What’s the difference between a purpose, mission and vision statement?
A purpose statement states why your company exists, a vision statement says what you’re trying to achieve over time (with a clear financial target), and a mission statement tries to blend the two, which is why it often ends up a confusing mishmash. The clearest approach is a sharp purpose and a sharp vision, each ten words or less, and skip the mission.
What is a purpose statement, and how do you write one?
A purpose statement is about why your company exists, and the simplest way to force a good one is to start with “we exist to…” (or, less formally, “we get out of bed every day to…”). Keep it tied to who you actually are so it’s easy to remember. A Melbourne marketing firm we work with only takes on clients connected to cars, and their purpose is to “accelerate their clients’ business results through marketing”, where “accelerate” nods to cars and makes it stick. The big temptation is to overwrite it, piling on adjectives until it runs to 25 words and nobody can recall a thing. As a rule of thumb, people struggle to remember more than about ten words in a row, so keep it to ten words or less and make it crystal clear.
What makes a good vision statement?
A good vision statement is what you’re trying to achieve over time, and it needs two parts: a rational one and an emotional one. The rational part is a financial metric everyone can rally around, like “double our turnover in the next three years” or “lift profit margins by 10%”. The emotional part is what you’re all reaching for together, such as being the number one company in your industry, the most professional, or the best place to work. Avis famously did this with “we try harder”, openly aiming to be number two, which was crystal clear. Crucially, the vision has to tie back to the purpose so the two read sensibly one after another, rather than as two disconnected statements. Keep it succinct, ideally ten words or less, so the whole team can hold it in their heads.
Do you actually need a mission statement?
Not really, and we actively encourage clients to skip it. Mission statements tend to be longer written statements that end up part purpose and part vision, which is exactly where the confusion creeps in. If you’ve written a sharp purpose (“we exist to…”) and a sharp vision (an emotional aim plus a financial target), you’ve already covered the ground a mission is meant to cover. Adding a third, woolier statement on top just muddies all three. So the advice is simple: have a strong purpose statement and a strong vision statement, keep them distinct, keep each to about ten words, and don’t force a mission in between. Clarity beats completeness here.
How 24HRBP approaches this
Clear purpose and vision statements do real work. A common reason employees leave, after pay and a lack of development, is not understanding the company’s strategy, vision or purpose. In a 24 Hour Business Plan session we lock these down early, because once they’re clear, every hard decision (who to hire, which customer or partner to take on) can be tested against them: will this help us achieve our purpose and vision?
Watch the full episode on The 24HR Business Plan Podcast: Episode 4 - Purpose, Mission, and Vision: Clarifying the Differences
