Note: This article is part of a series of How to Develop a Strategic Plan. For additional articles in this series, please refer to the end of the article.
The CEO’s Guide to Creating a BHAG: Setting Your Company’s Long-Term Goal
CEOs running growing businesses often hit a ceiling. The company performs well enough day-to-day, but something’s missing – that compelling vision pulling everyone forward. The secret? BHAG – Big Hairy Audacious Goal.
Many CEOs find themselves caught in the daily grind, struggling to articulate where their business is heading long-term. This creates a leadership vacuum that leaves teams focused only on immediate concerns rather than building toward something greater.
What Is a BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) and Why Every Growing Business Needs One
A BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) serves as your company’s 10-to-30-year mountain peak you aiming to reach. Unlike quarterly targets or annual plans, a BHAG paints the big picture of what your company will become or accomplish in that extended timeframe.
The concept gained prominence through Jim Collins and Jerry Porras in their book “Built to Last,” where they discovered that truly visionary companies set audacious, seemingly unreachable goals that galvanized their organizations.
What makes BHAGs different from typical long-term goals:
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- They’re bold enough to make people raise eyebrows
- They create clarity around decision-making
- They inspire people beyond standard motivation techniques
- They’re specific and measurable (but don’t include numbers in the goal itself)
CEOs who implement a proper BHAG notice their teams making better daily decisions because everyone understands the ultimate destination. This alignment creates momentum that builds upon itself.
Why Long-Term Business Goals Matter for Companies
Most SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises) operate with short-term plans spanning 90 days to one year. While these drive immediate action, they don’t provide the magnetic pull of a true long-term goal.
Long-term goals matter because they:
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- Create strategic clarity for leadership teams
- Help filter opportunities (“Does this move us toward our BHAG?”)
- Attract talent who want to build something meaningful
- Provide stability during market fluctuations
- Transform company culture from task-oriented to mission-driven
When CEOs fail to establish this long-range target, companies tend to plateau. Teams focus solely on immediate fires rather than building toward something greater.
Gutting Out Your Initial BHAG: A Step-by-Step Guide
Creating a meaningful BHAG requires deep thinking and collaboration. Here’s how to gut out your initial BHAG with your leadership team:
Step 1: Prepare Your Leadership Team
Schedule a dedicated BHAG session with your key leaders. This isn’t a routine meeting – it’s a pivotal moment in your company’s journey.
Before the session, ask everyone to reflect on: “What could this company become in 10-30 years that would make us incredibly proud?”
Step 2: Individual Silent Brainstorming
Begin the session by asking the fundamental BHAG question: “What is the 10-to-30-year goal of this organization—written with no numbers?”
Provide each leader with a small pad of sticky notes and markers. Have everyone write their answers independently before sharing – this prevents groupthink and ensures diverse perspectives.
Step 3: Share and Group Responses
Have each leader share their vision and post their sticky notes on a board. Group similar ideas together to identify common themes and aspirations.
This visual representation often reveals surprising alignments and disconnects among your leadership team about where the company should head.
Step 4: Discuss and Refine
Examine the grouped responses and facilitate a discussion about what your company’s ultimate goal should be. Ask probing questions:
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- Which of these ideas energizes people the most?
- Which aligns best with our core values?
- Which would attract the right talent and customers?
- Which feels both ambitious and authentic to who we are?
Step 5: Draft Your Initial BHAG
Based on the discussion, craft a draft BHAG. Remember, it’s about the “what,” not the “how.” Focus on the outcome, not the path to get there.
Critically, avoid using specific numbers in your BHAG statement. Instead of “become a $100 million business,” focus on qualitative achievements like “become the industry leader in customer satisfaction.”
Step 6: Test and Refine
Your initial BHAG likely won’t be perfect. That’s expected. After creating your draft, test it by:
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- Sharing it with trusted advisors
- Discussing it with frontline employees
- Sleeping on it for at least a week
- Revisiting it with your leadership team
This testing phase often reveals whether the BHAG truly resonates or needs refinement.
Tips for Creating an Effective BHAG
Creating a powerful BHAG requires balancing ambition with authenticity. Here are essential tips:
Use the Headline Exercise
Imagine an article written about your company in 10 years. What would you want the headline to be? This powerful visualization exercise helps cut through day-to-day thinking and connects with your deepest ambitions for the company.
Have each leadership team member write their ideal future headline. The results often reveal compelling BHAG possibilities that might not emerge through standard brainstorming.
For example, a headline like “Company X Revolutionizes Industry by Accomplishing [Feat No One Thought Possible]” can spark ideas for your BHAG direction.
Make It Compelling But Credible
Your BHAG should stretch beyond comfort zones while remaining within the realm of possibility. It should make people think, “That’s ambitious… but I can see how we might get there.”
