“A BHAG is a huge and daunting goal – like a big mountain to climb. It is clear, compelling, and people “get it” right away. A BHAG serves as a unifying focal point of effort, galvanizing people and creating team spirit as people strive toward a finish line. Like the 1960’s moon mission, a BHAG captures the imagination and grabs people in the gut.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Being bold builds confidence. By being bold, others think, “well, they sure are sure of themselves; they must have a handle on where they’re going and why…”. Bold action is a form of leadership; people and communities want to be led.

First, let’s back up a bit, and talk about being bold. Many people have a sense that you can’t be both bold and thoughtful at the same time. Of course, we strongly disagree. In fact, we would suggest that being bold without being thoughtful is foolhardy. Being successful at being bold means that a community must carefully consider its strengths as well as the environment it finds itself in, and then carefully plot its direction. Once it does this, then it needs to act in a disciplined and decisive way; that is, it needs to be bold!

Acting without giving careful attention to your strategic environment is not being bold, but reckless. Mary Jo Waits, formerly of the Morrison Institute uses the following phrase: “It doesn’t matter how fast you are climbing the ladder if it is against the wrong wall.” This is just another way of talking about being thoughtful in setting strategic direction.

Now for the other part of the statement: “and unseen forces will come to your aid.” As I said earlier, we all have a feeling this is true. Following are some examples, two famous, and three local.

President Kennedy’s statement about putting a man on the moon in 1961 (see sidebar) may have been the most well-known bold statement. The statement was immediately taken by the country as a challenge and a call for action. It galvanized different government sectors as well as private business. The result? A man on the moon by the end of the decade.

In a very different venue, Broadway Joe Namath predicted victory for his upstart New York Jets over the fabled Baltimore Colts. Improbable? Absolutely. But, like in the previous example, the prediction came true.

Three northern Minnesota examples complete the picture. Jim Benson, former Bemidji State University President and “civic entrepreneur,” challenged the Bemidji community in the fall of 2003 to ”plant 10,000 trees every year for ten years.” After the community gasped, it set to work and – after the first year – 10,000 trees were planted, with resources already secured for the next year.

Second, the community of Kelliher challenged themselves several years ago to develop a full-bodied community center, including medical clinic, meeting rooms, office space, and daycare in the old school, located in this town of just 300. Two years later – a full-bodied community center stands as a centerpiece of this northern Minnesota town, a reward for bold vision and disciplined work.

And finally, in the most recent local example, the Clearbrook community set as its goal a robust community re-use of its old school. A walk-through of this building today is nothing short of astounding! Five different organizations (public, private and non-profit) have “purchased” a share of the building, and each entity has set about renovating its space. The reuse will include a bake shop, gift store, apartments, city hall, community center, catering business, and a faith-based service center – whew! There probably is not a person in the area that has not contributed in some way to complete this showcase school re-use. No wonder the sign as you enter into town says: “Clearbrook – a Community Working Together.”

So, what’s up? Were these people, and groups, just lucky, discovering already built-up momentum, and just mentioning publicly the goal already being pursued? Or was there some “magic” that was the result of a deliberately stated strategic and bold declaration? What’s the truth?

Well, it’s not magic; it’s the power of being bold in a very smart way. Jim Collins, in his book Good to Great, talks about “BHAG’s”: A big, hairy audacious goal.
“A BHAG is a huge and daunting goal – like a big mountain to climb. It is clear, compelling, and people “get it” right away. A BHAG serves as a unifying focal point of effort, galvanizing people and creating team spirit as people strive toward a finish line. Like the 1960’s moon mission, a BHAG captures the imagination and grabs people in the gut.”
Collins does a terrific job capturing the power of bold declaration and action.

So, why does being bold work? Some ideas:

• Being bold builds confidence. By being bold, others think, “well, they sure are sure of themselves; they must have a handle on where they’re going and why…”. Bold action is a form of leadership; people and communities want to be led.
• People (and organizations) love a winner. Others know instinctively that winners are bold. People are betting we’re going to be a winner.
• Passion attracts. It is impossible to be bold unless you have a passion for what you’re doing. When community leaders stake out a bold initiative, people can sense the commitment, and want to be a part of that passion.
• Decisive action galvanizes those with the same values. There are organizations out there that share the values of bold actors. By living those values – by being passionate – people are mobilized to join in action.

