9 Mission Vision And Values Examples

In episode 8 I gave you a high level overview of what Mission Vision and Values were. Episode 8 is essential the first step towards this on going work.

What I know for sure is that you need to come back to this again and again.

But now, we get to work things out a tiny bit more. I’ll also refer back to that which I recorded in 2017 plus updates, as of October 2020.

For a quick reference lets remember what a Mission statement is. It answers the following questions:

• What does your podcast do for your listener
• What does your podcast do for you (and your team.)
• What does your podcast do for your community (the world)

Let’s look at one of my all time favorite companies: Patagonia

When I first recorded this episode the following is what I found as their mission statement.

❝Build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis.❞

I thought that it was pretty simple, clean and on point.

That said, as I looked back to their current website (links can be found in the show notes!) I found this: https://www.patagonia.com.au/pages/our-mission

I’m going to read an excerpt. Feel free to check out the whole thing yourself:

We're In Business To Save Our Home Planet.

Our Reason For Being

At Patagonia, we appreciate that all life on earth is under threat of extinction. We aim to use the resources we have—our business, our investments, our voice and our imaginations—to do something about it.

We donate our time, services and at least 1 percent of our sales to help hundreds of grassroots organisations all over the world so that they can remain vigilant, and protect what’s irreplaceable. At the same time, we know that we risk saving a tree only to lose the forest—a livable planet. As the loss of biodiversity, arable soils, coral reefs and fresh water all accelerate, we are doing our best to address the causes, and not just symptoms, of global warming.

Staying true to our core values during forty-plus years in business has helped us create a company we're proud to run and work for. To stay in business for at least forty more, we must defend the place we all call home.

Yes. It’s a lot longer. It expanded and clarified exactly who they are and how they stand by who they say they are - less room for interpretation.

A couple of years ago, I used a fantastic blog post that was 51 mission statement examples from the worlds best companies. I’m still going to share it in the shownotes so that you can reference it. The comments on that post are amazing. Worth checking out.

http://www.alessiobresciani.com/foresight-strategy/51-mission-statement-examples-from-the-worlds-best-companies/

But in doing research now I found another website that provides awesome insight into mission, vision and values from a ton companies.

The website is called https://www.comparably.com/

I used it as the primary source in getting these statements.

What I want you to note is when you go “yes! totally!” and when you go “woah, really? um…who knew?” because then you will know whether that mission statement is translating all the way out to the world.

Let’s start with PayPal, from Alessio’s article

PayPal: “To build the Web’s most convenient, secure, cost-effective payment solution.”

From PayPal now “We believe that now is the time to reimagine money, to democratize financial services, so that managing and moving money is a right for all citizens, not just the affluent.

Tesla: “Our goal when we created Tesla a decade ago was the same as it is today: to accelerate the advent of sustainable transport by bringing compelling mass market electric cars to market as soon as possible.”

Update — “To accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable transportation and energy”

https://www.comparably.com/companies/tesla-motors/mission

Here are a couple that stayed the same!

Sony: “To be a company that inspires and fulfills your curiosity.”

MoMa: “To collect, preserve, study, exhibit, and stimulate appreciation for and advance knowledge of works of art that collectively represent the broadest spectrum of human achievement at the highest level of quality, all in the service of the public and in accordance with the highest professional standards.”

Here are others…

SEPHORA - At Sephora, we believe beauty is for each person to define and ours to celebrate. Together, we support and encourage bold choices in beauty— and in life. Our purpose is to inspire fearlessness.

Netflix - Our core strategy is to grow our streaming subscription business domestically and globally. We are continuously improving the customer experience with a focus on expanding our streaming content, enhancing our user interface and extending our streaming service to even more internet-connected devices, while staying within the parameters of our consolidated net income and operating segment contribution profit targets.

Apple - We believe that we're on the face of the earth to make great products and that's not changing. We're constantly focusing on innovating. We believe in the simple, not the complex. We believe we need to own and control the primary technologies behind the products that we make and participate only in markets where we can make a significant contribution. We believe in saying no to thousands of projects so that we can focus on the few that are meaningful to us. We believe in deep collaboration and cross pollination in order to innovate in a way others cannot. We don't settle for anything other than excellence in any group in the company, and we have the self-honesty to admit when we're wrong and the courage to change.

(If you listen to the podcast episode you will hear me editorialize a lot, especially about the ones below! Please make sure you listen to the audio episode)

Some that I question:

Facebook - “Facebook's mission is to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected. People use Facebook to stay connected with friends and family, to discover what's going on in the world, and to share and express what matters to them"

On the following, there was a change:

Twitter: “To give everyone the power to create and share ideas and information instantly, without barriers.”

NOW

Twitter - Reach the largest daily audience in the world by connecting everyone to their world via our information sharing and distribution platform products and be one of the top revenue generating Internet companies in the world.

Google - “To organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.”

VISION STATEMENTS

The following are direct examples of from a post on the website Top Non-Profits.

The numbers in parenthesis are the word count of each of the Vision statements. As you can see, they tend to be quite compact and to the point.

