Lack of Clarity
Sometimes
there is confusion when people talk about beliefs, values, virtues and
ethics. And vision, mission and purpose.
I think that there is lots of overlap, that we need to see the wood
rather than the trees, and it doesn’t much matter if your definitions fail to
meet stringent academic requirements. They do the job if they work for you and
what you’re trying to do.
You see, a lot of
corporate-speak sometimes consists of impressive-sounding sentences that don’t
necessarily express much, don’t inspire, and sometimes obscure fuzzy thinking.
A cruel neighbour wanted to
borrow Nasrudin’s donkey.
“I’ll have to ask the donkey,”
Nasrudin responded.
He disappeared to the stable then
returned. “I am sorry. The donkey says he is endowed with prescience that the future
does not augur well for your relationship”.
“What does he see in the future
then?” asked the neighbour. “What does he mean?”
He
simply said, “Long journeys, short meals, sore bones and scuffed knees”.
Keeping it simple can be helpful
in bringing clarity.
Simple Working Definitions
MISSION: What we want to achieve
ETHICS: What is right or wrong
BELIEFS: What
we hold to be true
VALUES: What we see as important
VIRTUES: What
our character is (when our values become a part of who we are)
VISION: The
future we wish to bring about – that we wish to see
PURPOSE: Our reason for being, what we
wish to be (or do)
Mission is often quantifiable and time – specific: We aim to be the national number one
supplier of ….. by ….. and leads
quite readily to strategies and objectives (although it could be argued that so
does vision and purpose)
Beliefs usually inform vision and values. (If business does not take the lead in caring for the environment, the
education of our people and the well-being of the communities we serve; then
our own future will become insecure). So Martin Luther King’s famous “I have a dream” speech is a completely
interwoven mix of belief, values and vision.
Most of the above can flow out of a clear (higher) purpose, which is
about being as well as doing. Purpose may
be synonymous with vision, but mostly vision is an outcome of an implemented purpose.
Purpose statements contain aspirations that can be translated into high-level
behaviour indicators. A meaningful higher purpose ushers us into a spiritual
realm. Some purpose statements:
“Disseminating spiritual wisdom” SOUNDS
TRUE
“We exist to connect people to what’s
important in their lives” SOUTHWEST AIRLINES
“The
reason we exist is to create inspired moments in people’s lives” PIRCH, ATLANTA
CEO of Whole Foods Market, John Mackey interviewed by Prof R Edward
Freedman, points us towards the purpose of business being an entrepreneurial
passion for why the business exists. 2
And purpose is realised
when supported by appropriate, consistently applied virtues; but also gives birth
to those virtues.
“When you are inspired
by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break
their bonds; your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in
every direction, and you find yourself in a new, great and wonderful world.
Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive, and you discover yourself
to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be”.1
BUT DON’T SWEAT THE DIFFERENCES OR THE
DETAIL
Is this Coca
Cola mission synonymous with purpose?
Visit the
web page in question. Is their vision a set of values and mission
elements? Does their list of values add
anything that is different to nearly every other business’s list of espoused values?
I love the simple eloquence of what drives Menlo Innovations, a highly
successful IT services company based in
Michigan. Their CEO and Chief Storyteller, Richard Sheridan, is focused on JOY
as a value, a purpose and a description of their culture.3
(Although another topic, his approach to over-measuring was also
refreshing. When I
asked Richard how he measured joy, his response was that he produces
statistics, metrics and improvement-outcomes for the cynical and disbelieving,
but essentially successes and advocacy travel as anecdotes by word of mouth. That’s his real
measure).
1.
Rutte, Martin (2006) The Work of Humanity: project
heaven on earth citing Patanjali (in Seeking
the Sacred: leading a spiritual life in a secular world. (ed
Mary Joseph) ECW Press, Toronto, Canada
3. Sheridan,
Richard Joy,
Inc.: how we built a workplace people love Portfolio/
Penguin 2013
