After a flurry of activity, it’s been relatively quiet lately on the FDA warning-letter front, though three device makers did get some bad news in recent weeks.

Some things are just meant to be, apparently. Sept. 23, 2014, marked an interesting waypoint in the career of someone concerned about standards of measurement, because on that day, I became a standard reference human.

The following tips have been compiled from interviews with representatives of Baldrige Award-winning organizations during the 2014 Quest for Excellence conference.

One of the biggest barriers to creating new ideas is the raw inertia of organizations. Personally, I’m not satisfied with the “way we’ve always done it.”