6 BHAG Mistakes to Avoid

Let’s talk about BHAGs – those Big Hairy Auda­cious Goals (a con­cept described in Built to Last by Jim Collins) meant to lead a com­pa­ny into the future. Defin­ing them is like say­ing what you want to be when you grow up.

BHAGs are so big they take your breath away and are the cat­a­lyst to stim­u­late progress and to keep peo­ple engaged.

Like the 1961 US BHAG to put a man on the moon.

There’s a way to set your BHAGs to give them the best chance of suc­cess, so let’s talk about what not to do by ana­lyz­ing the six BHAG mis­takes to avoid.

1. The BHAG doesn’t fit your Hedgehog

Your BHAG must be tied to what you can be the best at, what you’re deeply pas­sion­ate about and what dri­ves your eco­nom­ic engine. This is what Jim Collins calls The Hedge­hog Concept.

You can’t build a BHAG with any sub­stance unless you’ve honed in on your hedge­hog. Rev­enue-moti­vat­ed entre­pre­neurs may say they want to be a hun­dred mil­lion or bil­lion-dol­lar com­pa­ny, but if that’s not tied into any­thing it’s just set­ting your biggest incre­men­tal number.

And, by con­nect­ing it to your Hedge­hog, you apply a dis­ci­plined fil­ter woven into the strat­e­gy of your business.

2. The wrong timeframe

BHAGs should be a min­i­mum of 10 years and no more than 30 years out.

Not three years, not five.

It’s far enough in the future that log­ic shouldn’t pre­vail. You want to think big, dream big, and not be caught up in today’s environment.

And don’t pick a spe­cif­ic date to achieve it. You just can’t plan how your BHAG will land 15 years from now.

3. It’s not your core competency

There has to be a con­nec­tion to your core com­pe­ten­cies — what you can be the best in the world at though relent­less exe­cu­tion and con­tin­u­al improve­ment that dri­ves profit.

4. It’s not inspiring

You need a North Star to guide you — to mean some­thing and be con­nect­ed to your pur­pose and core val­ues. Dri­ving towards it is its own intrin­sic reward.

Does it get the cre­ative juices of the team flowing?

Is it some­thing that peo­ple think would be awe­some if you did it?

Is it worth the devot­ed effort of 10 or 20 years of cre­ative energy?

5. It becomes wallpaper

You have to con­stant­ly breathe life into your BHAG or it will fade.

It’s got to be ingrained into the hearts and minds of the entire company.

It’s your ral­ly­ing cry — who you are, what you’re about and the dif­fer­ence you’re mak­ing. But you have to keep singing it out to keep it alive and relevant.

6. It’s too easy and too small

Your BHAG should chal­lenge your exist­ing capa­bil­i­ties. There should be mas­sive holes in your plan that you don’t yet know how to fill. If it’s too easy, you’re not going to make the changes required to con­tin­ue to get bet­ter and better.

Get­ting your BHAG right takes work and a lot of debate. But if you get your hedge­hog nailed first and sync it back to your pur­pose, it’s incred­i­bly pow­er­ful. It keeps you inspired and focused for the long haul, which is what it’s about.

The Chal­lenge

• How rel­e­vant is your BHAG to what you do?
• What can you do to either enhance/​update your BHAG, or if you’ve nailed it, bring it more to life?

We high­ly rec­om­mend this great arti­cle called Build­ing Your Company’s Vision by Jim Collins and Jer­ry Por­ras to walk you through core pur­pose and val­ues, and BHAG.

If you need help to cre­ate or dust off your BHAG, let us know.

More details on Episode 87 of The Growth Whis­per­ers.

Lawrence & Co’s work focus­es on sus­tain­able and enhanced growth for you and your busi­ness. Our diverse and expe­ri­enced group of advi­sors can help your lead­ers and exec­u­tive teams stay com­pet­i­tive through the use of var­i­ous learn­ing tools includ­ing work­shops, webi­na­rs, exec­u­tive retreats, or one-to-one coaching.

We help high-achiev­ing lead­ers to have it all – a great busi­ness and a reward­ing life. Con­tact us for sim­ple and impact­ful advice. No BS. No fluff.