Increased motivation, engagement, loyalty, and performance—these are all qualities leaders are tasked with inspiring, boosting, and maintaining within their companies. Yet, many businesses underperform and wind up failing. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, less than 50% of startups survive through their fifth year. There’s reason to believe that one of the issues standing in their way is the lack of a clear, well-defined mission statement, which is needed to guide a company and its people.
Research done by McKinsey & Company and the University of Minnesota found that companies with a clear and concise mission statement are more likely to outperform their competitors. Similarly, Harvard Business Review reports that companies with a clearly defined and communicated mission statement have higher levels of employee engagement and loyalty. Additionally, 63% of employees at companies with solid mission statements report being motivated, versus 31% at other companies.
Every business and organization should have a well-crafted mission statement, considering it answers the question, “What do we do?” When you have a great mission statement that leads your organization, it serves as a guiding light that:
- Clarifies the business’s purpose and goals.
- Allows employees to understand how their work contributes to the organization’s success.
- Helps customers, investors, and other stakeholders understand what the company does.
- Describes why the company exists.
- Explains how the business is different from competitors.
In this article, learn how companies and entrepreneurs can develop mission statements that effectively guide their organizations and teams so they can increase their impact and success.
Key Takeaways
- A mission statement communicates an organization’s core values, defines its target audience, and outlines its primary products, services, and activities.
- Crafting one is an important step for shaping organizational identity and business culture and for guiding strategic decision-making.
- A business’s mission statement should first be established when the organization is founded or undergoes a significant change in its purpose or direction.
- It can then be updated as needed and treated like a “living document.”
- In order to be most useful, a mission statement should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART).
- The best mission statements are concise, clear, realistic, easy to understand, and aligned with the organization’s overall strategy and objectives.
What Is a Mission Statement? Purpose and Benefits
“A mission statement defines what an organization is, why it exists, its reason for being.”
Peter Drucker
A mission statement is a concise statement that describes the fundamental purpose and values of an organization. A company’s mission statement provides a clear, compelling, and memorable description of the reason for the business’s existence, as well as its objectives. Additionally, it aligns employees’ actions and behaviors with the company’s goals. It can also differentiate the organization from its competitors to build a strong brand identity. In other words, it explains why a customer should buy or work with a specific company over others that are similar.
A well-crafted mission statement should answer several important questions about an organization, such as:
- What does the organization do?
- Who does it serve?
- How does it serve them?
- What are the organization’s core values and principles?
- What makes this company unique and valuable?
- What is the organization’s vision for the future?
How to Write a Mission Statement
“A mission statement should be a living, breathing thing that everyone in your organization can embody and strive towards.”
SIMON SINEK
Crafting a powerful mission statement into a concise message starts by answering a few basic questions: “Who?” “What?” “Why?” “How?”
A mission statement should be concise and easy to understand yet comprehensive enough to capture the essence of the organization’s purpose and goals. It should also be aligned with the organization’s overall strategy and key objectives.
Elements to Include in a Mission Statement
- What problem is being solved: The mission statement should clearly state the organization’s purpose, offerings, products, and the problems it’s trying to solve for its customers.
- Values: It should reflect the organization’s core values and principles.
- Customers/target audience: It should identify the target audience or customers that the organization serves.
- Unique selling proposition: The mission statement should explain what sets the organization apart from its competitors.
- Goals/objectives: It should outline the organization’s goals and objectives, which should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART).
- Culture: The mission statement should reflect the corporate culture (the shared values and beliefs that exist within a business) and the personality of the organization.
- Vision: It should express the organization’s vision for the future.
Important
Keeping in mind that mission statements should be concise (typically 40 words or less), you don’t necessarily have to address every element mentioned above in your statement. Overall, try to touch upon at least 2–3 of the points, especially those most important to the company’s goals.
21 Examples of the Best Mission Statements
To understand the components that make up a good mission statement, it helps to look at some examples from companies that do it right. Below are 21 mission statement examples taken from various companies and organizations:
1. Google: “To organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.”
Why it’s good: It identifies the service provided, its unique offerings, and is concise.
