How to stop good mission statements from going bad
To articulate an organisation’s “why” you may need to distil pages and pages of research into a single pithy, compelling statement. If that statement is to be authentic, true and memorable, every word has to work hard.
So unveiling a newly crafted statement to the exec team is a nerve-wracking business.
Scrutiny is good. The temptation to tinker? Less so.
So before we share a new purpose statement with an exec team, we always prepare the way by showing them this painfully funny video: How to write a mission statement that doesn’t suck.
In it, Dan Heath shows how good mission statements go bad, thanks to the “helpful” input of stakeholders.
As the video plays, you can see the smiles of (self-)recognition on people’s faces.
The message?
We’re not here to wordsmith, but to answer the question: “Does this feel right?”
