Miner has a great list.
I would add that three are two fundamental drivers to 'our secret':
1. never-ending
curiosity. don't accept things at face value. do your own research and study to truly understand WHAT, HOW and WHY things work. One of the difficulties quality professionals have is that the bulk of the literature (and the Customer 'Quality Manuals") bought into so many flawed approaches that the really informative articles and books are difficult to find. If you don't have an ASQ membership I recommend it as their vast library of articles and conference transactions are available for a nominal fee of $5. $10 if you are not a member.
2.
Age. Unfortunately it takes time to gain the breadth and depth of experience necessary.
Below is a list of articles that I would recommend to start your studies (or any one who is interested in Quality Engineering)
Process Capability
“Reducing Variability: A New Approach to Quality”, by L. P. Sullivan, Quality Progress, July 1984 and “Letters” Quality Progress, April, 1985
“The Use and Abuse of Cpk”, Statistics Corner, by Bert Gunter, Quality Progress, Part 1 January 1989, Part 2 March 1989, Part 3 May 1989, Part 4 July 1989
“Capability Indices: Just Say “NO!””, by Joseph Pignatiell and John Ramberg, ASQC Quality Congress Transactions – Boston, 1993
“
I Ain’t Gonna Teach It”, by James Leonard, Process Improvement Blog, 2013
Basic Stats
“
On Probability as a Basis for Action”, W. Edwards Deming, American Statistician, November 1975, Vol. 29, No. 4, pp. 146-152
“
On the Distinction Between Enumerative and Analytic Surveys”, W. Edwards Deming, The Journal of the American Statistical Association, Vol. 48, 1953, pp. 244-255
“
Render unto Enumerative Studies…”, Rip Stauffer, Quality Digest, July 2013
“
Teaching Statistics that Help not Hinder Management”, David Schwinn, Quality Digest, September 2012
“
Why We Keep Having Hundred Year Floods”, Donald Wheeler, Quality Digest, June 2013
"
The Secret Foundation of Statistical Analysis”, Donald Wheeler, Quality Digest, December 2015
Structured Problem Solving
“The Technique of Experimenting in the Factory”, Leonard Seder, Industrial Quality Control, March 1948
“
A Painless Look at Using Statistical Techniques to Find the Root Cause of a Problem”
“Locating Sources of Variability in a Process”, W. J. Youden, Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, September, 1951, Vol 43, No.9, pp. 2059-2062
“A New Science of Trouble Shooting”, Leonard Seder, Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, September 1951, Vol. 43, No. 9
“Three Good Questions (and One Not So Good), John Allen, The New Science of Fixing Things, 2006,
www.tnsft.com
“Diagnosis With Diagrams – Part I”, Leonard Seder, Industrial Quality Control, January 1950, pp. 11-19
“Diagnosis With Diagrams – Part II”, Leonard Seder, Industrial Quality Control, March 1950, pp. 7-11
“The Multi-Vari Chart: An Underutilized Quality Tool”, Robert D Zaciewski and Lou Nemeth, Quality Progress, October 1995, pp. 81-83
“Strategies for Variability Reduction”, Stefan Steiner and Jock MacKay, Quality Engineering, Volume 10, Issue 1, September 1997 , pp 125-136