Harry Hertz

Advisor, author, and speaker

Harry Hertz retired in June 2013 from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), where he had served as director of the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program since 1995. For more than 15 years he was the primary architect of the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence, responsible for expansion of the Baldrige Program and Award to healthcare, education, and nonprofits, including government. Hertz serves on the advisory group for the U.S. Veterans Health Administration’s Center for Applied Healthcare Studies, and on the adjunct faculty of American University. He has a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, and a Ph.D. from MIT.

Thu, 05/15/2025 - 12:03
Exceeding Three Customers’ Expectations The Baldrige Excellence Framework works on grandkids, too
Tue, 09/22/2015 - 14:44
Some of my friends commented that Harry the “Cheermudgeon” was too “mudgeonly” in my most recent Blogrige post. So I decided it was time to cheer. Here is a cheer to getting older. The topic came to me this past week, when I was given a senior-…
I’d Rather Shop at a Restaurant No haggling
Tue, 07/21/2015 - 14:06
One of my regular readers and harshest critics, my wife, complained that my recent posts have been too pedagogical and lacked my storytelling instincts. So this post is for her. Have you seen the recent commercial about buying a used car? It…
Change Management, Social Media, and CEOs How bosses can use one to achieve the other
Wed, 06/24/2015 - 15:09
Given the challenge, I can relate any three topics to each other. However, in the case of change management, social media, and CEOs, there’s a strong relationship that is reinforced by concepts in the Baldrige Excellence Framework. Two studies by…
People, Process, and Plentiful Passion Best practices from the annual Baldrige Quest for Excellence Conference
Thu, 06/18/2015 - 12:57
Every year, I return from the Baldrige Program’s Quest for Excellence Conference energized and full of pride in the success that can be achieved by people working together. And every year, I try to synthesize what I’ve heard into some key themes…
A Memorable Quest for Excellence Moment Ongoing learning is a key to employee motivation and engagement
Tue, 03/24/2015 - 11:10
Before you read further, get your tissues out. I’ve had many memorable moments over the years at Quest for Excellence conferences. And I’ve never left an annual conference without some immediate action items and feeling inspired that excellence is…
Are Change Management, Continuous Improvement, and Innovation the Same? No, but all three should harness the minds and energy of employees
Mon, 01/19/2015 - 16:38
Call it semantics, but I think there is benefit in distinguishing among change management, continuous improvement, and innovation. By understanding the purpose of each, as well as management’s responsibilities for them, organizations have a richer…
Write to Learn Counterintuitive but true
Thu, 10/23/2014 - 14:19
Intuition would say (at least to me) that I should read, listen, question, and maybe read or listen again to learn. So, I was caught by surprise when I recently read a Washington Post article by Barry Ritholtz in which he said, “Writing is a good…
It’s the Baldrige F-Word Season That’s ‘feedback,’ of course
Tue, 09/30/2014 - 14:59
I am of course talking about feedback; you needn’t admit that you were thinking a different word. Soon the first set of feedback reports will be sent to 2014 Baldrige Award applicants. So I thought this might be a good time to reflect on Baldrige…
It’s Time to Focus on Stratovation Innovation efforts need to feed organizational strategy
Tue, 09/09/2014 - 11:20
I have always been fascinated by new words. A few years ago Larry Potterfield, the Founder and CEO of Baldrige Award recipient MidwayUSA, shared one of his “words”: voluntold. “Voluntold” is helping people understand the wisdom of doing something…
Change Is Easy... When it comes from a vending machine
Tue, 08/19/2014 - 16:49
‘It must be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to plan, more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to manage, than the creation of a new system.” This quote is not taken from the words of a modern-day CEO, although he or she might…