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Build Your Road to Success with Mission and Vision Statements

What are Mission and Vision Statements?

There is a lot of talk in the business world about mission and vision statements, but there's not a lot of clarity on exactly what they are. In simple terms, a Mission Statement declares why your business or organization exists. It defines the business you are in by identifying, in terms of the present, the market place and the products and services you offer. An example mission for a large health care company - why they exist:

"To market health care products with demonstrable health benefit to the customer, to be the leader in each product line, to return a fair profit to our stockholders, and to provide good opportunities to our employees."

In contrast, a Vision Statement describes a preferred future. The Vision Statement identifies attributes of what you would like your business or organization to become. An example vision for this large health care company - what they want to become:

"To be America's largest and most respected health care products company."

Why are they important?

First of all, it's a competitive business world. If you want to succeed, you have to plan for it. Without knowing where you currently stand and what you want to achieve, you are at a disadvantage. Secondly, the business world, and the very nature of work itself, is changing at an ever-increasing pace. It is a statistical fact that the most successful businesses are "visionary" businesses - those that position themselves to respond to the changing marketplace.

How do Mission and Vision Statements apply to me and my organization?

As an individual, you must understand your role and responsibilities in order to succeed. Nothing will help you define your role and responsibilities better than well-crafted Mission and Vision Statements that clearly say what you do and what you are planning to achieve.

The most important role of leadership is to define direction. It is a leader's responsibility to develop a vision that serves as the heart of any size organization. To be truly effective, every tier or level below the top should create a vision that is a derivative of the top vision yet serves as a vision for the organizational unit or group involved.

Create your Mission and Vision Statements today and begin your road to success.

Don Midgett, Author

Mission and Vision Statements: Your Path to a Successful Business Future 81 pages, is available in digital format (pdf) at http://www.missionvisionstatement.com

Don Midgett is the managing partner for the GenesisGroup, helping organizations and leaders discover their full potential. Don specializes in workshops on mission and vision, strategic planning, and team building.

To schedule an interview with Don, email him at don.midgett@missionvisionstatement.com or call 805-746-3161.