2. Amazon: “To be Earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online.”
Why it’s good: It states the unique services provided, mentions the target audience, and explains how it operates.
3. Starbucks: “To inspire and nurture the human spirit—one person, one cup, and one neighborhood at a time.”
Why it’s good: It’s unique, memorable, enduring, and inclusive.
4. Nike: “To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete* in the world. (*If you have a body, you are an athlete.)”
Why it’s good: It inspires, mentions the target audience, and is motivational and memorable.
5. Disney: “To entertain, inform, and inspire people around the globe through the power of unparalleled storytelling, reflecting the iconic brands, creative minds, and innovative technologies that make ours the world’s premier entertainment company.”
Why it’s good: It’s specific, explains the products and services offered, addresses the target audience, and differentiates the brand.
6. Walmart: “To save people money so they can live better.”
Why it’s good: It’s to the point, clear, and understandable.
7. LinkedIn: “To connect the world’s professionals to make them more productive and successful.”
Why it’s good: It’s clear, states the main objectives, and addresses the audience.
8. FedEx: “To enable global commerce through our extensive portfolio of e-commerce, transportation, and business solutions.”
Why it’s good: It’s specific, clear, and states the services offered.
9. IBM: “To be essential to our clients’ success by providing world-class solutions and services that leverage industry and business process expertise, and our global scale, while demonstrating a commitment to sustainability.”
Why it’s good: It’s specific, it mentions the target audience, and it differentiates the company from other brands.
10. Airbnb: “To create a world where anyone can belong anywhere.”
Why it’s good: It’s unique, memorable, enduring, and inclusive.
11. Tesla: “To accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.”
Why it’s good: It’s to the point, clear, and understandable.
12. Ford: “To drive human progress through freedom of movement.”
Why it’s good: It’s concise, it explains key objectives, and it’s motivating and enduring.
13. Etsy: “To keep commerce human, and we’re committed to using the power of business to strengthen communities and empower people.”
Why it’s good: It explains the service provided, mentions the audience, and is enduring.
14. Procter & Gamble: “To provide branded products and services of superior quality and value that improve the lives of the world’s consumers, now and for generations to come.”
Why it’s good: It’s rooted in the company’s values, it’s enduring, and it elevates the brand.
15. The New York Times: “To enhance society by creating, collecting, and distributing high-quality news and information.”
Why it’s good: It’s specific, clear, action-oriented, and timeless.
16. The American Red Cross: “To prevent and alleviate human suffering in the face of emergencies by mobilizing the power of volunteers and the generosity of donors.”
Why it’s good: It states the objectives, mentions the target audience, and is rooted in the organization’s values.
17. Teach for America: “To enlist, develop, and mobilize as many as possible of our nation’s most promising future leaders to grow and strengthen the movement for educational equity and excellence.”
Why it’s good: It’s clear, understandable, motivating, and enduring.
18. Amnesty International: “To conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated.”
Why it’s good: It’s specific, action-oriented, rooted in core values, and understandable.
19. The Nature Conservancy: “To conserve the lands and waters on which all life depends.”
Why it’s good: It’s concise, action-oriented, and rooted in core values.
20. The World Wildlife Fund: “To conserve nature and reduce the most pressing threats to the diversity of life on Earth.”
Why it’s good: It’s specific, action-oriented, rooted in core values, and understandable.
21. Doctors Without Borders: “To provide independent, impartial assistance to those in need, irrespective of race, religion, gender, or political affiliation.”
Why it’s good: It’s rooted in core values, explains the target audience, and is memorable and timeless.
Mission Statement vs. Vision Statement
“Your mission statement becomes your constitution, the solid expression of your vision and values. It becomes the criterion by which you measure everything else in your life.”
Stephen Covey
A mission statement describes what an organization currently does, while a vision statement describes where it wants to go in the future. Both are important for setting the direction of an organization, but they serve different purposes.
Here’s the main difference between the two:
- A mission statement outlines an organization’s purpose and objectives. It is typically short, concise, and focused on the present, with the goal of explaining what a company currently does.
