Numerous highly respected authorities give the following advice: “When setting goals with your employees, make sure those goals are reasonable and attainable. Otherwise you will demotivate your employees.” But what about dreaming big? What about Big Hairy Audacious Goals (BHAGs)? What looks impossible to one person might look intriguing to another.

People can easily have conflicting points of view about what is reasonable. But Dr. Fred Jervis taught his students and mentees another way to think about goals. He taught us to visualize ideal outcomes (not reasonable ones) and then ask the question, “If we want to achieve that, how would we do it?”

The Jervis question is scary. It demands the courage to try new strategies. It takes us into uncharted territory.

We anticipate a large number of, “Yeah but…” reactions to this point of view. After all, numerous authorities disagree with it. But think about yourself for a second. How excited do you get about “reasonable” goals? How much discretionary effort are they likely to inspire in you? How much more engaged and energized do you get when you have to be creative because tried and true methods will not suffice? Do you find audacious goals more stimulating and potentially meaningful than reasonable ones?

Even if your organization holds you accountable to achieve a set of reasonable goals, you can still do this experiment. It is definitely not for everybody. But if this calls to you, it'll be a lot of fun.

Even if you do not fully achieve your audacious goal, you will almost certainly accomplish more than if you had set a reasonable goal.