Guided by a set of Core Values and a purpose, it chooses a Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG®)* to achieve in the next 10 to 25 years. To break up the journey, the leadership team sets a series of three- to ve-year targets divided up into annual goals. These are further broken down into specific actionable steps the business takes over the next few weeks or months, adjusting tactics as the market conditions dictate.

BHAG is a registered trademark of Jim Collins and Jerry Porras.*

1. Who/Where are your (juicy red) core customers?

1. What are you really selling them?

1. What are your three Brand Promises?

1. What methods do you use to measure whether you’re keeping those promises? (We call these the Kept Promise Indicators, a play on the standard definition of KPIs.)

However, it’s HOW you deliver on your promises where differentiation occurs.

8. Employees can articulate the following key components of the company’s strategy accurately.

• Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG) – Progress is tracked and visible. Core Customer(s) – their profile in 25 words or less.

• 3 Brand Promises – And the corresponding Brand Promise KPIs reported on weekly.

• Elevator Pitch – A compelling response to the question “What does your company do?

Jim Collins’ Harvard Business Review article “Turning Goals Into Results: e Power of Catalytic Mechanisms