Here’s an interesting challenge for you: write your mission statement in eight words or less.
A mission statement can sometimes be long and elaborate – but that won’t help people to remember or engage with it.
Can you remember yours? Allegedly, Peter Drucker's test of a good mission statement was: “Does it fit on a T-shirt?”
Kevin Starr, Executive Director of the Mulago Foundation, advocates using the format: ‘verb, target, outcome’. Your mission statement should say what you're doing, to/for whom, and its aim (e.g. "Save endangered species from extinction" or "Improve the health of African children"). Mulago channels investments to socially-minded businesses and uses the eight-word challenge as a way of testing enterprises and identifying those for investment.
Your mission statement should be your guiding light and should spell out your motivation for being in business. It should focus on what you do and how and why you do it (whereas your vision focuses on what it will look like when you get there). So – answers on a postcard (or a T-shirt), please…