Mission Statements

I always said that when I started blogging, my first post would be about mission statements. Well, it's not the first but it's close.

Here's my beef. A mission statement is just that. A statement. The most effective ones are usually under 12-15 words give or take a few well-placed adjectives. It is not a paragraph. It is not two statements strung together to sound like one. It does not have any bullets after it tagging around like a third wheel on a date.

Use your mission statement to tell people what you do and give them a little flavor for how you do it. Use it to set your priorities and say a lot about what your corporate culture is really like. It's that simple. Nothing says you don't want to work here like a mediocre mission statement full of corporate-ese. Do you think Google or Trader Joe's use the words synergistic or facilitate in their mission statements? I checked, they don't.

Your mission should not be a wall of words you think people want to read ... you know the words, professional, strategic, visionary, in order to, world class, comprehensive, utilize, blah, blah, blah.

Your mission is an opportunity to stand out from your competitors and give your employees something to strive for on your behalf.

My dad gave me some great dating advice years ago. He said if you don't know whether or not you want to marry someone after dating them for two years, you don't. Maybe that's not right for everyone, but it proved to be great advice that saved me a few times. And I think it applies in this case, too.

If you can't tell someone what your company does in one sentence, then you really need to make some hard decisions.