Issue 91: A Bulletin for Big Ideas and Better Business

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OPINION/ Ambition

The Audacity of Ambition

💬 Sir John Hegarty

In 1986, four years into building BBH, a journalist came to interview us. Just before he arrived, we gave ourselves five minutes to answer a simple question: what’s our ambition? 

The line we’d say out loud. The one we’d be held to. We could’ve said something safe – best agency in the UK, most awarded at Cannes, biggest in Britain. All achievable, respectable and all completely forgettable.

Instead, we said, “We want to be the most creative company in the world.”

We want to be the most creative company in the world.

Now, to some, that sounded ridiculous. A young agency in London with global pretensions? But that’s exactly the point. Ambition shouldn’t make you feel comfortable. It should make you sit up. It should scare you a little and thrill you a lot. Creativity, and indeed growth, don’t thrive in the familiar. They have to feed on ambition. The right ambition doesn’t just describe where you want to go. It defines who you are. And it gives everyone in the building something to rise to.

Ambition shouldn’t make you feel comfortable. It should make you sit up. It should scare you a little and thrill you a lot.

We never claimed to be the most creative company in the world. That wasn’t the point. The point was to behave like a company that believed it could be. It changed how we talked, hired, pitched, and created. It sharpened our standards. It kept us uncomfortable. It kept us moving.

And I’ve seen that same energy in some of the most powerful businesses of our time. Amazon didn’t say, “Let’s sell books online.” It declared it would be the most customer-centric company on Earth. That single line has powered everything from their logistics empire to AWS. SpaceX didn’t say, “Let’s make rockets for NASA.” It set its sights on Mars. “Make life multiplanetary” – not a modest proposal. That scale of ambition didn’t just attract capital; it attracted the kind of minds who wanted to help write history. 

Photo by Elon Musk

Even in apparel, where purpose is often bolted on rather than built in, Patagonia stands out. “We’re in business to save our home planet.” Not to sell outerwear. Not to grow 12% year on year. But to rewire business itself as an act of environmental activism. And while that ambition might be extreme, it’s also extremely effective. It shapes everything – from what they make to what they won’t.

Photo by Patagonia

The ambition you set at the start becomes the culture you live with later. Too many companies write theirs in the passive voice, with no edge or truth or friction. A paragraph of platitudes, forgotten before the ink dries. 

But the ones that last are often the ones that began with something audacious, maybe even absurd. A provocation. When you aim high, you won’t always hit. But you’ll move faster. Think bigger. Work harder. You’ll attract better people. And more importantly, you’ll give them something worth building toward.

You need something that makes everyone sit up and realise: “We’d better get to work.”

So next time you’re asked what you want to be – as a company, a brand, a creative, a leader – try saying something you’re not yet sure you can do. Something bold. Maybe even a little bit ridiculous. And mean it.

Try saying something you’re not yet sure you can do… And mean it.

You don’t need to hit the target. You just need to set one that matters.

“The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones that do.”

/Steve Jobs