How to Set and Track Big Hairy Audacious Goals (BHAGs)

When looking for long-term success, the difference between ordinary and extraordinary can often be defined by your Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG). 

These bold, audacious goals are a unifying focal point for visionary companies, propelling them to new heights. Whether climbing Mount Everest or landing a man on the moon, history shows us that great achievements begin with a true BHAG.

In this article, we’ll help you get ready to set your own BHAG and drive your company toward transformative growth. 

What Are BHAG Goals?

A Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG) is a bold, long-term target designed to energize an organization, push boundaries, develop successful habits, and inspire action toward a larger vision.

Jim Collins and Jerry Porras introduced the term in their book Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies in 1994. They wanted to encourage companies to step out of the mindset of incremental improvements and aim for goals that, at first glance, might seem nearly impossible. 

A true BHAG is ambitious—something that can take a decade or even more to accomplish. It’s not just about dreaming big; it’s about crafting a goal that, while challenging, is still achievable if your company commits to it.

How is a BHAG goal setup different from the traditional goal setup?

Understanding the difference between a BHAG and traditional goal-setting methods like OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) can help you decide which approach best fits your organization’s vision.

Factor	BHAGS	Traditional Goals (OKRs, SMART Goals)
Ambition vs. structure	BHAGs are ambitious, long-term goals (10–25 years) designed to redefine your business or industry. They challenge companies to aim for what seems just out of reach.	They are short- to medium-term goals, structured and measurable, focused on incremental progress.
Scope and impact	They focus on transformative goals, such as revolutionizing an entire market over decades.	Frameworks like OKRs and SMART Goals target short- to medium-term achievements, such as quarterly or annual progress.
Motivation and urgency	They inspire urgency and excitement by presenting an extraordinary vision.	They motivate teams through clear, attainable, and time-bound objectives.
Flexibility vs. rigidity	They evolve with changing circumstances while staying true to the overarching bold vision, ensuring adaptability without losing focus.	They are often rigid and time-bound.

The importance of BHAGs in achieving the impossible

So why should you consider setting a BHAG for your business? Committing to a BHAG can unlock potential in ways that traditional goal-setting often cannot. Here’s why:

• It creates a sense of urgency: A BHAG ignites action and pushes your team to think beyond immediate possibilities. Bold goals like “transforming global healthcare accessibility” demand focus and daily excellence
•  It aligns with your core purpose: An effective BHAG ties directly to your organization’s mission, ensuring every effort supports a shared purpose. It acts as a guiding North Star for strategy and decision-making
• It inspires your team and attracts top talent: A BHAG inspires current team members and draws top talent aligned with your vision. Big, transformative goals foster innovation and attract those eager for meaningful challenges
• It drives long-term success: BHAGs demand evolution and risk-taking, propelling organizations toward major achievements. Success redefines identity, positioning you as an industry leader

In essence, a BHAG shifts your company’s focus from short-term wins to the kind of long-term, visionary progress that changes industries. 

The Four Types of BHAGs

BHAGs come in four distinct types, each catering to specific organizational needs and ambitions:

1. Target-oriented BHAGs

Target-oriented BHAGs are the most common and traditional type, focusing on achieving a specific target within a defined time frame. These objectives can be either quantitative, like hitting a particular revenue milestone, or qualitative, like achieving a monumental milestone in innovation or societal contribution.

How to set target-oriented BHAGs: Ensure that the chosen target is big and inspiring, requiring a decade or more to achieve. It should encapsulate your organization’s larger vision rather than just short-term objectives.

⚠️ Potential pitfalls: A target-oriented BHAG must be ambitious yet realistic. It should inspire the entire company, not just a select few. Additionally, if the goal is qualitative, establish a clear way to measure progress to maintain focus and motivation.

2. Competitive BHAGs

A competitive BHAG is designed to rally the team around a common rival, fostering a sense of urgency and team spirit. By focusing on outperforming a key competitor or leading in a specific market, these BHAGs help build a shared sense of purpose and stimulate forward progress.

How to set competitive BHAGs: Identify a key competitor or market leader and decide if you want to outpace them in one specific area or across the board. Share this vision with your team to ignite their competitive drive.

⚠️ Potential pitfalls: Competitive BHAGs work best when there’s a clear leader to surpass. It’s less effective if the rivalry is ambiguous or if the company is already close to the top. Aim for a creative angle if you’re not the underdog, like dominating a particular market share against all rivals.

