Don’t Inspire the World
I was asked by a client today what I think about mission and vision statements. As this is something I'm asked a few times a year, here's what I think.
First of all, ask yourself why your organization needs mission and vision statements.
For nonprofits, one legitimate reason is to comply with expectations of funders. For reasons I don't understand, mission and vision statements are two of the many boxes foundations expect you to tick.
If you don't need them for funders, another legitimate reason is to help you develop organization-wide strategies. Crafted correctly (I'll get to this in a minute), the statements can help you determine what to do next and, even more importantly, what not to do next.
If you don't need mission and vision statements for funders or for organization-wide strategies, don't do them at all. If you're just looking for something to do with your board, do something more interesting. Bring in an expert in the field to broaden their understanding. Bring in somebody like me to help them expand their thinking about the organization's future. Do a fun activity to help them bond.
But if you have to do mission and vision statements, there are ways to do them right. Or at least, more right.
Don't make them descriptions of what you do now. That's not what missions or visions are. Look, I'm all for organizational audits. I think every organization ought to know what they do and why they do it. But audit results aren't forward thinking, aspirational, or particularly interesting to anybody else. The question I ask every organization instead is “What’s the point of this place?” If the leaders can’t answer, that’s a problem. And in my experience, most of them can’t.
Get real. I'm sorry but you're not empowering humanity, inspiring the masses, or changing the world. You're just one organization and on your best day, you can probably have a limited effect on a relatively small audience. Empowering our own children is hard enough, am I right? And have you ever tried to change your neighborhood? It's a bear. So changing the world is probably off the table. I'm not saying you shouldn't aim high, but you should aim for targets you could hit if everything goes right. You know whose mission is to inspire humanity? JetBlue. What about bringing community and belonging to everyone in the world? Reddit. C'mon, gang.
Make them distinct. Don't say things that could just as well be true for virtually any organization, including the ones you're competing with for funding. Everybody says they go the extra mile, that they care about their employees, and that they're stewards of the earth — even organizations that don't, don't, and aren't. Ask yourself if what you're saying could be said by your competitor or another organization down the block and if it could, don't say it.
Make them arguable. This is the hardest to explain. Don't say something that a reasonable person couldn't disagree with. If everybody would agree with what you're saying, the thing you're saying is pablum and has no value at all. Mission and vision statements are the flags you're planting in the ground. And if nobody would disagree with your position, it's not really a position.
This isn't committee work. I know that's sacrilege. But committees are where we go to get consensus, where we sand down the rough edges, and where otherwise brilliant people do their least inspiring work. Instead, let the most outrageous thinker in your organization take a swing at the statements and then bring them to everybody else.
