You don’t need a perfectly formed mission statement from the start, but you do need to be able to explain your motivations beyond personal financial remuneration, and you need to be able to do that succinctly. There’s no formula for a good mission statement so below are a few ideas that might help you with yours.
Definition
The consultancy group Bain & Company provides a useful definition of a mission statement and a vision, “A Mission Statement defines the company’s business, its objectives and its approach to reach those objectives. A Vision Statement describes the desired future position of the company.”
Often companies will put their mission statement, vision, and values together in one place, either within a single statement or separately on the same page.
Purpose
What is the point in your company? That’s the first question a mission statement answers. A good mission statement will be able to direct a company going forwards by focusing its resources on one thing, the mission. That’s often helpful to startups with a plethora of choices before them, as alignment is one of the bigger challenges.
By incorporating values, a mission statement also contributes to the creation of a company’s culture. It is something all staff can refer to when they are not in direct discussion with the owners, and this theoretically becomes the most common piece of internal communication.
Components
There should be objectives, which are for the future of the company. These may be both what the company will do and the impact it will have. There are actions and methods, which describe the present activity of the company and the way in which it will achieve its objectives.
And there are values, which are the common themes that unite the present with the future.
Apple’s original mission statement was, “To make a contribution to the world by making tools for the mind that advance humankind.” That can be parsed as follows:
- Objective – make a contribution to the world
- Objective – advance humankind
- Method – by making tools for the mind
Drafting
Write a short user journey, of no more than a paragraph. Begin with the need a customer has in their life, that you can cater for. Then explain how the customer hears about the product, where they go to buy it, how they use it, and how their life is different having done so.
This story will give you some components that you may want to include. In the early days, it could be a substitute for your mission statement, when a better one hasn’t been written yet.
The question to ask yourself, as a matter of business planning as much as statement writing, is whether the mission statement you have just written based on the above could be used by one of your competitors? Could a customer tell your companies apart? If not, you may not be sufficiently differentiated from either a product or marketing perspective.
Examples
Organise the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.
Google
To make a contribution to the world by making tools for the mind that advance humankind.
Apple’s original mission statement
At IKEA our vision is to create a better everyday life for the many people. Our business idea supports this vision by offering a wide range of well-designed, functional home furnishing products at prices so low that as many people as possible will be able to afford them.
IKEA
To refresh the world in mind, body and spirit. To inspire moments of optimism and happiness through our brands and actions.
Coca Cola
As one of the largest food and beverage companies in the world, our mission is to provide consumers around the world with delicious, affordable, convenient and complementary food and beverages from wholesome breakfasts to healthy and fun daytime snacks and beverages to evening treats. We are committed to investing in our people, our company and the communities where we operate to help position the company for long-term, sustainable growth.
Pepsi
GSK’s mission is to improve the quality of human life by enabling people to do more, feel better, live longer.
GSK
We reimagine medicine to improve and extend people’s lives. We use innovative science and technology to address some of society’s most challenging healthcare issues. We discover and develop breakthrough treatments and find new ways to deliver them to as many people as possible.
Novartis