3. Role model BHAGs

Role model BHAGs are about emulating the success of a leading company or institution, especially when direct innovation isn’t the primary focus. They work well for emerging visionary companies that aspire to achieve similar recognition or excellence within their industry.

How to set role model BHAGs: Choose a successful organization or a benchmark achievement you admire. Focus on replicating one specific aspect of their success rather than mimicking their entire model.

⚠️ Potential pitfalls: Role model BHAGs can be ineffective if the focus is on copying rather than adapting. Organizations should identify what makes their role model successful and then tailor their BHAG to reflect their unique strengths.

4. Internal transformation BHAGs

Internal transformation BHAGs focus on radical change within the organization itself, often involving a shift in the company’s strategy, corporate culture, or operational processes. These BHAGs are ideal for established companies seeking a complete overhaul to create momentum and remain competitive.

How to set internal transformation BHAGs: Identify a significant change needed across the company, such as a shift in market focus or a restructured business model. Use the BHAG to communicate the new vision and align the team with the transformational goal.

⚠️ Potential pitfalls: Internal transformations are challenging and can be disruptive if not managed well. Ensure the change is necessary and supported by a robust change management strategy to maintain morale and productivity throughout the process.

Example BHAGs

Here are some examples of BHAGs that have shaped industries and created lasting impact:

1. Google: Organize the world’s information

Google’s Big Hairy Audacious Goal is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. This moon mission has enabled human exploration of knowledge through advanced technologies like natural language processing and artificial intelligence. 

With tools such as Google Assistant, they continually refine this audacious goal, ensuring progress in bridging knowledge gaps worldwide.

2. NPR: To create a more informed public

NPR’s BHAG is to build a more informed public through journalism and cultural programming that enriches understanding. By leveraging creative talents and diverse storytelling, NPR stimulates progress in public discourse, solidifying its role as a trusted voice in media.

3. Facebook: Bring the world closer together

Facebook set an audacious goal to bring the world closer together. By reaching 1 billion users by 2012, it achieved a clear finish line and evolved into a digital hub connecting billions worldwide. Facebook’s mission statement highlights its commitment to fostering team spirit and forward progress through innovative technologies.

4. Airbnb: Create a world where anyone can belong anywhere

Airbnb’s BHAG focuses on inclusivity, transforming the travel experience into a personal and community-driven journey. This bold vision aligns with its core values and drives creative talents to provide meaningful travel solutions. It demonstrates how a small enterprise can become a billion-dollar company through stretch goals and sustained focus.

5. Feeding America: Ensuring equitable access to nutritious food for all

Feeding America’s Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG) is to ensure every person in the U.S. has access to nutritious food. Through innovative approaches like converting donations into meals, they address systemic issues, aligning their mission statement with their vision to impact lives.

6. SpaceX: Make humanity multi-planetary

SpaceX is a company whose BHAG to enable human exploration of Mars represents a moon landing-scale ambition. Through reusable rockets and advanced technologies, SpaceX creates momentum in space innovation, embodying the essence of a great BHAG, as defined by Jim Collins and Jerry Porras.

7. Khan Academy: To provide free, world-class education to anyone, anywhere

Khan Academy’s BHAG is to offer free, world-class education, creating opportunities for learners everywhere. This BHAG eliminates barriers, stimulates progress, and demonstrates the power of qualitative goals in transforming education globally.

8. Spotify: To unlock the potential of human creativity

Spotify is a visionary company whose audacious goal was to combat music piracy by creating an accessible platform for artists and listeners. By providing a legal alternative, they reshaped the music industry, channeling human energies toward innovation and fair compensation for creators.

9. Michael J. Fox Foundation: Finding a cure for Parkinson’s disease

The foundation’s BHAG is singularly focused—finding a cure for Parkinson’s disease. This audacious goal, supported by extensive research and collaboration, exemplifies how established corporations and nonprofits can act as role models for achieving transformative goals.

