Collins and Porras suggest companies should establish Big Hairy Audacious Goals: A BHAG is "...an audacious 10-to-30-year goal to progress towards an envisioned future...A true BHAG is clear and compelling, serves as a unifying focal point of effort, and acts as a clear catalyst for team spirit. It has a clear finish line, so the organization can know when it has achieved the goal; people like to shoot for finish lines. A BHAG engages people—it reaches out and grabs them. It is tangible, energizing, highly focused."

A few examples of compelling BHAGs that guided and motivated people:

- John F. Kennedy's BHAG of landing a man on the moon by the end of the 1960s

- Microsoft's BHAG of placing a PC on every desk in every home

- Google's BHAG of organizing the world’s information and making it universally accessible and useful