Create the future - build a better plan.

"We seek not to imitate the masters; rather we seek what they sought."

The Walt Disney Company

SO... What is your mission in life? In business? What is your better plan?

When you walk into many companies, you'll see well intentioned mission or vision statements on their walls espousing the "value of teamwork", their "employees are their most valuable assets", and a "commitment to their customers". All great sounding phrases or sentiments.

Unfortunately, for too many, they are simply posters on the wall and not embedded commitments in the hearts and minds of their leaders and employees. In fact, if you ask many of their employees to share their company mission statement, you'll find confusion and halfhearted attempts to remember and restate them.

There are some misconceptions and misuse around these two statements. "Vision" implies how you see yourself, and "Mission" implies a commitment to action. Both are important!

How you "see" yourself (yourself or your organizational image) will impact how you act or interconnect with your co-workers or clients. It also impacts how confidently you take action in your marketplace. Your commitment to act will set you apart from your competition. It will also focus your energies in better serving your customers and build long-term, more mutually profitable relationships.

Mission statements are important - when they work! (they are a value added part of the creative process)

• They work when they provide a visual reminder of what the leadership and the whole team is committed to creating.
• They work when they are embedded in the minds and hearts of the team.
• They work when they are modeled in the lifestyles and interactions with both internal and external customers.
• They work when they are taken off the posters and planted in the minds and hearts of all who come in contact with you.
• They work when they are in-line with your core values and when you have generated buy-in with your team in making them work in the real world.

Your purpose for 'being' and for 'growing' your career or business is encapsulated in their brevity. They can be formal or informal, but they need to be real. They need to be relevant.

You may also have statements for different aspects of your career or business. For example Toyota Motor Corporation (the world's greatest manufacturer) has one to underscore their commitment to taking responsibility for their own successes and failures. "We strive to decide our own fate. We act with self-reliance, trusting in our own abilities. We accept responsibility for our conduct and for maintaining and improving the skills that enable us to produce added value." (Toyota Way 2001)

Successful companies seek to better themselves and to learn from other successful companies, as stated above by The Walt Disney Company. They leverage their creative powers by engaging the creative minds of their respective teams.

(c) 2006 Bob 'Idea Man' Hooey

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