Microsoft’s BHAG: A computer on every desk and in every home.
Google’s BHAG: Organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.
- Be the keynote speaker at an international conference?
- Have 40-50 employees and clients from the Atlantic to the Pacific?
- Get your doctorate and be a tenured professor?
- Start a non-profit, foundation or be a philanthropist?
- Own a 120-unit apartment building?
- Be an elected official?
So often businesses expend a lot of resources to develop their "vision.” You hire consultants and coaches and you go on retreats and attend seminars, and usually the answer is right in front of you all along … you simply forgot it.
Think back to when you first had the idea for your business, before you launched, before you registered for your L.L.C., even before you secured the domain. Go all the way back, when you dared to share the idea with a girlfriend, sister, Mother or spouse. In the midst of the excitement about your new adventure, you had the arrogance, foresight and courage to utter your BHAG. Do you remember? Are you still on track to achieve it or has the day-to-day of doing business clouded the vision for your business? Here are some simple steps to keep your BHAG alive:- Write it down – it does not exist if it it is not written down.
- Post it – put it somewhere you can see it everyday and multiple times a day.
- Speak it – repeat it to yourself out loud several times a day.
- Track progress – acknowledge the small steps to achieving to your BHAG.
- Move it, move it, move it – your BHAG won’t accomplish itself.
From the proverbial horses mouth, Jim Collins, BHAG co-creator on How can you tell if you have a good BHAG? (video)
