Why you exist and the value of a good mission statement.

 Simon Sinek, famously said “People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.”

What he meant is that the product you are selling itself is not as important as the problems that it solves. This is "WHY" your company exists. A mission statement is a great way to communicate your Why upfront. But as we have engaged with many clients on top-level messaging, we found that most companies struggle finding that perfect mission and vision statement.

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"Why" do you need a vision?

It will help rally your employees behind a single cause brining incredible focus to all your efforts. It will bring clarity to your prospects and help attract the ones you actually want to partner with. It will attract the right type of talent - like-minded people that can align with your cause.

To win over prospects and top talent, your mission statement needs to have a few key attributes.

Here's a step-by-step guide on how to do it:

Vision Statement:

A vision statement is a future-oriented declaration of the organization's purpose and aspirations. In other words, it’s a mental picture of what the world (or your industry) will look like in a decade or more (with your help). Here are some steps to write a good vision statement:

1. Think long-term: The vision statement is about what your company aspires to build in the future. It should reflect your highest goals not just for you but your ecosystem. This is not about where we are now, it's about where you want the world to be.
2. Be clear and specific: You want to be able to communicate your vision in an understandable way. Avoid jargon and buzzwords that might confuse people.
3. Keep it concise: The best vision statements are brief and easy to remember. Aim for a single, clear sentence that anyone can recall and repeat.
4. Make it inspiring: Your vision statement should be inspiring to your employees and stakeholders. It should reflect not just your goals, but the impact you want to have on the world.
5. Expose a glaring problem: Your vision statement should solve some big hairy glaring problem in the world that you have made very obvious.

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Mission Statement:

A mission statement defines the company's business, its objectives, and its approach to reach those objectives. It provides the frame work and the path of HOW your company will achieve your vision.

1. Define  what your business does: Your mission statement should clearly explain what your company does, who it does it for, and how it does it. It's about the present state of your organization.
2. Make it unique to your company: Your mission statement should reflect your company's unique value. What differentiates your company from others in the     industry?
3. Include your company's goals: What are the specific objectives your company is working towards? Include these in your mission statement.
4. Make it actionable: Your mission statement should guide actions. It should provide clear and actionable goals for your employees.
5. Keep it concise and clear: Like a vision statement, a good mission statement is brief, clear, and easy to understand. Aim for a few clear and concise sentences that encapsulate your mission.

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Remember, both mission and vision statements can change if your industry or landscape changes (Pivots are sometimes necessary!) But having consistency is important to align your team behind the same goals and shifting them often is disruptive. Get it right the first time and do not change it until a few years later.

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The Best Mission Statements are simple

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IKEA has a simple vision for the world: "To create a better everyday life for the many people"

And how will they do that? Their mission statement explains:

"Offer a wide range of well-designed, functional home furnishing products at prices so low that as many people as possible will be able to afford them."

So simple! So clear!

Here are some of the very best examples of vision and mission statements from other well-known companies:

• Tesla: "To accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy."

This one is particularly strong because it exposes a hard truth that today's energy consumption practices are not sustainable. It also paints an optimistic picture of humanity moving in the right direction and the company is there to nurture and grow that shift.

• Nike:  "Bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete* in the world. *If you have a body, you are an athlete."
• Shopify: "Make commerce better for everyone, so businesses can focus on what they do best: building and selling their products."
• TED: "Spread ideas."
• Amazon: "To be Earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online."
• Southwest  Airlines: "To become the world’s most loved, most flown, and most profitable airline."
• Google: "To organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful."
• Bulletproof: "Help people perform better, think faster, and live better."
• Starbucks:  "To inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time."

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What does a bad mission statement look like? Don't do this:

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If you find yourself writing a run on sentence, STOP. Mission statements that are verbose, vague, ambiguous, and unclear are not only uninspiring, they actually drive people away.

1. "To change the way people think about Fitness"

What is the problem here? What are we solving? This is too ambiguous and there is not enough there to rally behind. Changing the way people think is great but this statement does not specify the goal of what you are trying to achieve.

2. To increase our clients' performance through optimizing every aspect of their decision-making process enabling them to achieve a higher level of execution.

I bet you didn't even make it to the end of that one! What does it even mean? Now a small confession, one of my former companies had a mission statement very similar to this one. We paid a lot of money to marketing company to come up with it. No one understood it and thankfully we abandoned it quickly.

3. "Our mission is to operate the best specialty retail business in America, regardless of the product we sell. To say that our mission exists independent of the product we sell is to demean the importance and the distinction of being booksellers."

Can you guess which company wrote this masterpiece?

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Need help with you mission statement? We got you!

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Reach out NOW to start reaching your ideal prospects tomorrow.

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