UKC

Over here they are very popular and alot of people have personal ones. I suspect that most of it is just words but I wonder what a really honest mission statement might look like?

Mine might look something like:

To get through life as easily as possible whilst having as much fun as I can along the way and taking care of those I love.

I wonder what McDonalds true one might look like?

'To sell as many tastelessburgers as we can whilst using the cheapest labour we can find and charging as much as we can get away with'

What other 'honest' mission statements could we apply to certain corporate establishments?

In reply to Removed User: Can I recommend the Dilbert Mission Statement Generator: http://www.unitedmedia.com/comics/dilbert/games/career/bin/ms.cgi

It produces something that any big company would be proud of

In reply to owlart:
That's sweet.


I've always thought that mission statements were some gimmick dreamt up by business consultants and marketing fluffies in order to get more money from gullible organisations.

In reply to dread-i: Funnily enough I don't. A Company is faced with a universe of infinite commercial opportunities - a decent mission statement can help to clarify strategic decision making and choices.

Which isn't to say that 99% of them aren't bullsh*t, of course.

In reply to Rob Exile Ward:
>A Company is faced with a universe of infinite commercial opportunities - a decent mission statement can help to clarify strategic decision making and choices

Fair point. Though I do think that it has gone a bit too far with non commercial organisations like the police, fire and ambulance service having their own.

In reply to dread-i:
The commercial world took the whole "Mission Statement" concept from the US military in the last decade who brought it in about 15 - 20 years ago. So you might argue that uniformed services like the Police have a just or more relevant reason to follow these statements. A Mission Statement is designed to keep people focused on the "End State"(more jargon) despite any complications or distractions that enter the decision making process.
They are relevant to any organisation that is complex or carries out complex "operations"
You'll notice that a lot of commercial terminology sounds military. That's because they took it from military doctrine. UK/EU military doctrine is heavily led by US doctrine so that we can work with them.

Sorry, I know it's probably not that interesting!

In reply to Removed User:

hey bobt, where are my posts from 4:00am this morning?

In reply to Removed User:

McDo, BurgerKing, misc fast food chains - "To make the world FATTER!"

Tesco - "Nothing less than total world domination will do!"

New Labour Party - "Not to ferk up! Again! Too much!"

Any icelandic bank ( at the moment) - "What's yours is mine, what's mine is also..."

In reply to Chris Tan Ver. LI - On the Bog: UKC - To fix what ain't broke!

In reply to Rob Exile Ward: I laughed when I saw "challenging your expectations"

In reply to Fawksey: I hope that wasn't aimed at my post! Though I'm currently dealing with a company who's mission statement is ... sod it, I can't say because someone will Google it. But'Ill tell all in two weeks.

In reply to Rob Exile Ward: I went for a bollocking at Lear Corporation once and waiting in the lobby I read their Mission statement that had some crap about treating with respect customers clients and suppliers etc, I took it down and put it in my briefcase to give to them during the meeting when the swearing started.

After grilling me for an hour or so they smiled and thanked me for making a robust defence of my company's procedures.

Neal Stephenson's 'Cryptonomicon' has a great business plan template in it with the new company's mission defined as "To increase shareholder value by [doing stuff]". I always thought that it was the most honest and succinct mission statement I've ever seen.

In reply to Removed User:

some firms;

1. Reebok: "Our purpose is to ignite a passion for winning, to do the extraordinary, and to capture the customer’s heart and mind."
2. Walt Disney: "To make people happy."
3. Wal-Mart: "To give ordinary folk the chance to buy the same things as rich people."
4. The Body Shop: "Tirelessly work to narrow the gap between principle and practice whilst making fun, passion and care part of our daily lives."
5. Marks and Spencer: "Our mission is to make aspirational quality accessible to all."
6. Sony: "Our mission is to experience the joy of advancing and applying technology for the benefit of the public."
7. Coca Cola: "The basic proposition of our business is simple, solid and timeless. When we bring refreshment, value, joy and fun to our stakeholders, then we successfully nurture and protect our brands."
8. 3M: "To solve unsolved problems innovatively."
9. Glaxo: "We are an integrated, research-based group of companies whose corporate purpose is to create, discover, develop, manufacture, and market safe effective medicines throughout the world."

In reply to sutty:
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these get my vote, however their mission statement could be applied back to their dark past a little too easily

One could argue that the "innovatively" is superfluous.

In fact, now I'm thinking about it, I'd question whether the "unsolved" really adds much.

In reply to JPG:

how about
"to innovatively unsolve solved problems"

now that would be a trick

In reply to Daithi O Murachu:

Actually, I've worked with a number of people who do exactly that, albeit not all that innovatively.