BHAG

A Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG) is a strategic business statement similar to a vision statement which is created to focus an organization on a single medium-long term organization-wide goal which is audacious, likely to be externally questionable, but not internally regarded as impossible.

The term 'Big Hairy Audacious Goal' was proposed by James Collins and Jerry Porras in their 1994 book Built to Last. A BHAG encourages companies to define visionary goals that are more strategic and emotionally compelling. Many businesses set goals that describe what they hope to accomplish over the coming days, months or years. These goals help align employees of the business to work together more effectively. Often these goals are very tactical, such as "achieve 10% revenue growth in the next 3 months." In contrast, Collins and Porras define a BHAG (pronounced BEE-hag) as "...an audacious 10-to-30-year goal to progress towards an envisioned future." The authors claim that a company may have more than one BHAG; there may be one over-reaching BHAG and other shorter term BHAGs.

"A true BHAG is clear and compelling, serves as unifying focal point of effort, and acts as a clear catalyst for team spirit. It has a clear finish line, so the organization can know when it has achieved the goal; people like to shoot for finish lines." — Collins and Porras, Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies

While most of us aren't in the position to define BHAGs for the company we may work for, we can create personal BHAGs.

Personal Story

As I approach my 10-year milestone of being self-employed, I am feeling some pings of regret. I had set some BHAGs long ago but failed to stay focused and reach them. The big goal that I lost sight of was 50 Interviews - I recall a BHAG of publishing 50 titles. I stopped short at 23 books on 18 different topics. What did I learn?

• Use more discretion in choosing the subjects and authors - rather than just accepting any author.
• Create a detailed marketing plan for each title. Build on this for each subsequent title. Require a marketing investment from the author.
• Better discretion in WHO we interview.
• The ideal author is a veteran with 5+ years and 10,000 hours dedicated to his craft. He/She will know who are the industry heavyweights likely to pull in readers.

A year or so ago, my personal Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG) was to positively impact the lives of a million people in a significant way within 10 years. What does this look like?

BHAGs Ideas

• No refined sugar for a year
• No shopping for a year
• No Alcohol for a year
• No TV for a year
• No internet for a year
• No cell phone use for a year
• Investing $100 every day for a year

What’s your BHAG that might begin to repay all those who have sacrificed on your behalf?

BHAG examples

• 180 websites in 180 days
• 100 websites

Further Reading

https://www.quora.com/What-are-some-good-examples-of-BHAGs

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