North Star

In the business world, there is a mental model that draws on Polaris for inspiration, called north star, which refers to the guiding vision of a company. For example, DuckDuckGo's north star is "to raise the standard of trust online." If you know your north star, you can point your actions toward your desired long-term future. Without a north star, you can be easily "lost at sea," susceptible to the unintended consequences of short-termism (see Chapter 2).