known.… Sony has a principle of respecting and en- couraging one’s ability…and always tries to bring out the best in a person. This is the vital force of Sony.” 3 Same core values, different words. You should therefore focus on getting the content right – on capturing the essence of the core values and purpose. The point is not to create a perfect
somewhat paradoxical. On the one hand, it conveys concreteness – something visible, vivid, and real. On the other hand, it involves a time yet unreal- ized–with its dreams, hopes, and aspirations. Vision-level BHAG. We found in our research that visionary companies often use bold missions – or what we prefer to call BHAGs (pronounced
statement but to gain a deep under- standing of your organization’s core values and purpose, which can then be expressed in a multitude of ways. In fact, we often suggest that once the core has been identified, man- agers should generate their own statements of the core values and purpose to share with their groups.
Companies need an audacious 10-to-30-year goal to progress toward an envisioned future.
Finally, don’t confuse core ideology with the con- cept of core competence. Core competence is a stra- tegic concept that defines your organization’s capa- bilities–what you are particularly good at–whereas core ideology captures what you stand for and why you exist. Core competencies should be well aligned with a company’s core ideology and are of- ten rooted in it; but they are not the same thing. For example, Sony has a core competence of miniatur- ization – a strength that can be strategically applied to a wide array of products and markets. But it does not have a core ideology of miniaturization. Sony might not even have miniaturization as part of its strategy in 100 years, but to remain a great compa- ny, it will still have the same core values described in the Sony Pioneer Spirit and the same fundamen- tal reason for being–namely, to advance technology for the benefit of the general public. In a visionary company like Sony, core competencies change over the decades, whereas core ideology does not. Once you are clear about the core ideology, you should feel free to change absolutely anything that is not part of it. From then on, whenever someone says something should not change because “it’s part of our culture” or “we’ve always done it that way” or any such excuse, mention this simple rule: If it’s not core, it’s up for change. The strong version of the rule is, If it’s not core, change it! Articulating core ideology is just a starting point, however. You also must determine what type of progress you want to stimulate. Envisioned Future The second primary component of the vision framework is envisioned future . It consists of two parts: a 10-to-30-year audacious goal plus vivid de- scriptions of what it will be like to achieve the goal. We recognize that the phrase envisioned future is
BEE-hags and shorthand for Big, Hairy, Audacious Goals)–as a powerful way to stimulate progress. All companies have goals. But there is a difference be- tween merely having a goal and becoming commit- ted to a huge, daunting challenge–such as climbing Mount Everest. A true BHAG is clear and com- pelling, serves as a unifying focal point of effort, and acts as a catalyst for team spirit. It has a clear finish line, so the organization can know when it has achieved the goal; people like to shoot for finish lines. A BHAG engages people – it reaches out and grabs them. It is tangible, energizing, highly fo- cused. People get it right away; it takes little or no explanation. For example, NASA’s 1960s moon mission didn’t need a committee of wordsmiths to spend endless hours turning the goal into a verbose, impossible-to-remember mission statement. The goal itself was so easy to grasp– so compelling in its own right – that it could be said 100 different ways yet be easily understood by everyone. Most corpo- rate statements we’ve seen do little to spur forward movement because they do not contain the power- ful mechanism of a BHAG. Although organizations may have many BHAGs at different levels operating at the same time, vi- sion requires a special type of BHAG–a vision-level BHAG that applies to the entire organization and requires 10 to 30 years of effort to complete. Setting the BHAG that far into the future requires thinking beyond the current capabilities of the organization and the current environment. Indeed, inventing such a goal forces an executive team to be vision- ary, rather than just strategic or tactical. A BHAG should not be a sure bet – it will have perhaps only a 50% to 70% probability of success – but the orga- nization must believe that it can reach the goal any- way. A BHAG should require extraordinary effort and perhaps a little luck. We have helped compa- nies create a vision-level BHAG by advising them
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HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW September-October 1996
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