Mission Statement

A mission statement is "a brief [written] statement of the purpose of a company, organization, or group, according to Wikipedia, the free, on-line encyclopedia." I added the part about being written down. It's crucial that it be written down.

In a sense a mission statement is a promise the entrepreneur makes to the world of what the entrepreneur sees possible and what specific actions he or she intends to take to bring it about.

Hildy Gottlieb, in "3 Statements That Can Change the World: Mission/Vision/Values", www.Help4NonProfits.com (2007), says,

To distinguish between Vision and Mission...add the letters 'ary' to the end of each word: Vision-ary and Mission-ary....A visionary is someone who sees what is possible, who sees the potentisl. A missionary is someone who carries out that work.

I cannot overemphasize that both the vision statement and the mission statement be written down. When you write it down you own it. You can tape it up on the wall in front of your desk. You can keep it in a notebook for future reference. You can use it in your communications. You can use it to train employees and board members. If you don't write it down, you can't do any of these things. You can't share it. Instead you can mislead yourself and be fuzzy in your thinking with others.

What do you think? I would like to hear from you, so post a comment.

Entrepreneurship informs everything I do. For entrepreneurial real estate, go to www.yourstopforrealestate.com/blog and for entrepreneurial writing go to www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com.