Organizational core values set the foundation for defining an organization's purpose and direction. Focusing on core values is important because it can sometimes be easy to forget why an organization exists and overlook its true purpose. Educational leaders and stakeholders should embrace their institution's core values as way for their organization to align its actions with its purpose and further achieve performance excellence. This article discusses the Baldrige Excellence Framework (BEF), which puts forth core values as the foundation for all organizations seeking performance excellence and is frequently applied to business, non-profits, health care, and education. The BEF was developed by former U.S. Commerce Secretary Malcom Baldrige and promotes organizational learning, agility and resilience, visionary leadership, and student-focused excellence (Baldrige Performance Excellence Program 2023). Ruben's and Gigliotti's (2019) work on further adapting the BEF for use in higher education provides a helpful case study using this framework. Overall, the BEF framework is an excellent model to consider for organizations seeking a systems perspective of how measurement, analysis, and knowledge management can be supported through effective organizational core values.