What a 10-Year Goal Actually Does for Today
Every growing company reaches a point where the CEO cannot personally provide the context behind every important decision.
More customers create more choices. More employees create more decisions. New opportunities compete for attention. Priorities need to be set, investments need to be made and people need to decide what deserves their attention.
At the same time, the company is trying to build something bigger than it is today.
The CEO may have a very clear picture of that future. But when the leadership team describes what the company will look like several years from now, the answers are not always the same.
One leader sees a larger version of the business. Another sees a different market position. Someone else is thinking about the capabilities the company will need to develop.
Everyone is working hard. Everyone is committed to the company's success.
But they may not all be working toward exactly the same future.
And that difference can extend throughout the company.
As a business grows, employees naturally become focused on the work immediately in front of them. Serving the customer. Building the product. Completing the job. Solving the issue in front of them.
That focus is necessary.
But there is another opportunity.
People can contribute more when they understand what all that work is helping the company become.
A BHAG Gives Today's Decisions a Destination
This is where the idea of a BHAG becomes useful.
BHAG stands for Big Hairy Audacious Goal. The concept was developed by Jim Collins and Jerry Porras through their research into visionary companies and became widely known through their book Built to Last. Collins describes a BHAG as a clear, compelling long-term goal that gives an organization something significant to work toward.
The name may sound unusual, but the idea is quite practical.
I think of a BHAG as the company's Beacon on the Hill.
It creates a visible picture of where the company is heading.
A beacon works because people can see it. It gives everyone a common point of reference, whether they are sitting around the leadership table, serving a customer, building a product or completing a job.
You may not know exactly how you will get there. The route will change as the business learns, the market changes and new opportunities emerge.
But the destination gives those changes some context.
What Are We Trying to Become?
A BHAG is not simply a bigger financial target.
The more useful question is not necessarily how much revenue the company will generate or how large it will become.
The better question is:
What are we trying to become?
What will be different about the company when you get there?
What will customers experience?
What will your people experience?
What will the company be known for?
What capabilities will you have developed?
What kind of organization will you have built?
A meaningful BHAG creates a picture of that future.
That picture matters because people can agree on a goal without sharing the same understanding of what achieving it actually means.
A compelling future gives people something tangible to connect with.
It allows an employee to see that the work they are doing today is not simply about completing today's task. It is contributing to the company they are helping to build.
The BHAG Is Part of the Cultural System
This is why the BHAG is an important part of the Cultural System of a company.
For a growing small business, the Cultural System becomes increasingly important because the company is no longer shaped by the CEO alone. More people make decisions. More people interact with customers. More people influence how the company operates and how customers experience it.
A clear future helps people understand what they are collectively trying to accomplish.
It gives leaders a reference point for decisions.
It gives employees a connection between the work they do today and the company they are helping to build tomorrow.
The BHAG is also closely connected to Purpose and Values.
Purpose gives the company its reason for being.
Values establish how people are expected to behave.
The BHAG gives people a picture of the future they are working toward.
Together, they create a foundation that helps people understand not only what they are doing, but why it matters.
That can be particularly powerful in a growing company.
A Shared Future Changes Today's Questions
Once the future is clear, it begins to influence the decisions being made today.
Imagine your leadership team is considering a significant new opportunity.
Without a clear destination, the conversation can quickly become about whether the opportunity looks attractive, whether it could generate revenue or whether someone has the capacity to take it on.
With a clear picture of the future, another question becomes available:
Does this move us toward the company we are trying to become?
The same applies when priorities compete.
Two initiatives may both look worthwhile. The question is no longer simply which one is more attractive.
It becomes:
Which one matters more to the future we are building?
And for employees, there is another important question:
How does what I do contribute to that future?
That connection can give everyday work greater meaning.
The BHAG does not answer every question.
It gives the questions a context.
The Destination Can Stay Clear While the Route Changes
A long-term destination does not require a fixed route.
Your strategy may change.
Your customers may change.
Your market may change.
The capabilities you thought you needed five years ago may no longer be the capabilities you need today.
Changing the plan does not mean abandoning the future you are trying to create.
It means adjusting the route.
That distinction can give a leadership team greater confidence when circumstances change. It can also help employees understand why priorities sometimes change without assuming that the company's direction has changed with them.
A growing business needs the ability to adapt.
The goal is not to keep following yesterday's plan simply because it was the plan.
The goal is to remain clear about where you are going while being willing to change how you get there.
That is one of the reasons a BHAG can be so useful.
Does Your Company See the Same Future?
Here is a simple exercise you can use with your leadership team.
Take your current BHAG, or the long-term future you are trying to describe.
Do not discuss it first.
Ask each member of the leadership team to independently answer:
When we achieve this future, what will be different about our company?
Ask them to describe what they see.
What will customers experience?
What will employees experience?
What will the company be known for?
What will the leadership team be capable of doing?
Then compare the answers.
You may find that the pictures are remarkably similar.
You may also find some important differences.
Those differences are valuable.
They may reveal that the BHAG needs greater clarity. They may also reveal that leaders have been making decisions from different assumptions about where the company is actually heading.
Then take the conversation one step further:
If this is the company we are building, what does that mean for the work we are doing today?
That question moves the BHAG beyond the leadership team's planning conversation.
It connects the future to the decisions leaders make, the priorities teams pursue and the work employees do every day.
Everyone Can See the Beacon
You cannot know exactly what your company will look like ten years from now.
You do not need to.
A BHAG is not a prediction. It is an ambitious picture of a future worth building.
The value is not only in helping the leadership team make better decisions.
It is in giving the entire company something meaningful to work toward.
Leaders can use the destination to make choices and set priorities.
Employees can see how their contribution fits into something larger than the task in front of them.
The company can adapt its plans without losing sight of what it is trying to become.
That is why I like the idea of a Beacon on the Hill.
A beacon does not tell you every step of the journey.
It simply gives you something to look toward.
And when everyone can see the same beacon, the work happening today has a clearer connection to the company you are trying to build tomorrow.
A BHAG gives today's decisions a destination.
Leadership Clarity Index
A clear future is one part of leadership clarity.
The next question is whether your leadership team shares that future, carries decisions forward together and has the foundation to support consistent growth.
If you are curious about the strength of your leadership foundation, the Leadership Clarity Index is a simple place to start.
