Mission vs. vision statements: definitions & examples

Alright, now the real work begins: rolling up your sleeves and pulling together your own mission statement.

Let’s mention one more thing about what a mission is not – a slogan. A slogan (think “Just do it” or “Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there”) is a catchy marketing line that customers can immediately associate with a brand. Your mission statement is more than that. It captures the heart of your organization and explains why you do what you do and why you exist in the first place. 

A solid mission statement calls for you to dig deep, beyond just “Do a good job” or “Delight our customers”, which can make writing your mission statement tough. Fortunately, we’ve broken it down into three (kind of) easy steps.

Mission statements run the gamut from one sentence to several paragraphs, and there’s a lot that they can include. Some mission statements even go into detail about how a company not only serves their customers, but also their employees and communities.

But, let’s just keep this simple for now. In its most basic form, your mission statement should capture: 

• What your company offers your customers (why do you exist?)
• Who your company serves (who are your target customers?)
• Why your company stands out (what makes you different from your competitors?)

Grab your favorite pen (we know you have one!) and a notepad and write a short (just a single sentence fragment will work) response to each of those prompts.

For example, imagine that you work for a software company that developed an app that uses highly tailored personality tests to match candidates with dream jobs. You might come up with something like this: 

• What your company offers your customers
  An easy solution to finding a dream job
• Who your company serves
  Young professionals who feel lost about their next career steps
• Why your company stands out
  Your personality assessments are patented and highly rated

Got your own answers scribbled down? Great! Let’s move to the next step.

You have the nuts and bolts of your mission statement figured out, but, let’s be honest, it’s still a hot mess. It’s time to tape them together into a more readable statement.

Begin rearranging the pieces, swapping in different words, and making other changes to come up with a few potential statements. 

Don’t feel like you’re married to the very first version you come up with. It’s all about trial and error here. Plus, the more options you come up with, the more flexibility you have to land on something that sings. 

Sticking with our personality test company example, you might develop these potential mission statements: 

• Helping young professionals find careers where they can thrive with patented and effective personality assessments.
• Growing tomorrow’s leaders through targeted personality assessments that match young professionals with careers.
• Forging career pathways for today’s professionals through effective personality assessments.
• Using patented and customized personality assessments to help young professionals find their perfect careers. 

They’re all pretty solid choices, right? Don’t worry. The next step will help us narrow these down.

Forecasting the future of your company – and with such bravado – makes creating a vision statement a strange (and somewhat braggy and therefore slightly uncomfortable) task. But, seriously, that’s what a vision is all about. See below for examples of companies who have taken this task and owned it.

Habitat for Humanity: “A world where everyone has a decent place to live.” 

Ford: “To become the world’s most trusted company.”

Ben & Jerry’s: “We make the best possible ice cream in the best possible way.” 

Dow: “We want to become the most innovative, customer-centric, inclusive, and sustainable materials science company in the world. Our goal is to deliver value growth and best-in-class performance.”

You’ll notice that nonprofits tend to describe an ideal world while for-profit companies describe their place in an ideal world.

You probably don’t have a crystal ball that will help you foresee the future of your company (although, if you do, are you willing to share?). 

So, coming up with your vision statement can be a challenge for someone without psychic abilities, since it makes you think super big. Zoom out and ask yourself, “What’s the ultimate purpose I’m serving?”

Have no fear, we’ve boiled this vital project into three approachable steps.

Start by understanding why your product or service matters. What does it help people do? How does it better their lives? 

Think about our career personality test example for a moment. What’s the end result there? Nope, it’s not the app itself. The ultimate result (and value!) is a match with a career that seems like a perfect fit.

Think of it this way: Your company is the road on which your customers are running a race. Once they cross the finish line, what do they get? This can help you see how what you’re doing makes a difference for your customers, your community, or even the world.

When you look five or 10 years down the road (let’s stop there for now), what fills out your win column? Jot down everything that comes to mind. 

Turning back to our personality test scenario, do you want to become the world’s most trusted resource for career exploration? Do you want to create a world where nobody hates their jobs? Do you want every person to have confidence in their next career step?

Remember, this is your chance to be ambitious and be bold, so don’t be timid. Find your swagger and go big!

Ok, you’re almost there. You have two elements locked down: 

1. What you ultimately produce and why it matters
2. How you’ll know when you’re successful

Now, similarly to what you did with your mission statement, it’s time to start piecing them together using different combinations and wording to see what you come up with. 

Sticking with our running career test example, your vision statement could be any one of the following (among many other gazillion options you come up with, of course).

• Position ourselves as the most trusted partner in career exploration.
• Build a world where absolutely nobody dreads heading to work.
• Create a career landscape where Monday is just as great as Friday.

Again, this is a game of trial and error until you’re happy with a near-final product that you can run by other people for feedback.

At the end of that, you’ll have a vision statement that sums up your goals for the future of your organization.