Defining useful goals

A goal that cannot change a decision is decoration. It can be presented, repeated, and forgotten, and the institution will move exactly as it would have without it.

Useful goals are few. Someone owns each one. They are written so that a later review can tell whether the institution actually moved, not whether the sentence still sounds ambitious. They sit between today and the vision. The mission says what role this institution plays. The goals say what must become true, in a time you can still plan, for that role to be real.

Each one should name what will be pursued and, just as clearly, what will not. A goal that refuses to exclude anything cannot be used. It can only be agreed with.

If it cannot be used on a Tuesday, it does not belong in the set.