, consider what you've done over
sleep because of their work, school, orthe last 10 years to reduce your stress level.
commuting. Another 29% said their lack of sleepThen send me an e-mail to tell me about it.
was due to stress.