Mission statements that work: practical tools for real decisions

In my last post, I talked about the importance of knowing your ‘why’ - the purpose that anchors your business and gives it direction. But there’s another tool that sits right alongside purpose, and it’s often misunderstood or underused: the mission statement.

I’m not referring to the paragraph buried in the company website or investor pitch deck. I’m talking about something short, sharp, and actually usable that guides decisions when things get complicated.

In this post, I want to talk about what a mission statement should, and could be and why most fall short, and how the best ones act as a practical instruction, not just a philosophical vision.

Do you have a usable mission statement?

Most mission statements are too long, too vague, and too forgettable. And even if they are not, many still rarely help teams make actual decisions. 

You’ve probably seen one of these:

“We strive to be the leading provider of innovative, customer-centric solutions that empower stakeholders and drive transformation.”

It may sound important, it might have taken months to approve, but could you use it to prioritise a product feature? Could a new hire remember it, let alone act on it?

Ask anyone in your team what the company mission is. Can they remember it? And more importantly, does it help them make decisions?

If the answer is no, then you need to create one that will.

Mission, motto, or operating principle?

Whether you want to call it a mission statement, motto, mantra, battlecry or operating principle, it should be some combination of words you all agree fits with the company’s strategic direction and help your team know what matters.

If you can’t sit in a room, point to it, and say ‘this tells us what to do’, it’s not clear enough.

What a mission statement should be

A useful mission statement should be a decision-making tool - usable in guiding trade-offs, focusing discussions, and helping to align teams.

Decide on something that will help you say yes to some things, and no to others. And if it doesn’t help you prioritise, it’s not helping at all.

In the best teams I’ve worked with, the mission is something people say out loud in meetings. Something that actively shapes decisions.

Here are a few examples I’ve seen or admired that do just that.

Examples of missions that work

"Kill Kodak" – Fuji

One of my favourite textbook examples. At one point in Fuji’s history, the mission was brutally clear: Kill Kodak, their main competitor.

Every team, every decision, every project could be weighed against that principle: will this help us take market share from Kodak? If yes, proceed. If no, deprioritise.

It easily creates urgency, clarity, and alignment with just two words.

"Be the first" – Project-level clarity

On a project I worked on, the sponsor gave us a guiding principle: Be the first. It was unofficial for the company, but it was perfect for the year-long project we were challenged with.

With multiple moving parts and cross-functional teams, this phrase grounded every discussion. Will this help us launch before the competition? If yes, go for it. If not, it can wait for phase two.

It meant we didn’t try to be perfect, we tried to be first. And that focus brought clarity to everyone and every decision involved.

"Right first time" – Quality above all

In one company, where accuracy and integrity were paramount to customer trust, the guiding phrase was: Right first time.

It meant we slowed down where needed, prioritised quality, and avoided shortcuts. If something wasn’t right, it didn’t ship. It wasn’t just about avoiding potential disruption to the customer, it was also about preserving brand reputation.'

Again, the mission was a reference point: not a line on a website, but a standard everyone around the table understood.

Why these work

All of these examples share three qualities:

• They are memorable

• They are actionable

• They provide a standard for decision-making

  
  

They also create team cohesion. Whether it’s a shared goal (be the first), a shared standard (right first time), or a common enemy (kill Kodak), they unify people, despite their different roles and priorities, around a single principle.

Using this to improve your mission statement

A recent conversation with someone brought up an interesting example. Their team had adopted Strive for excellence as a mission, but we both felt it was too vague to be useful.

Both 'excellence' are not defined here and both can vary in their interpretations depending on the person, the context, or the timeline. .

We tweaked it into something we thought was more useful: Iterate for excellence.

That slight change makes it actionable. It acknowledges that if they can't be excellent today, they can still take a decision now that brings them one step closer. ‘Iteration’ also means being able to tackle the small things, as long as the direction is towards excellence.

There is also less personal feeling about whether everyone in the team is ‘striving’ or not. Instead it keeps it more objective as to whether they are making steps towards the end goal. I would of course remind the company to define ‘excellence’ so they know when they have got there…but, at this point, it doesn’t invalidate the motto.

A word of caution: two missions

I’ve seen cases where a company has a published mission - something aspirational, inclusive, values-driven - and then an actual internal operating principle that is entirely different. People join companies based on what they see and hear during recruitment. If they connect with the stated values, only to find that day-to-day decisions are guided by something completely different, that disconnect causes confusion, disengagement, and ultimately turnover.

It’s fine to have internal mottos or team-level principles, but they should always support the broader mission, not contradict it.

I would also caution against team mottos that encourage internal competition. Whilst it’s good to have a common mission to go after market share or a market competitor, it can be divisive for the company if  teams are focused on actions internally instead of focusing the strategic direction of the company.

Final thought

Your mission doesn’t have to be poetic or visionary. But it does need to be useful.

Give your team something they can remember, repeat, and rely on. Something they can turn to on Monday morning to help prioritise their to-do list, something to help them make a decision when the roadmap gets messy or the deadline gets tight. Something they can point to and say:

‘This is how we decide what to do next.’