How can we expect anyone to be excited about our mission when we aren’t? You can’t.
Sadly, the missions of many businesses are blather. Take General Motors, whose mission was as, “a multinational corporation engaged in socially responsible operations, worldwide. It is dedicated to provide products and services of such quality that our customers will receive superior value while our employees and business partners will share in our success and our stockholders will receive a sustained superior return on their investment.”
Never mind that G.M. failed to mention cars and trucks in its mission, who could possibly argue that a company should be socially irresponsible, make crappy products, or deliver inferior returns to its investors? These are ‘table stakes’ in business, not differentiators. With GM having gone bankrupt, we now know that it couldn’t even keep up with the basics.
Organizations are better off having narrower missions that communicate choice. Customers choose to buy from you, employees choose to work for you, dealers choose to sell for you, and shareholders choose to invest with you. If you can’t communicate your choice of direction, then it is unrealistic to believe that your stakeholders will enthusiastically join you in its pursuit.