The Impact of the Mission and Vision Statements
Published January 24, 2012 | 
Don’t ever be content with waiting and seeing what will happen, but determine the mission and develop the vision to make the right things happen.
Your mission and vision statements not only set the tone for your business plan, but for lean planning purposes, your company as well. They should clearly define the road or path your business follows, and then act as the most important guiding principles by which your company functions.
Any reader should be able to clearly understand after reviewing your mission and vision statements exactly what you and your business are all about. What your company stands for, what its core beliefs are, along with, what it is by your efforts and resources you intend to achieve.
It’s quite easy to understand that “economy of words” is always critical to remember. This doesn’t necessarily mean that they should be short at the expense of maximized effectiveness, but that each carefully chosen word, be both commanding and significantly meaningful. The words should be clear, concise, compelling, and make it quite obvious, precisely what your company is attempting to do.
There are certainly Major Differences between the Mission and Vision statements
Your MISSION defines what you and your business stand for, and it should not be change or ever be achievable. That may sound silly, absurd and unreasonable, but understand the objective is for your mission to always be just a little out of your reach. It’s what you are always striving to reach, but never quite attain. The mission statement should be a clear and succinct representation of your enterprise’s very purpose for existence.
Your VISION on the other hand, is exactly what you intend to become or accomplish. Think of it as your dream with a deadline, it should be challenging, yet achievable. A well-written mission statement should always demonstrate that you truly understand your business, have clearly defined your unique-focus, and therefore can put into words and clearly express your objectives in a concise way to both yourself and others.
Let’s examine some of the “don’ts” that are important to avoid when writing your Mission or Vision Statement.
Don’t restate a description of your business. It’s what the business stands for and why it exists.
Don’t be boring. It should compellingly resonate.
Don’t make it lengthy by getting lost in the sheer volume of words. It’s important to keep it concise, clear, and short and snappy.
Don’t pretend emotion. Allow your passion to be genuine and unrehearsed.
Don’t include it, if you don’t believe it. Remember, your readers aren’t naive and will know if your belief is not present.
Don’t claim to be something you aren’t. You should intend to do exactly what you say you are going to do in your vision statement.
Don’t forget your team. Be sure you get input from everyone that’s part of your team.
The following Mission and Vision Statements of both Microsoft and The Coca-Cola Company are great examples of clear, concise and highly-effective statements.
“At Microsoft, our mission and values are to help people and businesses throughout the world to realize their full potential.”
“Our vision is to create innovative technology that is accessible to everyone and that adapts to each person’s needs. Accessible technology eliminates barriers for people with disabilities and it enables individuals to take full advantage of their capabilities.”
—Bill Gates, Chairman, Microsoft Corporation
Our Mission
“Our Roadmap starts with our mission, which is enduring. It declares our purpose as a company and serves as the standard against which we weigh our actions and decisions.
- To refresh the world…
- To inspire moments of optimism and happiness…
- To create value and make a difference.
Our Vision
Our vision serves as the framework for our Roadmap and guides every aspect of our business by describing what we need to accomplish in order to continue achieving sustainable, quality growth.”
Understand Your Business Plan’s Mission and Vision
Published April 30, 2010 | When we look at the different components and segments of the Business Plan, we find it curious that there are terms that are seemingly interchangeable, and the terms that are most often used interchangeably are mission and vision, 
but there is a vast difference between a mission and vision, and while the two concepts play-off of one another they work in very different ways.
Mission by itself, is the purpose or reason for the very existence of your business, so think of it as a general heading or direction, and a mission is what you stand for as well, should be timeless and it should rarely, if ever, change and it should always stand the test of time in that there is no end to the mission.
A vision by itself is a specific future destination or a “dream with a deadline,” and having said that you should understand that the vision should change over time, and the vision must say “yes” to some ideas and “no” to others, since it’s about what the future might be, could be, and shouldn’t be, for example, “To put a man on the moon before the end of the 1960’s.”
You must realize that mission is all about preserving the core of which provides continuity and stability to your business, 
like a fixed stake in the ground or the horizon limiting possibilities, and always acting conservatively, while the vision is about stimulating progress, urging continual change, compelling constant movement, expanding possibilities, and revolutionary change.
