Mission Statements

MYOB 2008-04-07
Show #78
Release date: 07 Apr 2008

Notes

Do Mission Statements serve any useful purpose in dynamic, entrepreneurial businesses? Or, are they the prerogative of PR agents and mindless public sector automatons obsessed with process than useful results?

Guy Kingston argues with John Richards in this podcast, which takes a look at objectives, strategies and statements of purpose.

Dilbert Mission Statement Generator

Listeners’ Links

David Breese, the principal of The Gold Disc, has this to say: The Gold Disc manufacture unique and personalised music gifts for Birthdays (the No.1 on the day you were born) or for weddings and anniversaries the song used for your first dance. Initially set-up as a gift company our products are increasingly becoming popular business and incentive gifts.

The Fresh Coat of Paint is Anthony Brewitt’s web design agency. Anthony says: I am the lead designer of a small web design studio based in the UK, we supply mainly for SME's and startups and our USP is that we are craftsmen and communicators - not programmers! And we have a very personable approach to looking after clients.

The Most Famous Mission Statement of Them All is Fictional...

“...Its five year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilisations, to boldly go where no man has gone before...”

Apart from the annoying split infinitive – some semi literate hack of a scriptwriter having no idea that he was writing what would become a modern classic – the Mission Statement of the Starship Enterprise in the original series of Star Trek is not a bad example of the type.

For a start, it actually uses the word “mission”, making it clear what it is. It is a broad generalisation but it also contains specifics. Setting a time limit is an effective tool. It assigns responsibility for the mission, in this case to the Starship. It suggests particular outcomes which are viewed as desirable. In these respects, it is superior to most Mission Statements, which tend to be far more nebulous.

Of course, none of this should be a surprise, because it is based on another successful Mission Statement, one that was followed and actually achieved in real life. The producers and writers of Star Trek were influenced directly by President Kennedy’s mission to put a man on the moon within ten years. Indeed the show owed its inception to that dramatic promise and to the excitement it generated.

In particular, the producers were following JFK in setting a timeframe. Doubtless five years was how long they hoped the show would run – in fact, it ran for only three but has been renewed in numerous incarnations since then.

The time limit was JFK’s stroke of genius. It injected the whole Space Race with a sense of urgency and energy. It was probably the reason why his goal was achieved – albeit achieved too late for Kennedy himself: one of the ironies of history is that the man who reaped the political benefits of telephoning the astronauts on the moon was his old rival, Richard Nixon.

Perhaps that too is in the nature of a good Mission Statement, that it is able to outlive the man who made it. Certainly if it is to bind others together in a common purpose, it needs to be strong enough to continue to do so even in the absence of a particular leader. Yet perhaps what really distinguishes a good Mission Statement from the meaningless fluff that fills most of them is that it makes choices. Although it should not set specific targets, it should give some indication of the courses of action that will have to be followed.

It also means giving some indication of options that will be excluded. This is the essential nature of choice, that choosing one thing means not choosing something else. Too many Mission Statements ignore that, and try to include everything. These are the ones that give Mission Statements a bad name.

Most space scientists will say that the lower profile work done in space since the moon landings has been far more useful. Many object to President George W Bush’s Kennedy-style prioritising of a manned mission to Mars because they feel resources might be better spent on such lower profile but informative research. JFK’s choice to prioritise the moon landing was also a choice to de-prioritise other types of research.

The test of a good Mission Statement – like the test of all good leadership – is clarity about what one chooses not to do. Few pass this test.