5. Using the Mission Statement

We made an observation early on. It wasn’t a life changing experience but it was part of many of our conversations. We noted that the Mission Statement is rarely involved in decision-making. Once a few bright MBAs put a Mission Statement together, it goes somewhere to die. It just isn’t involved in the daily routine.

So we wondered why? Why is so much time spent on developing a “Mission Statement” and it isn’t actively used in running the business? It is almost as if it were part of a checklist for executives. It is the third thing on the list every CEO must do: Do we have a Mission Statement? If so, “go to the next item. If not, make one.”

We actually thought that many of the Mission Statements that we had seen were pretty good. They weren’t perfect but they were good starting points. So why weren’t they used to guide business decisions. They could somehow be part of a touchstone that related a decision to the Mission of the company. Enjoy. Len