Big Hairy Audacious Aspiration
Aspiration is a striving after something higher than oneself.
It's been said that 'it is far easier to make a fortune than it is to hold onto a fortune'.
The reason could well be because once you have finished making a fortune, you stop striving and growing towards that aspiration and then tend to adopt a fixed frame of mind instead.
Fixed mindsets are rigid and fragile. They are plagued with defending the right answer, rather than exploring interesting questions.
As systems grow they tend towards a state of stagnation. Ultimately this state of inertia eventually leads to decay and death. Even the biggest, most powerful organisations with a fixed mindset will eventually collapse.
Prevention of this involves keeping a growth mindset, motivated by the constant striving towards achieving something always just a bit out of grasp; an aspiration.
The word 'aspiration' is a specific and important one; it means 'a striving* after something higher than oneself**.'
'Striving*' is the action of enduring a significant struggle which requires the commitment of a lot of energy and focus.
'Higher than oneself**' implies that the effort and struggle is to achieve a higher level of consciousness than where you currently find yourself.
Innovative organisations are the ones that don't focus too much on what they have already achieved, but those who strive to attain the Big Hairy Audacious Aspirations that they have set for themselves to achieve in the future.
As long as that aspiration is compelling and believable enough, the right amount of motivation and tenacity will be generated within to propel people forward to try and realise it.
Chasing down an aspirational future state takes a lot of determination and hard work, but keeps people, and organisations alike, young.