Founders Note
Why Gold Standard Governance Exists
For most of our professional life, we worked in management systems—how organizations perform, how they fail, and how they improve. Winning performance isn't a matter of luck, it's a matter of doing what winners do.
In high-performing organizations, certain principles are non-negotiable:
Clear priorities
Measurable outcomes
Accountability for results
When those are missing, performance always declines—predictably.
Over time, we began to look at government through that same lens.
What we saw was not a mystery. It was a system problem:
No clearly defined, citizen-driven agenda
Diffuse and shifting priorities
Little meaningful measurement of outcomes
Few consequences for non-performance
In management terms, this is not a people problem. It is a design failure.
Gold Standard Governance is an attempt to address that failure.
Not through ideology.
Not through party alignment.
But through basic performance discipline.
The ideas presented here are not theoretical in origin.
They are drawn from systems that work—adapted to a domain where those disciplines are largely absent.
Government performance should be:
Directed by citizens
Measured clearly
Tied to consequences
A Simple Premise
An Open Invitation
This project is intentionally structured as an open system:
No ownership barriers
No licensing restrictions
No required affiliation
If the tools are useful, they should be used.
I am not building an organization to carry this forward. Instead, this site is designed so that:
A legislator
A mayor
A civic group
Or a policy entrepreneur
…can take these tools and apply them directly.
If that happens—even in one place—this effort will have been worthwhile. If you see value in this work:
Adapt it
Test it
Improve it
Share it
The goal is not recognition.
The goal is results.
— Clay Sherman
Founder, Gold Standard Governance
Our team
Dr. Clay Sherman. Clay Sherman is Chairman of Management House, LLC, a specialized consulting firm in organization revitalization. Since 1978 his client list has included over 1,000 organizations, including hospitals, Fortune 500 companies, and emerging growth organizations.
Clay’s advocacy and experience in establishing benchmark healthcare management practices was awarded with a Golden Apple for Education Excellence from Western Michigan University, induction into the Fire Starter Hall of Fame, and received "special commendation for contribution to the literature of healthcare management" from the American College of Healthcare Executives. His books, including Gold Standard Management, successfully established new management models that have helped clients rise to top of industry.
Stephanie Sherman, MBA, MC. Stephanie's work has focused on benchmark management practices in healthcare. She authored the tactical plan series, Strategies for Health Care Excellence, a detailed set of operational guides for making organization change in key business areas, and is co-developer of The Uncommon Leader program, rated "one of the Top Ten management education programs of all time."
Prior to consulting, Stephanie served as Corporate Director of International Human Resources for Rubbermaid, Inc., rated one of the 100 Best Places to Work in America. She previously served as Vice President of Human Resources at Mt. Carmel Health System (Columbus, OH). Stephanie holds an MBA from Capital University, and an MC from the University of Phoenix. She also completed postgraduate work at Harvard University's Graduate School of Business in Advanced Negotiations.
Prior to consulting, Clay was Corporate Director of Human Resources for Upjohn Healthcare Services, where he was responsible for a personnel complement of 70,000. He earned an MBA and Doctorate in Management Education at Western Michigan University, and did postdoctoral study at Harvard University's Graduate School of Business Administration in the area of Managing Organizational Effectiveness. Clay also studied under Dr. Edwards Deming in London.
The Shermans sponsor nursing scholarships at Western Michigan University and Arizona State University and are working on their goal of 1000 recipients.