- A vision statement, on the other hand, is a statement of an organization’s aspirations for the future. It is typically more inspirational than a mission statement and sometimes longer, although studies suggest that successful companies usually have overall concise vision statements. The vision statement answers the question, “Where do we want to be?” It also outlines the organization’s long-term goals, its desired future state, and its ideal outcomes.
Example
Here is an example of a mission statement vs. vision statement from the same company:
- Mission: “To provide energy solutions that reduce the world’s carbon footprint.”
- Vision: “Our vision is to be the world’s leading provider of sustainable energy solutions, empowering individuals and businesses to reduce their carbon footprint and create a cleaner, more sustainable future for all.”
Mission Statement FAQs
How can you write an effective mission statement?
A mission statement should be concise and focused. Get to the point explaining what your company offers, for who, and why. Focus on doing this in just 1–2 sentences, if possible, while also including what makes your company unique.
What makes a mission statement bad?
Avoid certain things when writing a mission statement, such as making it far too long, unrealistic, or unrelated to your company’s values. You don’t want to include information that is irrelevant to the organization’s purpose and values, or that’s too misleading.
Keep these tips in mind when writing a mission statement:
- Specific financial goals or performance targets, which should be included in the organization’s strategic plan and financial projections instead.
- Technical details, jargon, or specific industry terms that may be difficult for non-experts to understand.
- Generic or cliched language that is overused or doesn’t convey a clear sense of the organization’s purpose.
- Buzzwords or words that are open to interpretation.
- Superfluous information that’s not relevant, such as the company’s history, its founders, or its location.
- Promotional language that is too self-aggrandizing.
When determining the difference between a bad and good mission statement, ask yourself:
- Could someone easily recite this back?
- How will the target audience respond?
- Does this statement inspire or elicit a positive emotional response?
- Are the company goals and core values clearly expressed?
- Is this mission realistically achievable?
Can a mission statement change?
Yes, they can. While you don’t want to constantly change your mission statement, it’s acceptable and even expected for it to change as the business grows, develops, and has new needs and goals.
A company may also need to revise or update its mission statement over time to reflect changes in the market, customer needs, or the company’s goals and objectives. For example, if a company expands into new markets or introduces new products or services, its mission statement may need to be updated to reflect these changes.
It is also important to note that a mission statement is not a one-time task, but an ongoing process. A company should regularly review its mission statement to ensure that it still accurately reflects the company’s purpose, values, and goals, and to make updates or revisions as needed.
Overall, a good mission statement should be considered a living document that evolves with the company.
Ways to Make Your Mission Statement Stronger
A strong mission statement should be a powerful and memorable statement that concisely communicates the essence of the organization’s purpose. To help make a mission statement more actionable, keep these tips in mind:
- Get clear on your vision, values, and purpose first: These must be established so that the right information is being conveyed. To gather input, schedule a brainstorming meeting with key players on staff. Ask the team what they believe the company mission is or should be. Create a list of the messages employees convey.
- Be specific and concise: Avoid using vague or ambiguous language that doesn’t explain what the company does. Hone in on deeper meaning by answering these questions:
- What voids are being filled by the organization?
- Why is the company valuable to others?
- What collective goals does the business work together on?
- Why should customers care?
- Be memorable and authentic: Reflect on the true values of the company and not just its aspirations. Think of what makes the company different from others and include information to represent its uniqueness.
- Be relevant but timeless: A strong mission statement should be relevant to the organization’s target and also timeless and enduring. It should reflect the reason that the organization was originally founded, even if the organization evolves and changes over time.
- Communicate within the organization: Start by communicating the company mission with employees before sharing it with customers. Employees need to understand the new mission statement and any transitions being made within the organization.
- Make the statement visible: To be impactful, a mission statement needs to be visible across various brand touchpoints. This includes, but is not limited to, the company’s website, product labels, social media accounts, marketing materials, and promos for community events.
Want to learn more about crafting your personal life’s vision and mission? Check out this article: “How to Create a Vision for Your Life.”
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