Set Your Goals And Then Go Bold

Before you can go BOLD, you must set confident goals. And to set confident goals, you must also know your vision and values. Because if you don’t know where you are going, why you are going there, or how you will get there, there will be no visions, values, or goals to go bold.

Rest assured, going bold doesn’t mean achieving the impossible, and it doesn’t mean you need to know how you will achieve it—not yet anyway.

Let’s say your goal is to reach the director level in your industry—a worthy goal that will take time and effort to achieve. Here’s what going bold with that goal might look like: I want to be a VP in multiple industries. What those industries will be does not have to be decided now. It’s best not to lock yourself in too early so that you can be open to all opportunities that arise on your go-bold journey.

We must develop defined visions, values, and goals to go bold. Some factors must be overcome to go bold: Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt. If you let FUD reign, you will choose to play it safe every time. Going bold requires risk.

Here’s an example of going bold from my playbook.

My leadership team and I gathered to review the strategy we would present to one of our largest partners—a client whose top leaders were coming to us to thank us for a job well done and discuss plans for the future.

My team shared their presentation with me. I told them their production was great, and then I pointed out that:

1. We hadn’t had a face-to-face opportunity with these partners in over five years.
2. They wanted to hear what we had to say.
3. We will have their full attention.
4. We may never get this audience again.

“While the goals you’ve set are strong,” I told them, “This is an opportunity of a magnitude that may never come again. This is an opportunity to go BOLD. So,” I asked, “What bold ask are we going to make?”

Someone suggested doing a pilot of 200 EVs.

“Contracting 200 EVs to a partner with a fleet of 185,000 vehicles is safe and easy for us. It is not bold. So, what bold ask are we going to make?” I asked again.

It was agreed that our bold ask could not be determined at that moment, so I offered the following, “Let’s end the presentation with ‘Our partnership will implement one bold idea a year.’”

The presentation went smoothly, and we ended with “Our partnership will implement one bold idea a year.”

One of their leaders said, “Tell me about ‘bold.’”

“Well,” I said, “You are an early adopter, and we are innovators. If as partners we don’t do at least one bold, get the uncomfortable idea a year, we aren’t who we say we are.” That sealed our commitment to going bold.

If you’re confident in your vision, values, and goals and ready to face your FUD, you are primed to go BOLD!