When you start your business, it is typical to feel a little overwhelmed and in the dark. Personally, when I started Fesyk Marketing my BHAGs weren’t about profits and scale. I wanted to earn a good living, work flexible hours, have the freedom to move cities or countries if need be, and get a sense of fulfillment in helping people grow their businesses. These are great goals, but they aren’t one big, easily-summarized goal. I still needed to conceptualize one BHAG to direct my business!
Big goals are really important. Knowing what you want from your business and where you want it to go provides clarity. It helps you make decisions. It helps you create a company culture. It helps you decide which projects to take on and which products to sell. Setting big hairy audacious goals is an essential part of our marketing planning process and has helped to guide many clients towards success.
In the last blog, we shared some tips for how to come up with a BHAG. But today we want to talk about why. Why should you have a BHAG for your business?
The Evidence for Outrageous Goals
There’s actually research to support making big, hairy, audacious goals! Jim Collins and Jerry Porras, who originally coined the term “BHAG,” came up with the concept during their six-year-long research project into what made companies enduringly great. They found companies that had big goals like this were more visionary and more successful.
Another reason is that by striving for big goals, we’re always giving our customers the best version of ourselves. Goals that might seem “unrealistic” make us more successful because we’re always trying to take the next step to reach them.
Let’s talk about that word, “unrealistic,” for a moment. We often include impossible goals and outrageous goals in this same category – for example, “I want to go to Mars tomorrow” and “I want to go to Mars in the next ten years.” But we should really separate the two. Impossible goals make us feel hopeless and discouraged. But insanely high goals give us clear steps to take towards them, even if they’re hard goals to reach. When I encourage my clients (and myself) to set big goals, I encourage them to think of outrageous, audacious—and yes, maybe even unrealistic goals. But not impossible ones. The trick is to stop yourself from putting everything you want in the “impossible” category.
Why? Because BHAGs Keep You Focused
It’s easy to get distracted by the things that happen day to day so having a big hairy audacious goal can be your north star, your lighthouse, that always brings you back.
Some famous examples of BHAGs help illustrate this. Here are two well-known ones:
- Microsoft in the 1980s: “A computer on every desk and in every home” (This seems obvious and inevitable today, but in the 1980s it was crazy to think of a computer in every home!)
- SpaceX (and Elon Musk): To put a human on Mars and bring them back.
Does this make you feel intimidated! Don’t be! Those are their goals, not yours. But take it as an example of how big you can make your goal. Are these goals big, hairy and audacious? They sure are!
Next, think about how simple these goals are. They’re not vague, they don’t just promise to do “better.” These BHAGs state a concrete vision of the future. So the answer to why create a BHAG for yourself is that such a clear, memorable vision gives you a direction. You won’t get distracted.
You won’t forget what it is. You will know when you’ve achieved it.
But take the time to make sure this goal is what you want. You probably don’t dream about going to Mars! (Or maybe you do—that’s fine too!) When you think about your future, what is something that feels big and scary, but is truly something you want to achieve?
For example, my BHAG is to be able to run my fulfilling, profitable business from my own beach house by 2030. This is my concrete vision that puts together all the things I knew I wanted when I started my business (see above: earn a good living, work flexible hours, have the freedom to move cities or countries if need be, and get a sense of fulfillment). But a beach house is a straightforward vision I can always keep in the front of my mind. And having this vision means I can keep reorientating my priorities when I see they will not get me to where I want to go.
So there you have it—two reasons for why you should make a big, hairy, audacious goal.
It can be really tough to allow yourself to think big, and decide what you want personally for yourself and for your business but if you take some time it can be a difference-maker in your business.
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Key Takeaway:
Why have a BHAG for your business? 1. Big goals will make your company visionary. 2. A big goal will keep you focused on what you really want to achieve.
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Resources:
- Discovering Your BHAG (Fesyk blog)
- Jim Collins on BHAG
- Investopedia definition of BHAG
- A blueprint for setting ambitious goals
- This Is Why You Should Start Setting ‘Unrealistic’ Goals