Summary
Learn the difference between Big Hairy Audacious Goals (BHAGs) and Objectives and Key Results (OKRs). Discover real-world examples from Google and Allbirds to see how BHAGs and OKRs can complement each other to help reach your most ambitious goals.
Every successful organization sets Big Hairy Audacious Goals (BHAGs – you may hear them pronounced as “BEE-hags”). It’s a fun way to describe ambitious and bold long-term goals that seem beyond reach.
Jim Collins and Jerry Porras coined the acronym in their book Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies, asking, “What makes a truly exceptional company”? They discovered that the companies that rise to the top were setting goals with a “gulp factor” – so audacious that people swallow hard when they first hear them.
BHAGs push you toward what seems impossible. They are great to foster innovative thinking by encouraging teams to look at challenges with fresh perspectives. But how do you make these bold goals a reality? This is where Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) come in.
What are BHAGs (Big Hairy Audacious Goals)?
A BHAG is a Big Hairy Audacious Goal – like setting a record for climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, disrupting sustainable energy, or eradicating a major disease. BHAGs can span 10-30 years, rallying your team to reach for visionary outcomes.
Famous examples of BHAGs include Microsoft’s aspiration to “put a computer on every desk and in every home,” SpaceX’s goal to build a sustainable colony on Mars, or Google’s goal to “organize the world’s information.” Many of these famous BHAGs have to be broken into smaller BHAGs. Take Space X, for example. In order to reach Mars, they first had to build reusable rockets and safely fly astronauts to the International Space Station. Hairy stuff! Next, they’ll have to build interplanetary starships and habitable shelters on Mars. Each one is a bonafide BHAG.
But BHAGs abound here on Earth too! In Measure What Matters, John Doerr shares the story of Google Chrome. Their Big Hairy Audacious Goal? To build the world’s fastest browser – a goal that would drive it to become the world’s most popular browser.
Think of BHAGs as long-term stretch or aspirational goals – they’re how you’d like the world to look, even when you don’t yet know how you’ll get there.
What are OKRs (Objectives and Key Results)?
BHAGs provide a larger organizational vision, but to sustain momentum, you have to break them into actionable, measurable steps. This is one way OKRs shine! OKRs are a goal-setting framework that declare and draw attention to what matters most, helping you achieve what seems beyond reach, step by step.
OKRs have two parts: the Objective (O), and a corresponding set of Key Results (KRs). The Objective describes what we will accomplish. It communicates direction and defines what success looks like in a short, memorable statement. Key Results are the metrics that describe how we’ll know we’ve achieved the Objective.
When Google set their BHAGs to build the world’s fastest browser in 2006, they used OKRs to set a framework to focus, track, and measure results. Everyone agreed on what they were doing, as well as how well the browser had to perform and how quickly it needed to grow. Their OKRs clarified what needed to be done first and by when.
The results were impressive! Google Chrome became the largest browser in the world, gaining 111 million users by the end of 2010. By 2011, it dethroned Mozilla Firefox as the world’s top web browser. As of 2024, Google Chrome is the top browser in the world, with an estimated 3.45 billion daily users.
Read more about how Google uses OKRs in this Google Playbook.
Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG) example: the Allbirds story
From the beginning, Allbirds set an ambitious BHAG, starting with this Objective: Create the lowest carbon footprint in the footwear industry.
To reach this unprecedented goal, they set clear Key Results to measure progress:
KR1: Ensure that their supply chain and shipping infrastructure are 100% zero waste.
KR2: Offset 100% of their carbon dioxide emissions.
KR3: Make 25% of materials compostable.
KR4: Make 75% of materials biodegradable.
In 2018, with the help of OKRs, they launched a carbon-negative foam material. By 2020, in partnership with Adidas, they created a shoe with the lowest carbon footprint in the industry at that time – with OKRs helping them take yet another major step towards that BHAG. By 2023, they achieved their goal of producing carbon-neutral sneakers!
Allbirds’ uncharted journey and commitment to reducing carbon emissions shined a light on how organizations, no matter the size, can achieve incredible, Big Hairy Audacious Goals.
“Their desire to use OKRs to build culture is very powerful,” says John Doerr. “It makes Allbirds not just a shoe company but an environmental company.”
BHAGs vs OKRs: What’s the difference?
BHAGs and OKRs are powerful tools that complement each other to help organizations meet ambitious goals. BHAGs and Objective statements often overlap, but OKRs add in performance benchmarks that guide shorter-term decisions about priorities and actions. The combination of Objectives and Key Results means that at any given moment, everyone knows how much they’ve accomplished, how far they need to go, and by when. Clarity on performance enables teams to solve problems differently than when progress is unclear or unmeasurable.
Here’s a closer look at distinctions between BHAGs and OKRs:
Duration and Purpose:
BHAGs set long-term visionary goals, usually 10 or more years, that inspire teams.
OKRs offer a framework to break down those ambitious goals – into measurable and actionable short-term ones – and are typically set quarterly.
Google’s BHAG was to build the world’s fastest browser in the span of four years, and was broken down into specific, measurable Objectives and Key Results – helping them incrementally work towards achieving that aspirational goal.
Measurement and Tracking:
BHAGs focus on long-term vision, but offer no detailed metrics. They provide a direction towards an inspiring North Star.
OKRs are specific, measurable, concrete, and time-bound, breaking Big Hairy Audacious Goals into clear, trackable Objectives and Key Results.
Allbirds wanted to create the lowest carbon footprint in the footwear industry – a long-term BHAG. OKRs helped them break it down into measurable Key Results: ensuring their supply chain is zero waste, offsetting 100% of their carbon emissions, and making 25% of materials compostable, which propelled them towards their bold environmental goal.
Conclusion:
If you’re looking to achieve beyond what seems possible at first, Big Hairy Audacious Goals (BHAGs) and Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) are the perfect complementary tools. While BHAGs set an ambitious, long-term vision, OKRs add a clear and measurable framework that aligns day-to-day tasks to the vision.