| Putting Some "Bee-Hags" In Your Visionary Planning |
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VANCOUVER BUSINESS JOURNAL September, 2001 Management Concepts JONNIE MARTIN Every now and again, an industry guru coins a phrase that seems to catch on and fire our imagination. I stumbled upon just such a phrase recently in reading an article by Jim Collins and Jerry I. Porras, originally published in 1996 in the Harvard Business Review. In a well-reasoned article on how to build company vision, Collins and Porras suggested that visions should not be ordinary things. They should take on the size and power of BHAGs — pronounced bee-hags and shorthand for Big, Hairy, Audacious Goals. “All companies have goals,” they said. “But there’s a difference between merely having a goal and becoming committed to a huge, daunting challenge — such as climbing Mount Everest.” A BHAG stokes our competitive spirit. It is larger than life and beyond your immediate reach — so that we have to call upon our energy and creative powers in order to achieve. It is an exhilarating challenge and a rewarding win. Henry Ford didn’t simply plan to build a few cars and to make a few dollars. He latched onto a BHAG: to build cars so inexpensively that everyone could own one. Bill Gates seems ONLY to have audacious goals. It is important that corporate leaders set audacious goals for their company, and equally important that they share the vision with everyone else in the organization. There is a dream buried within the soul of most entrepreneurs and these dreams can be contagious if shared. Many years ago I was a VP with a growth company, a brokerage firm in Detroit serving the financial planning market. Our owner, Tuck Brubaker, was a pioneer in the effort to bring financial planning to a national market, to serve the average American. In monthly breakfast meetings, he shared his vision and his audacious goals for the profession and for the role of our company in meeting this national need. He described the vision in glowing terms and applauded our every success. It was a mission and we were fervent missionaries. Collins and Porras also suggest that BHAGS be described vividly. “Passion, emotion and conviction are essential parts of the vivid description.” As the writers pointed out in their article, Churchill didn’t simply promise to “Beat Hitler.” There were impassioned words about making all of Europe free, in such a manner that “if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say: This was their finest hour.” The notion of impassioned visioning is strengthened if the organizational leaders are thoughtful about life and committed to personal as well as business goals. John Savory, the President of Southwest Office Supply, starts each new corporate year with a personal vision and mantra. This year’s mantra came from an unlikely source: a radio interview of sports commentator Ahmad Rashad by talk-jock Don Imus. They were discussing Michael Jordan’s possible return to basketball, and Imus asked “Why is Jordan so admired — why does everyone want to be like Mike?” “That’s easy,” Rashad answered. “It’s everything he stands for, it’s the success he experiences. And guess what? Everyone CAN be like Mike. It only takes three things:
John Savory’s personal mantra for this year is to “Be Like Mike” — and he hopes that everyone in his company will also be compelled to identify their own passions, their own mantra’s, that move them toward audacious goals. It is not that difficult to identify BHAGS in your own company. Start by taking some reflective time. I have always loved the story told by builder and remodeler Steve Strong of Strong Construction. He recalls going to work for an experienced builder many years ago. The first time he visited the office, he was surprised to see a rocking chair sitting in the plate glass window, overlooking a meadow, stream, and woods beyond. In response to Steve’s look of curiosity, the seasoned builder said “That’s where I do my thinking. I think beyond today and into tomorrow. I think about what is going on in the American and world economy, and what will happen to interest rates, and what is going to happen to the forests, where we get our beautiful woods, and how people will live tomorrow.” Like that wise old craftsman, leaders need to take time out to think and to dream. And to dream big. You also need to include others from your company. Plan a visioning weekend sometime soon, away from the usual business environment. Ask questions, like:
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