How BHAGs Compare to Other Goal-Setting Methodologies

Big Hairy Audacious Goals (BHAG) represent bold, long-term objectives, but not every goal qualifies as a BHAG. Here’s how Big Hairy Audacious Goals compare to other goal-setting strategies:

BHAGs vs. KPIs

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are metrics that track your progress toward specific business objectives. Typically, they are:

• Short-term: KPIs are often set on a quarterly or yearly basis
• Quantitative: They measure specific metrics, such as revenue growth or customer satisfaction
• Directional: KPIs act like a compass, ensuring you’re on the right path toward your strategic goals

In contrast, BHAGs are:

• Long-term and ambitious: They aim to transform the future of your organization, often taking 10 to 25 years to achieve
• Broad in scope: While KPIs track incremental progress, BHAGs focus on making a significant, game-changing impact

BHAGs vs. OKRs

Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) are another goal-setting framework to measure what really matters for a business. They typically consist of:

• Objectives: Overarching goals that are set on a yearly or quarterly basis
• Key results: Measurable outcomes that track progress towards each measurable objective, which can span anywhere from a month to a year

Comparatively, BHAGs:

• Broaden the horizon: While OKRs help achieve short-term milestones, BHAGs set the vision for where you want to be in the distant future
• Focus on transformation: A series of successful OKRs over a decade or more can help you get closer to achieving your BHAG

BHAGs vs. SMART Goals

SMART goals ensure that each goal is:

• Specific: Clearly defined
• Measurable: Progress can be tracked
• Achievable: Realistic and attainable
• Relevant: Aligned with broader business objectives
• Time-bound: Set within a clear timeframe

In comparison, BHAGs are:

• Highly ambitious and bold: They push your company to think beyond immediate capabilities
• Long-term: Designed to span over a decade or more, unlike the time-bound nature of SMART goals

BHAGs vs. Strategic Planning

Strategic planning is a systematic approach to achieving long-term goals, usually spanning:

• 3-5 years: A strategic plan offers a clear roadmap for the near-term future
• Step-by-step guidance: It breaks down big goals into manageable steps
• Focus and clarity: Ensures your company remains aligned with its key objectives

On the other hand, BHAGs:

• Go beyond the scope of strategic plans: They define a much larger vision, which strategic plans help to accomplish over time
• Serve as a North Star: BHAGs inspire and guide all strategic efforts, providing a target for multiple strategic plans over the years

BHAGs vs. Vision Statements

Both vision statements and BHAGs look at the long-term future of your organization, but they differ in their approach:

• Vision statements: Aim to inspire and outline where the organization wants to be. They provide a sense of purpose
  • Example: TED’s vision statement to “spread ideas”
• BHAGs: Push the organization to dream bigger and achieve something that seems almost unattainable
  • Example: A goal like “becoming the world’s leading platform for shared knowledge” would be more in line with a BHAG for TED

👉🏼 For a more detailed approach to creating a visionary framework, check out the Vision Whiteboard Template by .

Here’s a table summarizing the differences:

Feature	BHAGs	KPIs	OKRs	SMART Goals	Strategic Planning	Vision Statements
Focus	Long-term, ambitious transformation	Short-term, quantitative progress	Measurable outcomes toward objectives	Specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound	Near-term roadmap, step-by-step guidance	Inspiring and outlining the desired future
Timeframe	10–25 years	Quarterly/Yearly	Quarterly/Yearly/Monthly	Time-bound (specific timeframe)	3–5 years	Long-term, aspirational
Scope	Broad, game-changing impact	Specific metrics (e.g., revenue, customer satisfaction)	Measurable outcomes linked to objectives	Specific and focused	Manageable steps toward long-term goals	Overall direction and purpose
Role	North Star, guiding vision	Compass for progress	Achieving short-term milestones	Ensuring goal clarity and focus	Providing a roadmap for achieving goals	Inspiring and motivating the organization

Track and Complete Your Big Hairy Audacious Goals

Achieving BHAGs may seem daunting, but with the right approach and tools, they can become manageable and even inspiring. Effective goal tracking ensures your team stays focused, aligned, and motivated to meet even the most ambitious objectives.

Tools and resources for tracking BHAGs

Achieving BHAGs requires not only a clear vision but also the right tools to track and stimulate progress effectively. With the right resources, you can monitor milestones, assign responsibilities, and make adjustments along the way. 

These tools help ensure your team remains aligned with your ambitious goals, providing real-time insights and fostering collaboration.

How ’s Goal Tracking feature helps you stay on course

Setting BHAGs requires effective tracking. ’s Goal Tracking feature empowers you to set, monitor, and adjust your BHAGs in real time.

Using the SMART framework—Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound—you can create structured goals that keep you accountable and focused. Whether completing a 10k race or acquiring new clients, allows you to break down these goals into manageable and measurable targets for a clear path to success.