I didn’t use all of the Vision Statements. I posted some of the ones that spoke to me the most.

https://topnonprofits.com/examples/vision-statements/

Human Rights Campaign: Equality for everyone (3)

Alzheimer’s Association: A world without Alzheimer’s (4)

The Nature Conservancy: To leave a sustainable world for future generations. (8)

Habitat for Humanity: A world where everyone has a decent place to live. (10)

NPR, with its network of independent member stations, is America’s pre-eminent news institution (12)

Save the Children: A world in which every child attains the right to survival, protection, development, and participation. (15)

Teach for America: One day, all children in this nation will have the opportunity to attain an excellent education. (16)

Smithsonian: Shaping the future by preserving our heritage, discovering new knowledge, and sharing our resources with the world (17)

ASPCA: That the United States is a humane community in which all animals are treated with respect and kindness. (18)

Goodwill: Every person has the opportunity to achieve his/her fullest potential and participate in and contribute to all aspects of life. (21)

Kiva: We envision a world where all people – even in the most remote areas of the globe – hold the power to create opportunity for themselves and others. (26)

Special Olympics: To transform communities by inspiring people throughout the world to open their minds, accept and include people with intellectual disabilities and thereby anyone who is perceived as different. (28)

Creative Commons: Nothing less than realizing the full potential of the Internet — universal access to research and education, full participation in culture — to drive a new era of development, growth, and productivity. (30)

Here are 3 from for profits that were already mentioned.

PayPal: PayPal’s vision statement is we believe every person has the right to participate fully in the global economy. We have an obligation to empower people to exercise this right and improve financial health.

Sephora: Sephora’s vision main component will be to create a worthwhile experience for all its customers with its products, an aspect it has been unequaled in this niche.

Netflix: Becoming the best global entertainment distribution service. Licensing entertainment content around the world, creating markets that are accessible to film makers and helping content creators around the world to find a global audience.’ The brand promise is a quest;

Apple: We believe that we are on the face of the earth to make great products and that s not changing. We are constantly focusing on innovating. We believe in the simple not the complex. We believe that we need to own and control the primary technologies behind the products that we make, and participate only in markets where we can make a significant contribution. We believe in saying no to thousands of projects, so that we can really focus on the few that are truly important and meaningful to us. We believe in deep collaboration and cross-pollination of our groups, which allow us to innovate in a way that others cannot. And frankly, we don t settle for anything less than excellence in every group in the company, and we have the self-honesty to admit when we re wrong and the courage to change. And I think regardless of who is in what job those values are so embedded in this company that Apple will do extremely well.

VALUES

Looking at these was absolutely THE most informative than Mission and Vision statements.

As you read the below you’ll see that some of these values you can absolutely see in the companies every day behavior, marketing and development.

At times, it feels that the values are driving the behavior far more than the Mission and the Vision.

Is that because they are easier to align with them? Is it because the Mission and Vision no longer support the reality of what’s happening day in and day out at a company or organization ?

The below company values come from the website 6Q. Link below

https://inside.6q.io/over-100-examples-of-company-values/

Facebook

• Focus on impact
• Move fast
• Be bold
• Be open
• Build social value

Google

• Focus on the user and all else will follow.
• It’s best to do one thing really, really well.
• Fast is better than slow.
• Democracy on the web works.
• You don’t need to be at your desk to need an answer.
• You can make money without doing evil.
• There’s always more information out there.
• The need for information crosses all borders.
• You can be serious without a suit.
• Great just isn’t good enough.

IKEA

• Humbleness and willpower.
• Leadership by example.
• Daring to be different.
• Togetherness and enthusiasm.
• Cost-consciousness.
• Constant desire for renewal.
• Accept and delegate responsibility.

SquareSpace

• Be your own customer
• Empower individuals
• Design is not a luxury
• Good work takes time
• Optimize towards ideals
• Simplify

Updated from the website!

1. Be the customer
2. Design is not a luxury
3. Build the ideal
4. Learn fast, act fast
5. Protect creativity
6. Simplify

I promised the Squarespace about page: SO GOOD!

https://www.squarespace.com/about/company/

Warby Parker

• Treat customers the way we’d like to be treated.
• Create an environment where employees can think big, have fun, and do good.
• Get out there.
• Green is good.

Netflix

• Judgment
• Communication
• Curiosity
• Courage
• Passion
• Selflessness
• Innovation
• Inclusion
• Integrity
• Impact

Are you a little clearer about Mission, Vision and Values?

It’s your turn!

NEXT STEPS

1. Create 3 separate pages one for Mission, Vision and Values - in whichever medium helps you the most, text, mind map, notebook
2. Mission: answer these questions:

• What does your podcast do for your listener
• What does your podcast do for you (and your team.)
• What does your podcast do for your community (the world)

3. Vision: what do you want to become? Keep it short 10- 15 words (try your best, of course if you can’t expand!)
4. Values: start with yourself first, your personal values - take your core values over to your podcast and expand on them to reflect your Mission and Vision

As always, hit me up on Voxer either privately or within the group chat. The other place that you can go to is #TheSpaceIn The E-League. There is a corresponding post there with the check list items, and links to all of my references!