If I Read One More Platitude-Filled Mission Statement, I'll Scream - Greg McKeown

Such vague, inflated mission statements may still be considered “best practice” in some quarters, but in many cases they do not achieve what they were intended to achieve: to inspire their employees with a clear sense of purpose.

It takes asking tough questions, making real trade-offs, and exercising serious discipline to cut out the competing priorities that distract us from our true intention. Yet it is worth the effort because only with real clarity of purpose can people, teams, and organisations fully mobilise and achieve something truly excellent.

Clarity of mission is a powerful cornerstone of success. Knowing what you want gives direction to your life—every word, every action, every association, can be accurately chosen and harnessed to precipitate your desired outcome.

A good mission and values statement should be specific and rigorous enough so that some competent players will feel a strong alignment, while others will understand that the company just isn’t a good fit. You may lose people who do not feel strong alignment with your company or group, but you want to lose those people—this allows you to build much

clarity of purpose so consistently predicts how people do their jobs.

When there is a serious lack of clarity about what the team stands for and what their goals and roles are, people experience confusion, stress, and frustration. When there is a high level of clarity, on the other hand, people thrive.

when there was a high level of clarity of purpose, the team and the people in it overwhelmingly thrived.

A powerful essential intent inspires people partially because it is concrete enough to answer the question, “How will we know when we have succeeded?”