Malcolm “Mac” Baldrige left us a legacy of excellence. Now, more than ever, his name, which graces Post University’s School of Business, and the principles for which he stood, should be top of mind for everyone today.
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Malcolm “Mac” Baldrige left us a legacy of excellence. Now, more than ever, his name, which graces Post University's School of Business, and the principles for which he stood, should be top of mind for everyone today.
Why?
Consider:
As secretary of commerce during the presidency of Ronald W. Reagan, former Waterbury “native son” Malcolm Baldrige recognized the need for companies nationwide to focus on quality and innovation if America were to maintain a leadership position in an expanding global marketplace.
Not your usual, run-of-the-mill government appointee, Baldrige was a straight-talking cowboy who had a knack for understanding how businesses could maximize effectiveness by focusing on consumers. It was that intuitive, good business sense that catapulted a ranch hand and rodeo star — a Professional Rodeo Man of the Year who was inducted in the National Cowboy Hall of Fame — into one of the most respected commerce secretaries in U.S. history.
The principles he championed — managing for innovation, entrepreneurship, customer-driven excellence, integrity, visionary leadership, creating value, agility, societal responsibility, and a focus on the future — became known as the Baldrige Principles.
In a word, they all point to “quality.”
Those principles were honed in Connecticut when Baldrige, then chairman and CEO of Scovill Inc. in Waterbury, followed them while transforming a financially strapped brass mill into a successful diversified manufacturer of industrial, housing and consumer goods.
While serving as secretary of commerce, Baldrige was asked about the difference between the Washington circuit versus the cowboy circuit, to which he bluntly replied: “Cowboys don't talk much unless they have something to say.”
When Baldrige spoke, Washingtonians tended to listen.
His accomplishments as secretary of commerce included reforming the nation's antitrust laws, spearheading passage of the “Export Trading Company Act of 1982,” and chairing a Cabinet Trade Strike Force aimed at ending unfair trade practices.
All based upon the principles in which Baldrige believed, and placed both his faith and his trust.
Fast forward to today. A myriad of American businesses not only must compete with each other, they're in competition with the world. In order to succeed, they need every edge, every advantage. They need to embrace and practice the Baldrige Principles.
In Baldrige's own words: “Success is finding something you really like to do and caring enough about it to do it well.”
Think about the characteristics most frequently associated with successful global businesses today. Innovation. Forward thinking. Visionary. Agile. Entrepreneurial. Customer-focused. Socially responsible, appear on most every list. Principles Baldrige advocated for decades ago and were written into the “Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Improvement Act of 1987,” which was enacted shortly after Baldrige's death.
The act provides the framework for performance excellence, management, organization quality and ongoing improvement. It led to the creation by Congress of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, an award that — to this day — remains the country's highest honor to recognize innovation and performance excellence among U.S. companies.
Developed from Baldrige's principles for business excellence, the award evaluates organizations based upon: leadership; strategic planning; customer focus; measurement, analysis and knowledge management; workforce focus; operational focus; and the results achieved.
That the award is among the most prestigious any business can receive is a testament to the lasting relevancy of Baldrige's ideals.
Business success has been the cornerstone of our nation's economy since its inception. That's more true today that ever, which is why American businesses need to assume leadership roles in all those areas Baldrige outlined in the 1980s.
In other words: Be like Mac!
While the Baldrige Principles were born in business, they are applicable in every field — from the arts and theater, to engineering, health care and beyond.
Yes, Mac is as relevant today as he was in 1982, and undoubtedly will continue to be for as long as we, as the human race, populate this planet.
His vision is a lasting one.
Don Mroz is the president of Post University in Waterbury.
