There’s a tonnage of information online about the magic
of writing a mission statement. For example, in the
Hollywood film Jerry Maguire, career and business insights
are realized as Maguire struggles
to define his life-changing document.
For an aspiring entrepreneur, a good mission statement
is like a road map or blueprint for achieving goals and dreams.
But crafting an effective mission statement is often a challenging task..
An argument could be made that despite
the useful tips on the topic there is also
a lack of specific instruction
thereby adding to the confusion.
So a simple question may have no easy answer…
How long should a mission statement be?
Three sentences? Four sentences?
A concise paragraph?
Or something similar to Jerry Maguire’s
inspirational end product?
Unless a business teacher, coach,
or expert advises one-on-one, finding the right answer
readily is time=consuming.
Using big business as a source of inspiration won’t work
because experts admit that mission statements for many famous companies
are lacking key elements for an effective statement. For instance, what Starbucks
is selling isn’t apparent in their mission statement.
According to NEBA Works Dir. Colleen Moynihan, many businesses have mission statements that do not meet the requirements of an effective mission statement.
A mission statement is one (1) sentence long. It contains the name of the business, what the business does, who the client/customer is and may/may not include geographic region of operation. Moynihan notes one company that got the mission statement concept right: Biy Y Supermarket
http://www.bigy.com/AboutUs
Someone should tell Jerry…
References
Neba Works.com
Facebook.com
Richard Branson on crafting a mission statement
http://tinyurl.com/jy5vea3
Fast Company.com
How to Write a Mission Statement That Isn’t Dumb
http://tinyurl.com/zarjvbv
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