A BEHAG is not a Big Hairy Asked Guess?

[Part 3 of 5 tips for empowering your organization to grow]

Although an organization has empowered all teams to do what must be done to meet stated goals, the organization still cannot grow unless the goals are aligned—one team's goals are supporting the other teams' goals from the smallest team to the largest. At the top, the goals should be set by the executive leadership team, based on the vision of those who control or started the company.
This "vision" usually begins by defining what some call a BHAG.
The acronym was proposed by Jim Collins and Jerry Porras in a 1996 article entitled Building Your Company's Vision. It is a form of the vision statement defined as "...an audacious 10-to-30-year goal to progress towards an envisioned future."
From the article...

"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 used this concept again in their popular book Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies. In the book, the dissected 18 visionary companies, comparing them to 18 not-so-visionary companies. If you haven't read it, I highly recommend that you do.


Yesterday, our leadership team decided to revisit and redefine our vision. As such, we started with the BHAG. Unfortunately, blue-skying is not easy for data-driven thinkers. Somehow, our team couldn't shake the perception that BEHAG meant "Big Hairy Audacious Guess"—It does not.
A guess is a prediction loosely based on current inputs. With goals, you often need to change some of the inputs in order to change the output. To create your BEHAG, step outside of the box. Forget current limitations. Know that any goal can be reached with the right teams organized to make it happen.
Remember, the most famous BEHAG of all was considered impossible in 1961...

"...putting a man on the moon is part of a great national effort. However, I think we're going to do it, and I think that we must pay what needs to be paid. I don't think we ought to waste any money, but I think we ought to do the job. ...It will be done. And it will be done before the end of this decade."

John F. Kennedy

September 12, 1962