Editor's note: This is part two of a series about customer-centric quality management systems. Read part one here.

I learned recently of the passing earlier this year of a person I worked with 20 years ago at my last job in manufacturing. Manny S. was a “lesser god,” a term which is meant neither to canonize nor demean him.

From the increasing information transmitted through telecommunications systems to that analyzed by financial institutions or gathered by search engines and social networks, so-called “big data” is becoming a huge feature of modern life.

In our efforts to ask for and accept customer input, many have lost sight of an important part of the process: translation.

When your product keeps planes in the air, seals Army tanks from biohazards, and enables exploration companies to drill oil and gas wells, quality control matters.

As I was driving to the airport the other morning, I couldn’t help but notice that highway driving has a lot in common with leadership.