My BHAG

During the 1990s Jim Collins and Jerry Porras rose to fame with their business theories and case studies. They even coined a catchy term - BHAG - and wrote a series of Harvard Business Review articles and a couple well-regarded business books, Built to Last and Good to Great. How does this apply to running? Very simple. Tackling 50 states has become my BHAG - my Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal. Now, clearly my goal is not as visionary as Google's, which was to "organize the world's information" or as bold as Microsoft's "a computer on every desk and in every home". But my BHAG of completing a race in all 50 states does fit Collins and Porras' definition of "having a clear finish line, so the organization [my family] can know when it has achieved the goal; people like to shoot for finish lines." (1996)

I never thought my business and academic reading would apply to my real life. But as I was lying in bed this morning, I enjoyed giggling that I, too, just like Google and Microsoft, had my very own BHAG. The finish line will be Hawaii and we are nearly at the half-way point when we complete the 24th and 25th states in July. And, yes, I am looking forward to this exciting finish line.

Happy Monday.