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.

Vision Statement

Google "Vision Statement" and you'll find a site called Time Thoughts; Resources for Personal & Career Success.com that defines a vision statement as:

A vivid idealized description of a desired outcome that inspires, energizes and helps you create a mental picture of your target. It could be a vision of a part of your life, or the outcome of a project or goal.

If you're interested in this, read the entire entry and follow its link.

The vision statement is more than just an interesting exercise. It puts into writing the entrepreneur's core values are and what things are most important. When we write things down, we own them. They mean more to us. As the entrepreneur goes forward he or she can look back on it and revise or reaffirm it. If the entrepeneur's core values have changed, he or she can analyze these changes and what they mean for their goals. If entrepreneurs don't know who they are or what's important to them and why they do what they're doing, their enterprises will either fall short of their objectives or entrepreneurs will feel frustrated and angry from being inauthentic.

If you find this interesting, post a comment. I'm interested in what you think.

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