Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Blogrige

The Official Baldrige Blog

Harry Hertz “The Baldrige Cheermudgeon”

Dr. Harry Hertz Photo

I am Harry Hertz, the Baldrige Cheermudgeon, and Director Emeritus of the Baldrige Program. I joined the Program in 1992 after a decade in management in the analytical chemistry and chemical sciences laboratories at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the home of the Baldrige Program. I started my career at NIST (NBS) as a bench analytical chemist.

My favorite aspects of the Baldrige Program are: (1) the opportunity to interact with leading thinkers from all sectors of the U.S. economy who serve as volunteers in the Baldrige Program, who participate in the Baldrige Executive Fellows Program, and who represent Award applicants at the forefront of the continuous journey to performance excellence, and (2) the intellectual challenge of synthesizing ideas from leading thinkers and from personal research into Insights on the Road to Performance Excellence and other blogs that tackle challenges at the “leading edge of validated leadership and performance practice,” and contribute to the continuous revision of the Baldrige Performance Excellence Framework.

Outside of work I spend my time with family (including three beautiful granddaughters), exercising, baking bread, traveling, educating tomorrow’s leaders, and participating on various boards and board committees.

OED Watch Out!

Yes, it is time for the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) to pay attention! Having recently seen an article in the Guardian about the new additions to the OED, it

Doing What I Love

In this more personal column I want to answer a question that many people ask me. The question is, am I enjoying "retirement" and what am I doing to keep busy

The Baldrige Hockey Puck

I recently had a conversation with some of the Baldrige Program staff about the new Baldrige Framework diagram issued in 2015, and sometimes referred to as the

Baldrige Philosophy Adopted and Adapted

In a recent conversation with Gary Floss, a former chair of the Baldrige Panel of Judge and current Alumnus Examiner, I learned about the work of Arnie

A Word for Hectic Lives

I recently returned from the ASQ World Conference in Milwaukee, WI. After going through security in Terminal C at the Milwaukee Airport, there was an area (as

What Is a Leader to Do?

I recently read an HBR blog by Sunnie Giles that reported the results of a study of 195 leaders representing 30 global organizations.The leaders were asked to

Effective Use of Social Media

In 2013, the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence started asking questions related to an organization’s use of social media. An emphasis was placed on