So, if you want to help lead your community (and why would you not want to contribute to a community’s brighter future?), then be smart, be thoughtful, and be strategic…..but then be bold! You may be surprised at the number of people that will come to your aid.

America’s most notable statement of Destiny..

“I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth. No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important for the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish.”

—President John F.Kennedy
May 25, 1961: “A Special Message to Congress on Urgent National Needs.”

This is taken from a book by Vaughn Grisham, titled: Tupelo: The Evolution of a Community.

3)   Individuals in the community understand that their own self-interest is linked to community success. 

Leaders worked together to improve the community, not because they were altruistic or nice people, but because they understood that their business’ or organization’s success was directly tied to the community’s success.  This sense of interdependent goals and aspirations is a key starting point in developing a new leadership structure.

4)   There must be some internal order, or structure, that links interests and leadership together in the community.

It is a myth that individuals get things done – organized groups of leaders get things done. That’s why we have government, and service organizations, and churches, and a hundred other formalized structures. It is quite possible that Tupelo’s most important lesson is that leadership has to be connected in some sort of order, or structure, for progress to be made.

5)   Leaders have a unique responsibility. 

“Leaders are the actors that are expected to respond to change.  They are the envisioning agents of the town — giving the town a vision and sense of direction.  They must mobilize a community’s resources, seek technical assistance when needed, raise capital for action, and provide linkage to the external society.”  Need any more be said?

• ·        the need for a new leadership model that blurs distinctions between public and private; and
• ·        the need for a formal organizational leadership structure that includes this broad set of leaders and leader groups. 

These lessons are a result of the experience of Tupelo, a successful community over the past 40 years.  It is fair to ask: Is this model for community success still relevant for today and tomorrow, given the fundamental changes occurring in our economy?

We think the answer is that, not only is this model still appropriate, it is even more essential today.  The next quick take explores why this is so, and provides a more concrete foundation for future action.  Stay tuned!

Intrigued?  Keep reading and see if you agree with the diagnosis, and also with the different leadership model as a potential solution.

And even when progress does get made, the cost seems to be too steep – leaders rejected, ugly letters in the paper, and other personal attacks.

“This community cannibalizes its leaders, which makes people think twice about stepping to the plate on an important issue – they’re probably afraid of being next on the menu.”  While this comment came directly from a community leader (not quite fully eaten yet, apparently), it is representative of comments received from numerous individuals over the years.

Dig a little deeper, and other stuff is uncovered.  Example: the education of students is seen as the responsibility of the school, period.  Any thought that the broader community might have a role is not a widely-shared view.

And the need for addressing the workforce challenges in the area? Obviously, just the local business community’s responsibility.

So it goes:  issues and challenges are assigned to organizations, governments, and institutions.  You can just hear it now:  that is not my (our) responsibility . . . I (we) don’t do windows . . .

• Leader independence.  Although a showcase school district may be vitally important to a community, the issue is not owned by a broad section of the community.  Common interests ought to suggest common action.
• Lack of common vision.  We are reminded of the adage, “if you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there.”  The lack of a broadly-shared vision for the community has people questioning why certain things should be done.
• Lack of ownership.  This is exhibited by the comments about us/them, separating out those that propose from those that observe (and attack).  The lack of ownership in a community’s direction, and just as importantly, in the processes that determine direction, creates a climate of mistrust.
• Lack of awareness of the new reality.  It is said that there is always a danger that generals want to fight the last war.  There is equal danger in communities undertaking community development initiatives in response to yesterday’s imperatives, not today’s.  For example, in a new era where skills and knowledge are crucial ingredients in economic success, competing on the basis of being the cheapest is a dead-end game.
• Misunderstanding about what is the limiting agent to local projects.  In almost all cases, the barrier to success is effective leadership, not resources.  What looks like a resource problem is usually a problem of lack of commitment to make things happen.

After all is said and done, leaders have choices:  give up, keep doing what they’ve been doing (and keep getting what they’ve got), or try something new.  Trying something new seems to be the logical choice.

The challenges we face beg for a different model, preferably one that has worked in other areas.  The model needs to have practical answers to the prevailing themes our leaders face, the ones mentioned above.  Fortunately, there are examples that we can learn from.