It's useless to row harder if you're rowing in the wrong direction
Japanese proverb
On the asked question about the company's mission only a few entrepreneurs without effort, tension and doubt could have quickly and openly formulated the main direction the company's heading.
Some of them were trying to define a mission on the go shifting between various interpretations.
The others just said nothing.
Unfortunately, even those who responded quickly describing the mission, among them were many entrepreneurs who considered the company's mission mainly intended to help for making a profit. Profit is, no doubt, important. But mission, friends, it's something more than that.
Your company was founded on more than just anticipating incoming profits. It was founded because, as an entrepreneur, there are things in life that you value — and you want your company and your products to bring those values to others and help enrich their lives.
The mission is the basic idea of the company's existence, the way it serves society brings joy and benefit to people. And society does not care what the company's profit is. They are interested in the product the company provides. Thus, to announce the company's mission statement is just about the bottom line it is at least foolish to say.
Why do many entrepreneurs with enviable tenacity pursue applying such an answer?
There is a misconception in society that the main reason for starting a company is solely the desire to earn more money.
Once during a seminar, when I had the courage to say that to generate revenue is not the only purpose of the company, all of a sudden one of my attendees get outraged. To refute my statement, she immediately googled in "Wikipedia" and read out loud the definition with apparent satisfaction:
"A commercial organization is a legal entity that extracts (receiving) profits as the main purpose of its activities".
And she stared at me with the look of a winner.
Even though, everybody, who'd have given themselves time to study the topic comprehensively, in the same Wikipedia source will find a following definition:
The mission is a clear reason for the company's existence. Goals are being developed for this mission".
Even if considering the fact that your main source of information about the world is Wikipedia, it's worth to examine the information of this source more comprehensive.
But people stumbling upon something that fits their current beliefs tend to easily ignore everything around.
So what is this mysterious mission? How to get closer to the real understanding of this, not just the wording of the mission, what is called, for a tick?
Now many are talking about the mission. It's fashionable - like a selfie. You're kind of like supposed to appear to be on-trend, and shall sketch something about the mission to appear amazing. But unfortunately often there is no deep meaning beyond this, and accordingly, no conscious mission.
To understand better about mission I'd like to restore conversation about the money.
Money is just a tool. They are neutral in themselves. Money is one of the resources that give us an opportunity to realize ourselves for bigger goal. I have rethought a lot in my life and learned to consider many things differently, including those related to business and making money.
The company's profit is like the air we breathe. To focus only on profit is like saying, "We live to breathe." We don't live to breathe, though. We breathe to live.
Now we've got to answer the "simple" question - WHY do we live? Many people can unequivocally answer this question. However, you would agree, no one is going to answer - I live to breathe.
Another "simple question" which every person should figure out. What is our personal purpose? Why am I here?
In order to come up with the company's the mission, we need to set our own mission. A business is one of the tools to realize ourselves and reveal our potential in this world.
Profit itself, like I mentioned, is not the main goal. It is just an outcome for the existence and development of business. Although profit is not a goal in itself, it doesn't mean that it's not important and could be left without proper attention. No profit - "air" - the company will end up "suffocating".
Imagine you want to run a long marathon. The longer you are willing to run the better you have to pay attention to breathing, and if the breath will let you down, you'll just not reach the finish line - Not capable to realize your mission.
Wait a minute. Why would I even run a marathon? Maybe a sprint? Or better to swim? I heard the guy next doors swims well - now he's a champion. Maybe should I go for swimming, shouldn't I? Or would I rather dance? My classmate did a great job - set up a dance team and became a world celebrity. Why wouldn't I dance? Maybe singing? Or still a marathon?
Such an internal chaos, when you can't decide in which direction to go, shows that your company, and most likely you in person, as its owner and leader doesn't live through the mission.
And chaos in thoughts, friends, leads to chaos in actions.
The Adizes describes the actions of entrepreneurs who don't keep up on track and ultimately end up in the trap.
He says that "a Go-Go organization is a company that has a successful product or service, rapidly growing sales and strong cash flow. The company is not only surviving, it's flourishing. But there is also a down side.
Go-Go's are prone to rapid diversification and spreading themselves too thin. They begin to "dive" into all possible places of earnings, invest everywhere, where see a temptation to win the big jackpot promptly. They have so many irons in the fire they cannot give the necessary attention to each one. They make decisions and commitments they should never have made, and they get involved in ventures that they know very little about. Go-Go's inevitably get burned and lose money sooner or later if they will not get back on the initial track they build the company for".
Of course, it is necessary to diversify funds, but it has to be done without a going beyond the scope of company's mission.
Mission is not just a words that sounds nice and motivating, furthermore, this is not a picture of future the company should desirably look in a certain time, like, "To create a better every day life for the many people" /IKEA/, is a vision, not a mission. Please don't confuse this.
The mission sets the course in which direction the owner and his company heading to. Mission is like a beacon that shows the way by helping to navigate your ship, not to get lost in the ocean and at the end go aground. There are moments in business when our temptation takes over the mind, and we begin to wander in the darkness, trying to invest in a variety of tempting projects we know nothing about. Thanks to the lighthouse, we always are able to find the way back to the true course we've established at the beginning of the journey.
The company's mission is the meaning of its existence. This is a matter to which you personally are committed. It is consistent with your values, beliefs, and principles of your perception of the world. The mission in the company reflects your purpose which you, as a leader, want to realize in society.
An important function of the mission is to create a true idea of the meaning of your company's existence in the eyes of employees and its customers. Therefore, it is important not only to understand the mission but also to formulate it correctly. If you present it confusingly, both employees and customers won't get the point of what exactly is meant by that. A well-described mission will help entrepreneurs, employees, and customers to remember it entire the time and find the points of intersection in their souls.
Formulate your mission in such a way it's easily and unambiguously understandable, so that any client or employee who gets to know your company, is able to describe the mission on their own words without distorting the main meaning.
If the wording of the company's mission doesn't make any sense, then probably the company doesn't know where it is going.
If the employees do not properly understand how their work in the company can be beneficial for society and self-realization, it's likely they'll not be eager to work for the company.
Actions that are not bound up with goals are a waste of time.
Goals that are not relevant to the mission - it's a way to nowhere.
Now the question to you:
Where are you leading your company? Why are you going there?
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