Posts Tagged ‘Mission Statement’

For way too long, I was always the Martyr. Had the misplaced belief that, if I did my job with excellence, I’d be recognized for my work. Unfortunately, the world doesn’t work that way. If you’re not also tooting your own horn, the world just passes you by. Some will love you, most won’t know enough to miss you when you’re gone.

This is also one of the beauties of contemporary social media. It gives everyone who care to pick it up, a bull horn to serve their own purposes. Even today I’m probably too conservative in self-aggrandizing activity, but I’m working at it.

The article triggering the thought, originally is courtesy of Chris Guillebeau discussing what Hustling is.

Joey Roth created the artwork and I think you’ll agree, no words are needed beyond the labels.

(photo credit: Joey Roth)

Recently I came across a fellow, Simon Sinek, whose mission in life is to find, nurture, and inspire leaders.  What I came across, was his presentation at TED.  In this particular discussion, he highlights why some companies, some leaders, are so much more effective than others in building loyalty, drive, motivation.

To borrow from some of his thunder, he posits that most organizations—most people for that matter—know what they do, they know how they do it, but never even stop to think about Why they do it.

I have spoken on the topic of Why, The Power of Why!, before.  In some ways, while the focus is different, the value of asking (or being able to answer) ‘why’ is important.

The The Power of Why!, I take a look at Mr. Ohno’s drive toward asking the question Why to drive toward true understanding.  After all, we can discuss the symptomatic issues surrounding an oil pump’s failure.  But not until you drill into the matter might you find true reasoning.

And, like layers of an onion, this is the same concept Simon’s talking to.  At the end of the day, why we join hands with someone is very closely tied to why they are doing something.

What Simon is highlighting, without so directly stating it, is that to be an effective leader you must be willing to bare your soul.  If you really want people to follow you, to adopt your beliefs, to go the extra mile, you must be willing to boldly, brightly, clearly state: I believe…

In Seth’s latest book, Linchpin,  he spends a lot of time talking about maps and artists.  That being an artist means you create your own map, your own path.  And, that society is changing.  Rather than spending your life following a map someone else created, to be successful you’ll need to create your own map moving forward.

While I’ve not been an assembly line worker in a literal sense, it took me awhile (couple dozen reiterations) for what Seth was talking about to truly sink in…appreciating how much of it related to my own life.

Life was relatively easy, for a long time.  With a clear goal in front of me, I could move mountains to achieve it.  I would feel a sense of accomplishment, and life was grand.  So, for the first 3/4 of my life, this is how it worked.  Goal, after goal, after goal.  Going into the service, I bought a map out of the carousel, having chosen to go into aviation.  Once there, the Navy gave me a nice [flight] bag of additional maps to follow (exams, flight certifications, instructor certs, regular performance reviews, etc.).

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Does your company stand for anything? Do you just go to work each day to, ‘make money?’  If you don’t have an answer, why not?

The best place to find it, if there is one, is in an organization’s Mission Statement.  Too many mission statements though are simply great places to collect a bunch of fancy words used to simply obfuscate any underlying meaning. Hmm.  Obfuscate: to confuse, hide the meaning of, be ambiguous.

Google has a 10-point Philosophy.  The most famously quoted is, ‘…do no evil.’  While one might question this basic tenet, it is there, it is understood, and it can be used to help align the organization toward a common purpose.

Even if your organization has lost its way, its never too late to start on a path toward recovery. Maybe this is part of what Google’s doing today, with it’s recent stand against Chinese censorship.  Is what Google’s doing noble?  It’s an interesting question.  See what HBR has to say in, “Why Is Google Doing Government’s Job?”

It’s never too late to Pick Your Fencepost and decide whether to Focus or Flounder.

(Photo Credit: Rainer Topf)