One Coach's Reflection on those Dumb BIG HAIRY AUDACIOUS GOALS

On the pathway to never measuring up. In this reflection, I explore the common fixation on extreme productivity.

According to Jim Collins, the famous professor, researcher and best-selling author of management manifestos like “Good to Great” and “Built to Last", he has identified the key to long-term performance.  

BHAGs. (Pronounced Bee-HAG).

Jim is the originator of the popular concept of BHAG, or Big Hairy Audacious Goals. Which he declares are a “mechanism to stimulate progress” in organizations.

My paraphrasing: take a management strategy and operationalize it at the activity level in the name of achieving a certain outcome.

When Jim advises organizations, he focuses his efforts on the following question:

“What do we need to do today, with monomaniacal focus, and tomorrow and the next day, to defy the probabilities and ultimately achieve our BHAG?”

Ok that sounds intense, but let's consider it for a minute. Organizations pursue strategies that support their overarching goals. Many people do the same. In the same way that organizations work to accomplish their goals, some individuals also tend to push themselves to become more successful in less time. (Four Hours, really?)Some individuals seek out personal BHAGs Setting Big Hairy Audacious Goals for themselves within the context of their personal lives.  It's common today to go to extremes, taking a concept and running with it to the fullest extent. A maximalist approach to productivity and achievement.

But has the fixation on maximizing productivity and achievement led us astray of a more meaningful objective?

Have we gone from setting SMART Legacy Goals to setting Big Hairy Audacious Goals that don't get us anywhere?

Furthermore, it occurs to me, if you would describe your own behavior as “monomaniacal in its focus”, that might be a signal that something is out of whack.

If there is one thing I, personally, am monomaniacal about, its reasonableness!

I prefer being reasonable about what we expect. From ourselves, our families, and our communities.  Modeling this behavior and advocating for a reasonable approach from others is a crucial first step. 

Because reasonableness is a living, breathing demonstration of Emotional Intelligence, right?

Is it reasonable to ask ourselves to be relentlessly focused on pushing to achieve something that was chosen at the outset, precisely because it is so difficult a goal that it’s basically impossible?

Women are self-aware and reflective.  We know this.  So let us consider the women, the perfectionist high-potentials among us.  Please believe that we see the gap.  We can read a performance plan.  We see the gap between this long-term organizing principle and the reality, we have achieved., We are nothing if not astute observers of a lack of progress.  It might even be our superpower. 

We are fully aware of where things aren’t measuring up.

Organizationally, professionally, financially, personally.

We notice the gap and then We might internalize it, and all of its negative associations, right? And to what end? Because at the outset, some brainiac chose a basically impossible goal, in order to 'push' us to perform efficiently.  Now, if this approach works for you, that’s awesome.  But because with this approach, the feeling of failure is kind of ‘baked in’, as a feature, not a bug; it seems like it might give rise to a sense of futility that is not at all conducive to actually accomplishing legacy goals, be they personal or professional. 

Again, the bigger question is:  Are these BHAGs even useful?

Successful women go for big goals. Of course we do. Let us also be balanced and reasonable with ourselves in the process.

Coaching with Me

No matter what else is going on, as your Life Coach, and transition mentor, I will always advocate for a reasonableness in the way we approach assessing ourselves and how we might measure up.  For example, don’t say something to yourself that you wouldn’t say to someone you really care about!

Personal Development should begin from a place of kindness, people!

 Especially for professional women, because I really believe we are already way too hard on ourselves.  I delight in encouraging women to work on transitions that excite them and strive toward Legacy Goals that are in alignment with their values,

To learn more about who might benefit from Coaching with me, reach out to me coachelizabetho@outlook.com anytime. Or on the web at www.effectivereflections.com