Missions and Mission Statements

A mission guides a person or an organization in the direction that it wishes to proceed. A personal mission statement can help focus one's goals and life. A mission is generally best articulated in a formal, written mission statement. An organization's mission statement is designed as a broadly phrased statement of the firm's long-term goals; it distinguishes the firm from others in its industry and specifies the scope of the operations in terms of the firm's product or market. It spells out goals, is a statement of aspirations, and focuses one's actions. The mission expresses the vision of the firm's founders or strategic planners and also communicates the image that they seek to project. It often also indicates the principal customer or client needs that ...