Join us for our three-part series where we will dive into the importance of valuing your vision in your business and life decisions. Did you miss part one? Check it out here .
Find Your Purpose
Your vision and mission statements should be your ruler and guide for everything your business does.In Part 1 of this series, we discussed how powerful your “yes” is. Every time you say yes to one thing, you are potentially saying no to many other things. Many opportunities will present themselves to you, and you will have to decide which ones will lead your business in the right direction. One way to filter these decisions is through your vision and mission statements.
How Do You Craft Your Vision and Mission Statements?
Your mission statement should be the “nuts and bolts” of your company. What you are doing and how you are doing it. Your vision statement should drive the why. Why does your company exist? What is your purpose?
There is no greater gift you can give or receive than to honor your calling. It is why you were born and how you become most truly alive. – Oprah Winfrey
But how do you craft the best vision and mission statements for your business? Let’s look at some businesses that have nailed theirs to see what makes them great.
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Use the “To do _______ by doing _______” mission statement style.
Tesla has an amazing vision and mission statement.
Mission statement: To create the most compelling car company of the 21st century by driving the world’s transition to electric vehicles.
Vision statement: To accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.
Tesla uses the “To do _____ by doing _____” mission statement style really well. They lay out exactly what they are going to do, create the most compelling car company of the 21st century . Then they tell you how they are going to do it, by driving the world’s transition to electric vehicles.
This is a simple model for a mission that any business can use. One efficient way to start this process is to list everything your business does and look for a pattern. Start to put things into “buckets” of similar items. What do you start to notice?
Telsa’s vision statement is also spot on. It uses the words accelerate , transition and sustainable energy , all words that are specific to the car and electric energy industries while still showing where the company is going and why.
Pulling out industry-specific words to create a word bank is a great way to begin crafting your vision statement.
2. Use the “list” mission statement style and vision statement.
Nike has a great, really simple mission statement style that we can learn a lot from, and their vision statement has shaped their marketing in a profound way. Let’s look closer.
Mission statement: Create groundbreaking sports innovations, make our products sustainably, build a creative and diverse global team, and make a positive impact in communities where we live and work.
Vision statement: Bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete* in the world.
*If you have a body, you are an athlete.
Nike used their values, innovation, sustainability, diversity and community and crafted a mission statement around those in a list format. It easily answers the questions what and how in plain language that is easy to understand.
Their vision statement is simple as well, but profound. It has shaped their marketing campaigns and highlights their values. Inclusion has been a huge piece of Nike’s marketing and it all stems from being truly connected to their vision statement.
Utilize Your Resources
These are just a couple of examples of standout Vision and Mission statements. Creating these defining statements may take hours of brainstorming, editing and reworking. Sometimes it can be helpful to find resources to help you grow these skills, like the Leander Chamber of Commerce’s Monthly Membership Lunch and Learns. In April they will have guest speaker Joe Vinsik, digital sales lead at the Statesman and LOCALiQ, who will cover what goes into your online presence and how you can impact it directly.
Find out more and register here .
Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision, and relentlessly drive it to completion. – Jack Welch, CEO of GE from 1981-2001
Get Help Through Getting Connected
Let’s get real though, finding your vision can be challenging. It is not easy to answer these big-picture questions that define your business’s purpose. You need a community around you as you build your business. It is easy to feel lost when you are navigating these topics alone. Building a community can feel daunting, but one great place to get plugged into is business-oriented small groups like the Women in Business and the Small Business Micro Groups. In these types of small groups, you can chat with others who are running in the same direction you are and can run with you. You can find out more information here or by emailing [email protected]
Be sure to check back next week when we dive into how to set a vision in your personal life to steward well our most precious non-renewable resource, time.
A vision is not just a picture of what could be; it is an appeal to our better selves, a call to become something more. – Roseabeth Moss Kanter, director of Harvard University Advanced Leadership Initiative
What is your vision statement and how did you decide on it? Share with us in the comments.