Your business’s strategy is really focused on one simple thing: your mission.
Even though this is the fact, it is often amazing how little emphasis and how little understanding or even how poorly organization’s do at putting together their mission statement.
At the simplest, your mission statement is a declaration of ambition about how your company is going to change the world.
At its most convoluted and complex, the mission statement becomes something that is so esoteric and so focus group tested that it is almost meaningless.
So how do you do more of the latter and less of the former?
1. Think about what is the bold idea that drives your business:
Your vision or mission needs to be bold and inspiring.
Meh mission statements don’t change the world and they don’t inspire devotion or action.
So the initial act of creating a compelling mission statement is that you must make your mission bold and inspiring.
2. Make your mission statement simple:
Your mission statement needs to be so simple anyone can understand it.
Think about some of the better mission statement like:
Life is Good: “Spreading the Power of Optimism”
TED: “Spreading Ideas”
Kickstarter: “To bring creative ideas to life”
All of these mission statements are short and compelling.
Compare that to Albertson’s: “To create a shopping experience that pleases our customers; a workplace that creates opportunities and a great working environment for our associates; and a business that achieves financial success.”
Do you see the difference?
What in the world is Albertson’s talking about?
They are a grocery store.
They feed people.
So make your mission statement simple and clear.
3. Make your mission statement a sign that you can point to that reflects your business’s core:
The most important thing to remember about your mission statement is that it should be a rallying point for your organization.
Your mission statement should act as a guide of the core principles of your business.
Why is this important?
Because you want your employees and your teams to always be able to reconnect with the ideals and the mission and the simplest way to do that is with a compelling mission statement.