14 Developing Vision and Mission Statements
Vision and mission statements define the purpose and the role of your product or service in solving the customer pain point in one concise paragraph. I think this sentence would flow better if it began like this: In one concise paragraph,…. The closer you can get it to “define” the better. Vision and mission statements serve similar roles but provide different outcomes:
- The mission statement focuses on what your product or service solves today.
- The vision statement looks at what your product or service is capable of solving in the future. It helps address the ever-evolving marketplace based on changes in customer behavior, demographics, psychographics, social changes in attitude, new technologies, and new services.
What is critical here is that what we do today may have no bearing on product consideration or profitability in the future.
Consider Kodak, once the leader in film photography and the inventor of digital picture technology. Its mission statement probably never moved away from delivering the best experience in film photography. On the other hand, Fuji, a major film competitor to Kodak, decided that they could not stay in the film business and survive, nor could they move into digital photography. Instead, their mission evolved to this:
“We will use leading-edge, proprietary technologies to provide top-quality products and services that contribute to the advancement of culture, science, technology, and industry, as well as improved health and environmental protection in society. Our overarching aim is to help enhance the quality of life of people worldwide.”
No longer would Fuji be focused on just creating excellent film for photographers. Their mission became a leading-edge provider of technology to enhance the qualify of life of people. Their mission was to become… Or Their mission was to be OR Their mission changed or adapted….
Today Fuji survives, and Kodak is out of business.
Listen to the following PPT on Mission Statements and then create your own using the Mission Statement Worksheet:
For a detailed discussion on developing vision and mission statements, read this detailed text from Purdue University. Developed for farm businesses, the methodology it outlines is suitable for all businesses, products, and services:
