Standards & Values
Prime Directives are Not Negotiable
Is This Good Enough for America?
Is it Good enough for you?
High performance organizations, in any area of human endeavor, are goal directed, values-centered, and execute with systems that provide feedback and hold people accountable. The United States is a high performance democracy, but underperforming due to an inadequate approach to governance. In 1776 we faced the same problem, and by redefining the system created greatness. The people of 1776 said it was our right to alter and institute new government whenever needed — that is both encouragement and direction.
What are the fundamentals that drive success in a democratic society? These fundamentals are prime directives, core beliefs that are the engine of success. Government "of, by, and for the people" only works when it adheres to its principles, responds to its Citizens, and measures up to core values. Step outside that framework and risk failure. Stay within it, work with a will, and chances are you'll achieve success undreamed of in common hours.
The Foundations of Gold Standard Governance
A Simple Premise
Government can perform at a far higher level than it does today, not through ideology or partisanship, but through the disciplined application of governance best practices:
Clear goals. Shared values. Relentless execution.
These are the universal characteristics of high-performing organizations—whether in business, healthcare, education, or national defense. They are not theoretical. They are proven.
The failure of modern government is not a failure of intent. It is a failure of design and discipline.
The Doctrine
Gold Standard Governance rests on three integrated pillars:
1. Goal-Directed
Government must define clearly what it is trying to achieve.
Specific, measurable outcomes—not broad aspirations
Transparent priorities—not competing agendas
Time-bound commitments—not indefinite programs
Without clear goals, effort diffuses, resources scatter, and accountability disappears. If success is not defined, it cannot be achieved—or evaluated.
2. Values-Centered
Government must define how it conducts itself in pursuit of its goals.
Core values are not slogans. They are operational standards that shape behavior:
Integrity over expediency
Transparency over opacity
Service over self-interest
Accountability over avoidance
Values determine what happens when rules are unclear, when pressure rises, and when tradeoffs must be made. Values are the guardrails of power.
3. Execution-Driven
Government must reliably deliver results.
Aligned incentives and accountability
Continuous measurement and feedback
Leadership that owns outcomes, not explanations
Systems that translate policy into performance
Execution is where most institutions fail—not for lack of ideas, but for lack of discipline. Good intentions do not produce results. Execution does.
The Integration Principle
These three pillars are not independent. They must function together.
Goals without values lead to manipulation, distortion, and loss of trust
Values without goals lead to aspiration without achievement
Goals and values without execution lead to rhetoric without results
Sustained high performance requires alignment of all three.
A Higher Standard
Gold Standard Governance does not seek perfection.
It demands something more realistic—and more powerful:
Consistency. Clarity. Accountability.
It asks:
What are we trying to achieve?
How will we behave while doing it?
How will we ensure it actually happens?
And it requires that these questions be answered—not once, but continuously.
What This Is Not
This doctrine is not:
A partisan platform
A policy agenda
A call for more or less government
It is a performance standard.
It applies equally to:
Federal, state, and local government
Agencies, departments, and programs
Leaders of any political affiliation
What This Enables
When properly applied, this doctrine produces:
Better outcomes with existing resources
Increased public trust through transparency and accountability
Faster adaptation to changing conditions
A government that functions as a high-performing institution—not a fragmented system
Coach's Corner
Why do people want to give their best when leaders are values centered?
Remember the Titans
Excellence doesn't just happen
Core learning: excellent organizations have a commitment to excellence and a common philosophy that drives success and centers effort. If you share this mindset there's a decent chance that GSG is a good fit with who you are as a person, and that you can make a dent in government renewal. Yeah, this is where it gets personal.
What is the GSG Mindset?
It's an attitude about life and purpose, management edge and nerve: of being truly committed to highest levels, best in class, and making a difference. This journey is a gut check.
Aggressive & relentless pursuit of the goal—hitting key outcomes and targets through high performance isn't taken as a suggestion.
Best practices applied government wide, no spottiness—all professions, departments implement “best only”
Specific objectives/accountability—tasks, dates, names. Work + competent people + followup
Toughest measures (no soft data comparisons) and tough-minded eradication of sludge
Core Values are not Optional
Rule 1: Get all effort centered on Values.
Whatever the national problem—educational performance, lack of health care, national decline and debt, fading trust—it's root cause is traceable to a lack of Values Centered Managing (VCM). The simplicity of this proposition turns off some, but once understood can be used to revitalize and renew national performance.
Research shows conclusively that winning organizations use their values to build out the specific applications and procedures necessary for the work to be done. While a values list can include many terms and definitions there are three that are core. We don't focus on values because they're "nice". We focus on them because we are determined to win. Values predict outcomes.
👉 RESPECT
👉 SERVICE
👉 EXCELLENCE
Fail to respect others, disregard opportunities to serve, allow mediocre performance—that's a recipe for disaster. When values violators are public officials there are no options except removal and punishment.
Center all governance on humanity's core values and you will be successful. Violate these core values and you will fail. There are core values that work universally, in any activity, in any setting, whether business, sports, marriage, yes, even in government. These human values are hardwired in us. We gravitate toward them, will work for them, and we hate it when there is damage done in these areas of our lives. If you had good parents, the message basically is to do what your parents told you. People dismiss this message saying it's too simplistic; the truth is, the message is extremely difficult to do. They dismiss it because they aren't willing to do the hard work it requires.
Bottom Line:
Operationally tie the pursuit of values to everything that is to be done. Articulate them, spell them out, and then enforce them. Those who serve in government must live the values or be removed. Respect, Serve, Excel.
Rule 2: Reread Rule 1.
Founding Principles are Prime Directives
Declaration of Independence
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness....
Preamble to the Constitution
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.