John Kennedy inspired Americans with his Big Hairy Audacious Goal of going to the moon

I keep coming back to this — Thank you Donald Trump — I’m gripped by the conviction that we are in desperate need of a strong Democratic Party. We need a sense of urgency that maintaining the Democratic Party status quo is not good enough — doing more of the same, but with greater enthusiasm, is not good enough. We need an inspiring vision of a twenty-first century Democratic Party. I like the notion of a BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) — a concept that has been around for a while.

The MCDP already has a big goal: Fulfill the MCDP mission — inscribed in the new MCDP Constitution — to:

  • Empower representative democracy within our party and throughout the county
  • Expand membership in the MCDP to include all interested Montgomery County Democrats
  • Connect Montgomery County Democrats within an extended MCDP community where every member has a voice,
  • Advance candidates of the people who are dedicated to public service and whose principles align with those of the Democratic Party.

The MCDP needs to distill these ideals into a visionary BHAG that stretches the MCDP to achieve greatness.

What is a BHAG?

Jim Collins and Jerry Porras first coined the term BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) in their 1994 book entitled Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies. They describe a visionary BHAG as a compelling goal that stretches your company to achieve greatness. It should be a huge, daunting task, like climbing Mount Everest, which at first glance, no one in the company knows how on earth you will achieve. Examples of BHAGs:

  • Become the most recognized & respected consumer brand in the world (Starbucks)
  • Become the Harvard of the west (Stanford University)
  • Land a man on the moon and return him safely to earth (1960’s America)

Here is the BHAG that I’m thinking that the MCDP should embrace: Become the very model of what a strong and successful twenty-first century Democratic Party county organization should be. The MCDP goal, in another words:We choose to BE BEST” (as inspired by Melania).

I think it would make an interesting Request For Proposal:

Request For Proposal: The Very Model Of a Modern MCDP

The MCDP, the controlling committee for the Democratic Party in Montgomery County, is in need of a five year plan for system transformation. The Montgomery County Democratic Party seeks a plan that will implement the ideals affirmed in our MCDP Constitution and will, over time, transform the MCDP into the Democratic county organization that is widely considered the best organized and most successful in the nation, one that other county organizations will want to emulate. The MCDP is seeking to become the very model of the best that a Twenty-first Century Democratic Party county organization can be.

The MCDP is accepting proposals in response to this RFP in order to find a qualified source to write a five year plan that shows a vision of a fully actualized MCDP and shows the steps and process for bringing that vision to reality.

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