Now to build your mission always remember, a mission statement should be somewhat timeless and it should apply not only today but possibly even twenty to fifty years from now, and it should put forth a general direction or heading, by stating what it is that you stand for, and in essence, a mission can never really be achieved since it should be on going, and if it can be achieved if completed, then it is a vision not your mission, and you should think of your mission as your true north heading on your compass that will always be there pointing the way. Many times the best mission statements are also the simplest, as Microsoft’s mission is as simple as “Help entrepreneurs realize their full potential”.
To build your vision, you must ask yourself “What big goal do you want to try to achieve in five years from now, what does success look like in five years, and in five years from now, how should your business be different than it is now, and using your own metrics of success what approach should you take to accomplish in five years for you to consider your business successful? Once again, the simplest statement is many times the best, and Microsoft’s vision is as simple as, “a computer in every home running Microsoft software”.
Questions a Business Plan Must Answer
Published August 26, 2009 | 
Many Entrepreneurs and businesses have already been able to develop and implement clear, concise business strategies critical to successful, efficient and more profitable operations, but other businesses and Entrepreneurs that have either ignored or refused to consider developing a business plan for many different reasons, far outnumber them.
The Entrepreneurs and businesses that fail to plan (plan to fail) have also failed to consider that developing a business strategy doesn’t have to be restrictive (a common fear), and can be really as flexible and simple as they prefer, especially when first starting the planning process.
Following are questions and issues that need to be addressed as part of a well thought-out, clear and concise business plan, and of course other issues specific to the individual business project will also need to be addressed as they are identified.
What does the business stand for now and what will it be in the future?
- This question addresses the questions of mission and vision for the business.
- It should not only address what the business is but also what the business is not.
What does success look like?
- This is about goal setting, and if you don’t know what success looks like then you might never find it.
- Goals should always be set for specific time frames.
- Ask yourself: What do I have to accomplish by the end of this year to achieve my definition of success?
What do you make?
- Every business must create “value” and ultimately make something.
- This is about the basic “value proposition” of the business.
How do you make it?
- This question is about your craft, systems, and your way of doing business.
- It addresses your inputs, processes, and outputs of the business.
How do you sell it?
- While making something is about the creation of value this question is about marketing or capturing value.
- Many entrepreneurs are great at creating value but many failed to capture it by dropping the ball when it comes to marketing execution.
- As management author Peter Drucker wrote, “There are only two functions of business: Innovation and Marketing.”
Who are the customers?
- This question addresses the people that the business services.
- Most successful Entrepreneurs and small businesses operate in turbulent and uncertain markets catering to small niches of customers that a big business does not want to serve.
- By doing this they are able to stay off the competitive radar screen of the big companies that can’t afford to take huge gambles on such uncertain market segments.
What can you or business contributed to the world that no one else can?
- This is about the understanding of what your “one big idea” is.
- It involves a deep passion, understanding of what you can be the best in the world at, and a sufficient economic engine to drive it.
Who will manage the business and how?
- Who are the people who will operate and grow the business and how will they be organized? This speaks to the organizational structure of the business, as well as, the legal structuring.
- Having a great idea is never enough. Greater ideas are common, but the people who can successfully implement are rare.
How are profits generated and where do they come from?
- At the end of the day, the business must be profitable or it is not a business.
- You should be well versed in the revenue and cost drivers that make business profitable.
- Without profits the company cannot grow and will never be anything more than just a lifestyle business.
What stands in the way of success and how will you overcome it?
- This is about your future story, the enemy and how you overcome it and ultimately win.
- Up until now, you have been addressing questions that concern your business model which is essentially your business in the vacuum.
- But sooner or later, your business will confront internal forces or external competitors that will potentially keep you from achieving your goals.
- Dealing with this reality is, in essence, your strategy.
Know Your Strategic Purpose and Mission
Published May 21, 2009 | 
Though the terms are often used interchangeably, there is a vast difference between a mission and a vision, and while the two concepts play off of one another, they work in very different ways.
Clarity about mission and vision is both an operational and spiritual necessity. Mission provides a guiding star, a long-term purpose that allows you to balance the inevitable pressures between the short-term and the long-term, and vision translates mission into truly meaningful intended results and guides the allocation of time, energy, and resources, and it is only through a compelling vision that a deep sense of purpose comes alive.
Mission is about preserving the core as it provides continuity and stability, a fixed stake in the ground or the horizon, limits possibility, and a conservative act. Vision is about stimulating progress and it urges continual change, entails constant movement, expands possibilities, and revolutionary change.
