Personal Mission Statement
Why would I have a personal mission statement? I’ve had mission statements in business for the last fifteen years at several different companies and they’ve, for the most part, been effective in at least communicating the direction that the brass want the rank-and-file to go in. I have an undergraduate degree in business, an MBA , and I am very well read in management theory including Drucker, Demming, Peters, Maxwell, Covey, etc... I have a very high degree of respect for these people and, for that matter, many of my friends who have put together awesome personal mission statements. Rather than a mission statement, I have a mission explanation.
In a business setting having the organization’s vision, mission, values and goals codified is an effective tool, if done correctly, not only to communicate a set of coherent principles for the employees to follow, but as a trail of discovery for management to identify what they really value as individuals and as an organization. The mission statement should be used by employees to make sure they keep in line with the direction that the company is going and make the direction of the employees more coherent so that there are fewer divergent goals across the company. As stated before, I know people who have awesome mission statements that are very noble and effective, which they continually tweak to refine here and there, and I admire them for the effort that they put into these works of art, but as you may have figured out by now I don’t necessarily agree with it.
Cutting through to the heart of the matter, the purpose of any mission statement is to serve as a reminder to keep you from getting off track. I agree with periodic self-examination, which is essentially the early processes necessary in establishing a mission statement, but the further codification becomes an enforcement document to identify where buy-in hasn’t been obtained. This isn’t in itself bad. The question that I have is why do you need an enforcement document against yourself? What part of your personal mission statement do you not buy into that you need a stick to flog yourself with? How many arguments have you developed for me so far? Is it, “This guy doesn’t understand Covey [or Drucker, etc..]...” or, “But my objectives are Godly {or noble, etc..]”? Please read on.
Do I have a personal mission? Yes. It’s not codified because it’s not something that I’m imposing on myself, it is my life. What is my life? I have been thoroughly blessed by God in every area that I can think of. He blessed me with a relationship with my wife that was against all odds and approaching twenty years of marriage we still like each other and still do the horizontal mambo more than many newlyweds. God blessed us both with a son in 1989 who is happy, ambitious, generous, smart, a Boy Scout, loves God, respects his parents even though he doesn’t always agree with them, he’s into nature & wildlife conservation, and loves his little sister. We were blessed with a daughter in 2002 who is all smiles and has stolen everyone’s hearts. God has blessed me financially and professionally. My cup runneth over. The number one priority that God has given me is raising an effective family whose next generation can contribute to mankind to a greater degree than this generation. I mentor youths periodically, serve as a role model, and strive to be there for friends, family and associates when they have needs. Anything apart from these is superfluous. All of the activities I do are in support of these purposes. This isn’t through focus on the objective; it is my life – which I have fully bought into. So I’ll rephrase the question to you: What are you trying to force yourself to do without allowing to become a part of you?
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