Big Hairy Audacious Goals (BHAG)

How I Iove the new book "Built To Last" by Jim Collins, in which he identifies the successful habits of visionary companies. And as I am currently committed to the uVme project, this was an opportune time to read and reflect.

uVme is THE first mover among the mlm companies in an explosive & global entertainment market. There are many established non-MLM companies investing heavily in this market. names such as the Spill Group, MTV and Endemol come to mind. uVme announced itself to this market in July 2007, and we can expect the mlm competition to step into this market before the end of this year (2008), and next year, and the year after that. Where there is a market there is competition in all shapes and sizes.

And the MLM market is riddled with opportunity seekers and opportunity jumpers, who are not building to last, but going for the big bucks. You recognise the names after a while. Three years ago they would have been praising companies like Tiscali, and tomorrow you will see their names in some new start-up venture. Built to last... absolutely not. Three years seems to be the average lifespan.

"Built to last" is a phrase that inspires me and triggers my imagination. It tickles my creativity. It makes me want to set Big Hairy Audacious Goals (BHAG) and look for like-minded business partners. I recall an American telecom company Excel that was nicknamed the "phenomenon" in the 1980s. This was an extremely successful mlm company, and many affiliates made huge incomes throughout the 80s and 90s. The beautiful minds behind this company had a clear vision of what they wanted to achieve. It was not about the big bucks, it was about the difference that an extra 200 dollars per month would make to the average American family. It was not about quitting your job, but about a fun activity you could do in your spare time. It was not about inflated products prices, but offering a competitive service that everyone used at some time or another... long distance calls. You were proud to be associated with the product and the company. You felt comfortable approaching family and friends about it.

The same holds true today for the entertainment market. Each and every one of us takes time off to relax during the day. A coffee break, a cigaret and a chat, a walk around the park, browse the internet, read the newspaper, play a game indoors and/or outdoors, etc. I feel comfortable offering my friends a cup of coffee, but a cigaret is a little more sensitive these days. I have no problem recommending a movie or a restaurant to my family and friends. And the same goes for the uVme online games of skill. I challenge a friend, for free or for a small wager. We already have a handfull of games that make us come back for more. And there is a lot more in the pipeline... our first tournaments, the multi-player versions of our games, the Instant Messenger. I am proud to be associated with uVme.

uVme is a company that is building to last. And yes, the uVme co-founders have some Big Hairy Audacious Goals. And to top it all, my team and I have a Big Hairy Audacious Goal  of our own for 2008.

So what does Jim Collins have to say about all this?

To start with his book is not about charismatic visionary leaders. It is not about visionary product concepts or visionary products or visionary market insights. Nor is it about just having a corporate vision. His is a book about something far more important, enduring, and substantial. His is a book about visionary companies.

He introduces the concept of the envisioned future. He describes purpose as the organisation's fundamental reason for existence, which like a star on the horizon can never be reached; it guides and inspires forever. Excel had that in the 80s and 90s, striving to put an extra couple of hundred dollars per month into the average American household.

A BHAG, on the other hand, is a specific goal which, like a specific mountain to climb, has a specific time frame and can be achieved. Whereas identifying core ideology is a discovery process, setting the envisioned future is a creative process.

It makes no sense to analyze whether an envisioned future is the "right" one. With a creation - and the task is to create a future, not to predict the future - there can be no right answer. Did Beethoven create the "right" Ninth Symphony? Did Shakespeare create the "right" Hamlet? We can't answer these questions; they're nonsense.

The essential questions about the envisioned future involves such questions as: "Does it get your juices flowing? Do we find it stimulating? Does it stimulate forward momentum? Does it get people going?" The envisioned future must be truly exciting to those inside the organisation, otherwise it's not a full-fledged BHAG. Indeed, the envisioned future should produce a bit of "the gulp factor" when it dawns on people what it will take to achieve the goal and the level of commitment to the goal, there should be an almost audible "gulp."

And what about failure in realising the envisioned future? Jim Collins found that the visionary companies display a remarkable ability to achieve even their most audacious goals. In contrast, the comparison companies in his research frequently did not achieve their BHAGs, in the cases where they set them. The difference lies not in setting easier goals, as the visionary companies tended to have even more audacious ambitions than the comparison companies. Nor does the difference lie in charismatic visionary leadership, as the visionary companies often achieved their BHAGs without such larger-than-life leaders at the helm. Nor does the difference lie in better strategy, as the visionary companies often realised their goals more by an organic process of "try a lot of stuff and keep what works" than by well-laid strategic plans. Rather, the source of their success lies in building the organisation as their primary means of creating the future.

And for me "building the uVme organisation" means exactly that. Not a company organisation and an associate organisation and a promoter organisation and a player organisation. Not an associate organisation that says my business is network marketing and I am not in the entertainment business. Where is the heart and soul in that? One organisation... one heart... one soul that gets the juices going of everyone involved.

Each individual will have his/her own balance of company - networker - promoter - player in their personal profile, but success comes from building the one organisation...  this is the source of our strength and durability. It's about taking responsibility for our own decisions and actions. Each of us has a responsibity to him/herself, to family, to the team and to the company.

Anyway, enough said.

Let me round off by saying that uVme gets my juices going.

This is going to be a roller coaster ride. And as with all the best roller coaster rides, there are periods of huge momentum and periods where we seem to lose our momentum and ask ourselves "will we make it over the next hill?". There are no guarantees in life, but I choose to involve myself with uVme and an envisioned future that appeals to my imagination and creativity.

While others hesitate and try to predict the future, a handfull of my team members and myself have set ourselves a really Big Hairy Audacious Goal for the August-December 2008 period. We are an integral part of this uVme organisation that is building to last, and we have set ourselves the task to create a future, not to predict the future.

Enjoy and good luck!

Inaki Legorburu