Mission and vision are like your eyes and each is independent of one another, yet each works together to provide both depth and breadth ultimately coming together to make one insight, in the absence of one or the other (or both) is akin to looking at your organization with only one eye… or less, and it can truly be said that nothing happens until there is vision, but it is equally true that a vision with no underlying sense of purpose is just a good idea, all sound and fury, signifying nothing.
Mission is the purpose or reason for existence of your business and it is a general headings or direction, it is abstract, as innovation is what you stand for and should be timeless. It should rarely, if ever, change and it should stand the test of time.
Paradoxically, if an organization’s mission is truly motivating it is never really achieved and the mission provides an orientation, not a check list of accomplishments, as it defines a direction, not a destination. This entails the members of an organization why they are working together and how they intend to contribute to the world and without a sense of mission, there is no foundation for establishing why some intended results are more important than others.
Missions of companies that have endured:
|
Company |
Core Purpose |
|
3M |
To solve unsolved problems innovatively |
|
Hewlett-Packard |
To make technical contributions for the advancement and welfare of humanity |
|
Mary Kay |
To give unlimited opportunity to women |
|
Merck |
To preserve and improve human life |
|
Nike |
To experience the emotion of competition, winning, and crushing competitors. |
|
Wal-Mart |
To give ordinary people the chance to buy the same things as rich people. |
There is a big difference between having a mission statement and being truly mission-based, as to be truly mission based means that key decisions can be referred back to the mission, their reason for being, and this also gives some clue as to why being mission based is so difficult. It gets to the core of power and authority, it is profoundly radical, it says, in essence those in the positions of authority are not the source of authority, but rather it says, that the source of legitimate power in the organization is its guiding ideas.
Mission is therefore the belief that power ultimately flows from ideas, not people, moreover, mission is inherently fuzzy and abstract, and it is so much easier to make decisions based on the numbers, habit, and unexamined emotions, as to be mission based requires everyone to think continuously.
It should not be so generic that it reads something like “our mission is to deliver the best quality product at the lowest price through the most knowledgeable employees for the benefit of all stakeholders”, as this is simply stating best practice or the rules of the game of business itself, the basic ticket for admission if you will, and instead it should speak to some universal or cultural human need or condition.
A mission cannot be too narrow in scope either like “the mission of XYZ is to serve medium-sized original equipment manufacturers by providing small power generators”, as this mission is a current marketing strategy, not a timeless reason for existence, and the statement is far from timeless since both the customer and the products could change as the business grows.
What is Strategic Planning?
Published May 20, 2009 | 
Strategic planning is the continuous process of making present entrepreneurial decisions systematically with the greatest knowledge of their futurity, organizing systematically the efforts needed to carry out the decisions, and measuring the results of these decisions against the expectations through organized systematic feedback.
Strategic planning is not a box of tricks or a bundle of techniques and quantification is not planning. Some of the most important questions in strategic planning can be raised only in terms of such as “larger” or “smaller,” “sooner” or “later,” and strategic planning is not the application of scientific methods to a business decision, but it is the application of thought, analysis, imagination, and judgment.
It is not masterminding the future, as any attempt to do so is foolish since the future is unpredictable, and strategic planning is necessary precisely because we cannot forecast, since the entrepreneur upsets the probabilities on which predictions are based, forecasting does not serve the purposes of planners who seek to direct their organizations to the future, and forecasting is of little use to planners who would innovate and change the way in which people live and work.
Instead, it deals with future aspects of present decisions, best decisions exist only in the present, and the question that faces the strategic decision-maker is not what his/her organization should do tomorrow, but it is, “what do we have to do today to be ready for tomorrow?”
It is not even an attempt to minimize risk, since economic activity, by definition, commit present resources to the future and to take risk is there for the essence of economic activity, and while it is futile to try to eliminate risk, it is essential that the risks taken be the right risks. The end result of successful strategic planning must be the capacity to take greater risks, for this is the only way to improve entrepreneurial performance.
Each device in strategic planning is meant to answer one fundamental question about your plan including:
- Vision: Answers the question of “what.” What will our future look like? What will we accomplish? What is our dream with a deadline?
- Mission: Answers the question of “why.” Why do we exist? Why is our vision important?
- Goals: answers the questions of “who and when.” Who will do what? When will they do it?
- Strategy: answers the question of “how.” How will we achieve our goals? How will our vision bring our mission to life?