Using ’s Dashboards to visualize progress on your BHAGs

Visualizing your progress is key to achieving BHAGs, and Dashboards offer a comprehensive view of your goals. With customizable cards and charts, you can track key metrics, deadlines, and team performance all in one place. 

This centralized view helps you assess progress, identify bottlenecks, and ensure everyone is aligned toward the same objectives. Regularly updating your dashboard can facilitate meaningful discussions and adjustments, ensuring your projects stay on track.

Talking about , Kartikeya Thapliyal, Product Manager at smallcase, says,

Automate BHAG tracking with ’s Automations

Automation can significantly improve efficiency in tracking BHAGs. Automations allow you to set up reminders, task assignments, and status updates without manual intervention. 

For example, you can create an automation that updates the status of a BHAG-related task to “In Progress” as soon as it’s assigned to a team member. Or, set up reminders to nudge your team when deadlines are approaching, ensuring no milestone slips through the cracks.

By automating repetitive tasks, you can focus more on strategic initiatives. This feature ensures that you and your team are always updated on the status of your BHAGs, making it easier to adjust them as needed.

Collaborate and get feedback using Docs and Comments

Effective collaboration is crucial for achieving BHAGs. Docs enable real-time collaboration, allowing team members to comment, suggest edits, and track changes on shared documents. Use comments to provide feedback on specific sections of your documents, ensuring that all input is gathered and acknowledged. 

You can even convert comments into actionable tasks, maintaining a seamless workflow from ideation to execution. This collaborative environment fosters accountability and keeps everyone engaged with the project.

A step-by-step guide to achieving BHAGs

Setting and achieving BHAGs can transform your organization’s vision into actionable steps. provides a powerful platform to manage these ambitious objectives effectively. Here’s how to set up and achieve BHAGs using .

Setting up BHAGs in

1. Define your BHAG: Start by clearly articulating your BHAG. It should be a long-term goal that inspires and challenges your team. For example, a BHAG could be “Increase market share by 50% within the next five years.”
2. Create a goal in : Utilize the Goals in to enter your BHAG. Make sure to outline specific metrics to measure success, such as revenue growth or customer acquisition rates. By leveraging SMART goal templates, you can ensure your BHAG is structured and achievable
3. Break down the BHAG: Divide your BHAG into smaller, actionable milestones. This will make it easier for your team to understand the steps required to achieve the larger objective. By doing this, you can maintain momentum and keep the team focused

Assigning tasks and milestones

1. Assign responsibilities: Once your BHAG is defined and broken down into milestones, assign specific tasks to team members within . Ensure that each task is clear and has a designated deadline
2. Create milestones: Use Milestones to set important checkpoints en route to your BHAG. Milestones help keep everyone aligned and accountable and allow for regular progress assessments
3. Utilize cascading goals: Consider implementing a cascading goals approach, where team members can set individual goals that align with the overall BHAG. This alignment fosters collaboration and ensures everyone is working towards the same vision

Regularly reviewing and adjusting goals

1. Schedule regular reviews: Set a recurring schedule to review your BHAG and the associated milestones. This allows your team to assess progress, celebrate achievements, and identify any challenges that need addressing
2. Adjust as necessary: As you review your BHAG, be open to making adjustments. Market conditions or internal dynamics may shift, requiring you to realign your goals. Use ’s goal-tracking features to modify tasks and milestones accordingly.
3. Evaluate medium-term goals: While focusing on your BHAG, ensure you also set and review medium-term goals that support your long-term vision. Medium-term goals act as stepping stones, keeping your team on track

Reach for the Extraordinary: Set Your BHAGs Today

BHAGs are powerful tools for driving long-term success and fostering a culture of ambition within your organization. They push teams to think beyond the ordinary and aim for extraordinary achievements, creating a clear vision that guides every decision and action. By setting these ambitious yet attainable goals, you open up new avenues for growth and steer your organization toward a promising future.

With , you can take your BHAGs from vision to reality. From goal tracking and dashboards to collaborative tools and automations, empowers your team to stay aligned, focused, and motivated throughout the journey. Its robust features make managing even the boldest objectives seamless, helping you break them down into actionable steps and monitor progress in real time.

Now is the time to harness the power of BHAGs with . Embrace the challenge, align your vision, and set your BHAGs today to inspire your team and achieve milestones you once thought impossible.

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