- October 3rd, 2006, 8:53 pm
#32962
Hey, I wasn't aware that LU's president resigned this summer from his post and that JF is wearing the CEO/President and Chancellor hats now. (I read it in the athletic department's self-study on the sportspage) I hope it's just an interim thing...it is always good to have personnel in place that act as a mirror and keep a checks and balance in place to help the visionary avoid overextending unwisely.
http://www.libertyflames.com/index.cfm?PID=12100
In a somewhat related note, I read with interest the guy who started VeggieTales who cited the book that contains the BHAG thing. It is some interesting reading; make your own parallels and conclusions, I'm sure they'll be varied...
Link: http://www.philvischer.com/index.php/?p=38
http://www.libertyflames.com/index.cfm?PID=12100
In a somewhat related note, I read with interest the guy who started VeggieTales who cited the book that contains the BHAG thing. It is some interesting reading; make your own parallels and conclusions, I'm sure they'll be varied...
Link: http://www.philvischer.com/index.php/?p=38
...It's interesting to note that only one-out-of-three companies that make the Inc. list repeat their appearance the following year. What happens to the rest? Many see their growth stall, never to fully recover. Others simply cease to exist. Vanish. You see, when a small company experiences extremely rapid growth, it soon ceases to be a “small company.” Yet just because it no longer qualifies as “small” doesn't necessarily mean it is now “big.” In other words, just because you're no longer “Tim's Software Hut” doesn't necessarily mean you're “Microsoft.” And somewhere in the middle, many, many companies fail.
Inc. magazine noticed this dynamic and had several business researchers look into it. What emerged was a picture of a treacherous period in any business's growth when a company finds itself “too big to be small yet too small to be big.” The researchers dubbed it “No Man's Land.”
The year was 1997. VeggieTales was booming in a big way, and I was taken off guard by the success. Frankly, I thought 1996 was amazing, yet here was 1997 making 1996 look like… well, 1995! Every year since 1993 every VeggieTales video had sold more than the year before, and the trend seemed to be continuing. I could remember the days when Christian publishers wouldn't return my calls, and now the Wall Street Journal was calling for an interview!
In the midst of this mayhem, I read the book Built to Last, a classic business study of what makes great companies great. The analysis of the Walt Disney Company struck me as particularly relevant, and I found myself asking the question, “Do I just want to make a few films to leave behind when I'm gone, or do I want to build a company that can keep making great films for the next 100 years?” The answer seemed obvious. I wanted to build the next Disney.
By the time I finished the book I had a new vision for Big Idea. We would attract top artists from all over the country. We would build a culture of biblical values and great storytelling. And then, the big one: The book said you needed to pick a “Big, Hairy Audacious Goal,” or a “BHAG” in Built to Last parlance. Golly gosh… what was my “BHAG?” Hmm. I wasn't sure. I had always felt that God wanted me to tell the stories and teach the lessons he laid on my heart, but he hadn't given me any particular big, hairy audacious goal. But the book said I needed one to inspire and focus my employees. Okay… deep breath… “We will build a top-four family media brand within 20 years!” Huh? Where did that come from? I had no idea. All I knew was that now I had my “BHAG.” And if it was going to come true, we were going to have to get a lot bigger. What I didn't know was that my new path would take us right smack through “No Man's Land.”
Nice one.
- By SeoulFlame
- By Dalegarz1