If you’ve read “Built To Last” (Successful Habits Of Visionary
Companies), Jim Collins & Jerry Porras, then you’re familiar with the acronym BHAG’s- Big Hairy Audacious Goals, pronounced bee-hags…
BHAG’s, as the words imply, are created to provide a clear destination for the next big (hairy and audacious) thing that a company desires to accomplish. Beyond that, BHAG’s should also act as a mechanism which stimulates progress for the company, its employees, its industry and client market.
All companies (and people) should have goals. And it should be very clear to all involved what they are. Goals should be ambitious, compelling, energizing and serve as a unifying focal point of effort. They should also be well defined so that it’s easily recognizable when the goal has been reached.
For the United States, the BHAG in the 1960’s was to land a person on the moon and return that person safely back to earth.
For the Boeing Corporation, it was to build a large jet aircraft for the commercial market when they had no presence within that market space (“707” aircraft in the 1950’s) at the time. Earlier commercial attempts had been great failures.
General Electric’s BHAG was to be #1 or #2 in every market that they served.
All three of these BHAG’s seemed outrageous at the time. As we know, all three were accomplished.
But as powerful as they can be, goals alone aren’t enough. We’ve probably all set goals as individuals and possibly as business people that never gained traction or came close to realization. Why does that happen? Why do goals not work so often?
The non-realization of goals usually occurs because they’re merely destinations. Though they may and should be lofty (BHAG’s), it’s important to recognize that there’s another element that’s required for them to be achieved. If we can think of a goal as a place (destination) then we can understand that we need something, an energy, which helps us get there.
That energy is commitment. The other ingredient, necessary for the achievement of BHAG’s is clearly defined objectives. Goals and commitment are co-dependent…
What’s your company’s BHAG?
“It’s not just the presence of a goal that stimulates progress, it is also the level of commitment to the goal.” –Built To Last
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Based in Redondo Beach, CA, In-The-Flow delivers online marketing and new ideal clients to companies for their services and products, helping them to achieve their BHAG’s too…
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