The Forgotten Truth About The Moonshot Goal
By: Braňo Šandala
Tags: Insight, Expertise, Teamwork, Moonshot, Business Strategy

On May 25, 1961, President John F. Kennedy set a bold goal for the American nation in his speech before the Congress:

As bold, and perhaps outrageous, as Kennedy’s moonshot was, Americans achieved it. On July 20, 1969, Apollo 11 was the first crewed mission to land on the Moon. A prime example of how leadership sets an inspiring goal that enables teams to think beyond the possible to achieve outstanding results.

Striving for the Moonshots

Today’s corporate leaders try to replicate this success by setting wishful moonshot goals. They hope to push the talent at hand to achieve ten-fold outcomes. Unfortunately, many of these moonshots fail, and managers then scratch their heads pondering what has gone wrong. If you take a look at JFK’s moonshot as an outsider, you may think that the essence of the moonshot goal is to “think big”; to set an outlandish goal that motivates teams to reach the impossible. That’s how the moonshot tends to be interpreted. But what’s overlooked in the outsider’s interpretation of moonshot is how the original plan was conceived. And that’s the key to understanding Kennedy’s success.

The forgotten story

At the beginning of the 1960s, the Soviet Union held supremacy in space exploration, and Kennedy was asking NASA engineers how the U.S. could beat Soviets in space. By that time, space rivals held many space victories, such as the first uncrewed lunar landing or sending the first man into space. Given these victories, it seemed that the Soviets would continue to prove their supremacy, and there is no way that the U.S. would overtake them.

But one talented engineer, Wernher von Braun, took a closer look at both nations’ technology and capabilities. Out of many options available, he was seeking the most probable way to beat the Soviets in the Space race in the upcoming 6–10 years. He forecasted that the most likely plan of getting ahead is to send a 3-man crew around the moon. He estimated that opponents would need to improve their technology ten-fold to fly the man to the moon and back. Even though Americans were facing a similar technological challenge, they had more resources to achieve the goal.

Kennedy’s goal wasn’t just bold words; it was based on the engineering expertise and insight, knowledge of competition, and understanding of the team’s capabilities. What Kennedy proposed was not only an audacious goal but also the most probable and achievable goal, considering the available information at the time.

Takeaway

If a moonshot goal is only a bold statement, it will most likely fail. Aiming high is not about setting unrealistic goals for your teams; it’s a team sport. Work on a moonshot goal together. Empower your engineers, designers, or researchers to let them find a leverage point of your strategy.

And while you’re on a path of seeking bold goals, do not judge the boldness of your moonshot by how much it requires your business to improve. Take another perspective. Think of moonshot goals that would require competition to improve ten-fold to match your business.

Resources

I have read the backstory of the Moonshot goal in the book “Good Strategy/Bad Strategy by Richard Rumelt”; it’s a well-written book guiding you through examples on how to think about a strategy.

Illustration by Icons 8 from Icons8