Tom Fishburne had a great cartoon on mission statements which my loving husband pointed out to me.
This led him to a link with (sadly) real mission statements.
He points out that this one (for Albertsons, a supermarket) would fit any organisation in the world:
Mission Statement
Guided by relentless focus on our five imperatives, we will constantly strive to implement the critical initiatives required to achieve our vision. In doing this, we will deliver operational excellence in every corner of the Company and meet or exceed our commitments to the many constituencies we serve. All of our long-term strategies and short-term actions will be molded by a set of core values that are shared by each and every associate.
I was once co-opted onto a group to write a mission statement for the organisation we worked for. It’s basically a process of taking something that was originally quite snappy and interesting and beating it into submission by committee until it is meaningless enough that nobody disagrees with it. After a while, they dropped me from the group because I was making trouble. I’m not entirely sure what happened to the mission statement
> set of core values that are shared by each and every associate.
MAKE MONEY!
TM, yes, I think that the objective is “meaningless enough that nobody disagrees with it.”
BroLo, that’s very cynical of you…