Got Mission?
“What is the purpose of a business?” the speaker at a business luncheon asked. The presenter – an articulate young guy with a dapper jacket and equally dapper presence— scanned the room and asked the question again. “What is the purpose of a business?”
As is usual at these events, silence filled the room until I raised my hand and steadily and confidently stated, “To achieve its mission.”
“No,” the now less-dapper speaker responded tersely. He continued surveying the room searching for the (his) right answer. I failed to hear the room’s other answers and I don’t know what he said the (his) right answer was because I already know what it is. And I’ll say it again, in case the guy is still searching for the right answer.
The purpose of a business – ummm, let me rephrase… the purpose of an organization is to achieve its mission.
How do I know? Because successful companies illustrate it every day. When companies are driven by a mission – aka their purpose – their direction is framed and people and decisions are aligned. Proof?
Patagonia’s mission is to “Build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis.” Hmmm… nothing in there about warm jackets. And yet this mission is why the company cut ties with suppliers who violated human rights and harmed animals that provided down feathers for the aforementioned jackets. The mission framed and directed the company’s behavior.
How about IKEA. Their mission is: “To create a better everyday life for the many people.” If IKEA’s mission were something closer to “selling furniture,” would they have acquired TaskRabbit, a company that connects consumers with freelance labor who can help with everyday tasks (like assembling IKEA products)? Not likely.
Direction and alignment.
So those are easy ones, right? Those are the “socially responsible” companies living their mission. True. But how about these more every day ostensibly revenue-driven organizations.
Google’s mission is “To organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful.” But how does that guide the company to autonomous vehicles? It doesn’t. But it does for Waymo (also owned by parent Alphabet). Waymo’s mission: “To make it safe and easy for people and things to move around.”
Voila. Self-driving cars. And very possibly other innovations that move all sorts of things.
But times change; as do markets and technology. Should a mission change as well? Certainly. But core elements often don’t. Example? Amazon. Their current mission is “to be earth's most customer-centric company; to build a place where people can come to find and discover anything they might want to buy online." Has this been the mission since day one? No. Amazon’s initial mission spoke about transforming book buying into the fastest, easiest, and most enjoyable shopping experience possible. Yet, even here, the foundation remains the customer experience. This mission concept continues to guide Amazon’s decisions. [Note: In April 2021, Jeff Bezos announced an addition to the Amazon mission. He added: “We are going to be Earth’s Best Employer and Earth’s Safest Place to Work.” Let’s watch what strategic action that creates.]
And how about this one: Snap Inc. (the parent of Snapchat). They announced a mission change a couple years ago. Their new mission: “Snap Inc. is a camera company.” This six word statement has driven their strategy ever since.
And one final, less glamorous, yet significant example. The Walled Lake Consolidated School District. It’s mission? To paraphrase (and it is absolutely acceptable to paraphrase a mission) is “…to become the best educational system in America.” Bold? Yes. Realistic? Realistic enough that it provides direction and alignment for every decision, from the Board of Education, through the superintendent all the way to administrators, principals, teachers and support staff. And here lies a mission’s significance: It is not what the mission is, it is what the mission does.
Direction and alignment.
But does it create profit? The real “purpose” of a business, the presenter from the business luncheon would interject, is profitability or shareholder value. My response? You’re confusing “what” the mission is with “how” to measure its success. Certainly, financial success is key to an organization’s viability (for-profit as well as nonprofit organizations). But so are taking care of customers, having engaged employees, developing effective internal processes. These value-creation activities need direction and alignment. That’s the mission. It shows the way; it is the true north. Yes, yes, design measures – financial and customer and product and people. But note until you know (and highlight) where you want to go, you won’t know how to get there… let alone when you have arrived.
