A big hairy audacious goal, or BHAG, is a clear and compelling target for an organization to strive for.
Understanding Big Hairy Audacious Goals
A BHAG—pronounced “bee hag”—is a long-term goal that everyone in a company can understand and rally behind. BHAGs are meant to excite and energize people in a way that quarterly targets and lengthy mission statements often fail to.
The litmus test of a true BHAG is how it answers questions like:
- Does it stimulate forward progress?
- Does it create momentum?
- Does it get people going?
- Does it get people’s juices flowing?
- Do they find it stimulating, exciting, or adventurous?
- Are they willing to throw their creative talents and human energies into it?
If the answers to these questions trend toward the affirmative, you may have a potential BHAG.
Categories of BHAG
The BHAG is meant to pull a team together, upgrade its desire and capabilities, and push it to achieve something that wouldn’t have been possible without the shared commitment.
There are four broad categories of BHAG:
- Role model: seek to emulate the success of a well-known company.
- Common enemy: focus on overtaking their competitors, often aiming at beating the top companies in the industry.
- Targeting: refer to things such as becoming a billion-dollar company or ranking #1 in the industry.
- Internal transformation: remain competitive by revitalizing their people and their business (generally used by large, established companies)
What Is the Difference Between Corporate Vision and BHAG?
The main difference between a corporate vision and a company’s big hair audacious goals is the level of boldness or daring involved. Generally, vision is more reasonable and there is consensus that the goals of the vision can be reasonably achieved. BHAGs, on the other hand, are more like moonshots that have some likelihood of success, but might also fail. BHAGs are riskier but bolder, and if they do succeed can be quite groundbreaking.
The Bottom Line
A big hairy audacious goal (BHAG, or “bee-hag”) is a large-scale goal of great importance that is also bold, somewhat risky, and high-stakes. The concept was developed in the mid-1990s by business school professors Jim Collins and Jerry Porras in their book, “Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies” as a way to stimulate innovation, creativity, and progress within organizations.