---
name: big-hairy-audacious-goal
description: Use when asked to write a BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) — a long-horizon, ambitious statement of ultimate organizational purpose — as distinct from a nearer-term, directly trackable North Star metric (see north-star) that operationalizes progress toward it.
---

# Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG)

A Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG), coined by James Collins and Jerry
Porras in *Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies*, is a
long-term goal that's both ambitious and inspiring — challenging an
organization to think beyond its current capabilities and pursue
something genuinely significant, not just an incremental improvement
target.

## Time horizon and character

Typically set for a 10-to-30-year horizon — a clear, compelling statement
of the organization's ultimate purpose or mission. It needs to be
specific enough to be measurable (eventually, at that scale — not
necessarily trackable week to week), yet broad enough to inspire and
motivate stakeholders across the whole organization: employees,
customers, and investors alike.

## Real examples

- **Google**: "Organize the world's information and make it universally
  accessible and useful."
- **Microsoft**: "A computer on every desk and in every home."
- **Amazon**: "Be the world's most customer-centric company."

Each is specific enough to actually guide strategic choices (Google's
BHAG explains why it built search, then maps, then countless other
information-organizing products) while broad enough to still apply
decades later without needing rewriting.

## What it's for

A BHAG provides long-term direction, guiding strategic decisions and
resource prioritization, and rallies employees around a shared purpose —
inspiring creative, ambitious thinking specifically because the goal is
set beyond what current capabilities could achieve without real
stretch and innovation.

## Setting one well

A BHAG needs to be genuinely challenging and inspiring — but also
realistic and ultimately achievable. One set too far into pure fantasy
becomes demotivating rather than inspiring, and can undermine
performance rather than driving it; the "audacious" part has to feel like
a stretch, not an impossibility.

## Relationship to a North Star

A BHAG operates at a much longer time horizon and a higher level of
abstraction than a [[north-star]] metric — a North Star is
typically a specific, trackable number an organization optimizes over
shorter cycles; a BHAG is the multi-decade purpose statement a North
Star metric (and the [[objectives-and-key-results]] beneath it)
ultimately serves.

## Common pitfalls

- **A BHAG that's actually just a big number, not a purpose** — "double
  revenue in 10 years" lacks the inspirational, mission-level character a
  real BHAG needs; Amazon's and Google's examples are purpose statements,
  not just growth targets.
- **Setting a BHAG that's unattainable even in principle** — demotivates
  rather than inspires, and can create cynicism about goal-setting more
  broadly across the organization.
- **No connection from the BHAG down to nearer-term execution** — a BHAG
  with no [[north-star]] metric or [[objectives-and-key-results]]
  translating it into trackable, shorter-cycle work stays an inspiring
  poster, not an operating strategy.

## Learn more

- Collins & Porras, *Built to Last* — the originating text.
- [[north-star]] for the nearer-term, directly trackable counterpart.
- [[vision-mission-values]] for the related but distinct vision/mission/values framing.