Here is something incredibly important, and widely overlooked, by businesses big and small.

It is great to be sailing, right?  Lovely 13 knots, gliding along water that looks like glass. But where are you going?  What is your destination?  I know, as it is so often stated, that it is about the journey, not the destination. Sometimes, however, you need to prepare for the course and what provisions are necessary to get where you are going.

These are questions I don’t ask myself very often, and are something I think many of us overlook in our panic to check 3 voicemails and 5 email accounts, twitter, facebook, ad naseoum.

So…. Where are *YOU* going? Where is your company — from a business of thousands to a home office of one — headed? Do you have a Big Hairy Audacious Goal?

It is an incredible concept, and I just worked through it with my family’s business in a wonderful exercise setting realistic, yet daunting and challenging, goals for the future.  I have never been one to set goals, knowing that reality has a way of choosing what track you are on.  I always just tried to work hard and live in the moment while preparing for the future, knowing I would reach some destination in the end.

However relaxing that approach can seem, it doesn’t necessarily challenge you to live life better, or focus on what you are best at.  I am a fan of being very “in the now” and not worrying about rough seas ahead, or fixating on possibilities that I cannot control.  I enjoy the sailing when it is smooth, and deal with the rough seas in the thick of it.

BUT… you need to chart your course no matter the journey, and this is what these goals are about.  Knowing that life throws curve balls and wrenches in the works is a matter of fact, but it doesn’t change the invetiable – you need to plan regardless of the “what if’s”.

This isn’t about ignoring the plausible so much as defining the probable.  At the very least, it is an exercise in self reflection, and gauging what you are doing, and where you are going.  The articles below talk of a couple things, beyond setting a corporate goal.

They mention the 20/10 exercise:  Say that you got two phone calls today.  One says you have inherited 20 Million dollars, and the other says you have a terminal disease and only 10 years to live.

So what would you do differently?

They also ask some fairly tough questions, such as:

1) What are you deeply passionate about?
2) What are you are genetically encoded for — what activities do you feel just “made to do”?
3) What makes economic sense — what can you make a living at?

I know that they might seem rudimentary, or even simplistic.  But these are incredibly important questions to consider, and often times incredibly difficult to answer.  In fact, they can knock the wind out of you if you answer yourself honestly.

Jim Collin’s work is incredible, and I have been able to really find a focus and a rudder to the course I have set in this metaphoric sea.  For skeptics that need real time results, I have seen this effectively used in hospitality & property level management settings, Hotel Design and Construction settings, and even in small, family-business settings.

So where will I be in 10 years?  Even whimsically writing the most extreme (and possibly silly) ambitions, I was able to really learn a lot about myself, what I am doing, and where I am going.  I wish companies and people engaged each other on this philosophical level, so as to better understand precisely why we do what we do.

I really encourage people to read the below, and start considering some of these bigger questions.  It might get you on the right course.  Consider it a compass to help you make sure the direction you are pointed in is really the one you want to be going.

Enjoy!

http://www.jimcollins.com/lab/buildingVision/p2.html

Jim Collin’s “what is your company goal”

http://www.jimcollins.com/lib/articles/12_03.html

A wonderful new year’s resolution – Make a “stop doing list”. STOP DOING NOW! =)