Focus on Impact, Not Size
The best BHAGs focus on impact rather than company size. Instead of “grow to X locations,” consider the difference your company will make: “Revolutionize how [industry] operates by [unique approach].”
Keep It Simple and Memorable
A BHAG should be stated simply enough that anyone in your company can remember and repeat it. Complex goals get forgotten or misinterpreted.
Align With Core Values
Your BHAG must align with your company’s core values and purpose. A disconnected BHAG will be rejected by your culture no matter how ambitious it sounds.
Consider How You’ll Measure Progress
While your BHAG statement shouldn’t contain numbers, you should determine how you’ll measure progress. Consider using a “Profit/X” approach – an economic denominator that tracks movement toward your goal.
For example, a company might track “Profit/Customer” or “Profit/Employee” as indicators of progress toward their BHAG.
BHAGs That Changed Industries: Real-World Examples
Looking at successful companies, we can see how powerful BHAGs drive decades of growth:
Amazon (1990s): “Become the everything store.” This BHAG guided Amazon beyond books to become the world’s largest online retailer.
SpaceX: “Enable human colonization of Mars.” This seemingly impossible goal drives SpaceX’s technological innovations and mission.
Microsoft (1980s): “A computer on every desk and in every home.” At a time when computers were rare and expensive, this BHAG shaped an industry.
Google: “Organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.” This BHAG continues to drive Google’s expansion beyond search into various information technologies.
Each of these BHAGs shaped not just the companies that created them, but entire industries. They provided clear direction while leaving room for evolution in execution.
From BHAG to Daily Execution
Creating your BHAG marks the beginning, not the end, of the process. To make it useful:
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- Communicate it constantly through multiple channels
- Create visual reminders throughout your workspace
- Reference it during decision-making processes
- Develop a “Painted Picture” – a vivid description of what success looks like when you achieve your BHAG
- Connect your shorter-term goals (including your 3HAG – 3 Year Highly Achievable Goal) to show progress toward the BHAG
Reevaluating Your BHAG: When and How
As mentioned earlier, your initial BHAG may need refinement. While you shouldn’t change your BHAG frequently, periodic reassessment ensures it remains relevant and inspiring.
Schedule annual reviews with your leadership team to discuss:
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- Does our BHAG still align with our core purpose?
- Does it still inspire and challenge us?
- Has the market evolved in ways that affect our BHAG’s relevance?
These reviews might lead to clarification rather than complete change – sharpening the vision rather than replacing it.
The Foundation for Sustained Growth
Your BHAG, combined with your core purpose and values, forms the essential Foundation for Business Growth. This foundation provides the context for all strategic planning and ensures that short-term decisions align with long-term ambitions.
For CEOs leading companies with more than 11 employees, establishing this foundation isn’t just good practice—it’s a competitive necessity. Companies with clear long-term visions consistently outperform those focused solely on quarterly results.
Getting Started Today
The journey toward a compelling long-term vision starts with a simple step: scheduling dedicated time away from daily operations to think bigger. Block a half-day with your leadership team and work through the BHAG process outlined above.
Remember that your initial BHAG won’t be perfect. The “gut it out” approach means staying with the process even when it feels uncomfortable. Revisit and refine your BHAG regularly until it resonates deeply with your leadership team and inspires genuine excitement about the future.
In long-term business planning, clarity comes from commitment to the process. By establishing your BHAG and connecting it to action through the 3HAG Strategic Framework, you create the necessary conditions for sustained, purposeful growth.
The distance between where your company stands today and where it could be in 30 years isn’t measured in revenue or headcount—it’s measured in the clarity of your vision and your commitment to pursuing it.
Final Thoughts
Creating a BHAG represents one of the most important strategic decisions a CEO can make. It transforms your company from a collection of quarterly goals into an organization with true direction.
The process requires courage – gutting it out through uncomfortable discussions and ambitious thinking. But CEOs who commit to this process discover their teams making better decisions, attracting stronger talent, and building unstoppable momentum.
Your BHAG becomes the mountain peak you decide to reach – not just another corporate slogan, but the guiding destination you can clearly see on the horizon. You know it’s going to be tough and will take time and efforts, but now you can start planning the journey. Now you have a goal that aligns every decision and initiative toward something truly meaningful.
What could your company become in the next 10-30 years? The answer to that question might just transform everything.
Next Steps
- How to Define Your Core Business Purpose: The Foundation of Strategic Success
- How to Uncover Your Business Core Values: What are They and Why They Matter
- How to Create a BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) 👈 (You are here)
See Also
How to Develop a Strategic Plan: Building Your Cultural Foundation First
Notes
The 3HAG™ framework is described in Shannon’s book: 3HAG Way: The Strategic Execution System that ensures your strategy is not a Wild-Ass-Guess!
3HAG™ is a trademark of Shannon Byrne Susko, Founder & CEO of Metronomics
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