Please allow me to apologize for my ignorance. Based on the feedback in this forum, I am obviously confused on the deffinition of a "Mission Statement" or it's purpose. I have been of the opinion that a mission statement was something very significant, in fact it's the parameters by which I choose to live my life, (or run my company). I have my own personal "Mission Statement" that has less to do with making money, or what I expect others to do for me, and everything to do with trying to make every passing day better than the last. My promise to be faithfull to my wife, to treat my kids with dignity and respect, to live a life style of nutrition, health and fitness and to make a difference in the lives of the people whom I've had the privilege to meet and have relationship with is not some thing I ever considered as "PR Twiddle" I recognize the fact the most people don't know which direction to take when they approach a fork in the road, and that most may not believe anything they do can or will make a difference. For these sad folks, I would refer to the story of the boy who goes down to the beach in the early morning after a big storm the night before, there he finds thousands of starfish washed up on the sand. He could see, as the morning sun was beginning to gain power, that the starfish were starting to bake and die in the sun. With that he starts grabbing washed up starfish and throwing them back into the sea. A short time later a man came jogging down the beach with his dog. Puzzeld by the young boys activities, he says "What are you doing?" the boy replies, 'I'm throwing these starfish back into the sea" The man with the dog says... "Why?" and the boys says, because they are dying in the sun. Then the man says, "I mean why bother?, we've been jogging on the beach for a mile or so and there must be millions of starfish washed up, as far as the eye can see". The boy says, "whats your point?" and the man says what makes you think you can possibley make a difference? With that the boy picked up another starfish, through it back into the water, looked at the man and said "I made a difference to that one".........The man joined in and soon everyone on the beach were throwing the starfish back in....We can all make a difference, I just choose to write things down to keep me on track. As I said, I'm sorry for confusing this with a "Mission Statement". For anyone wishing to learn about mission statements, the book "Full Steam Ahead" is an excellent resource.
I don't think you are confused at all. I think you have expressed a mission statement perfectly. This is what we are supposed to do, individually and in our companies. A few of us do, Unfortunately, many others have been knocked down often enough, they don't keep trying. I used to post a sign with that starfish story on the walls of companies I work for, to motivate them to keep trying.
I hope others keep trying.
