Mission Statements

I always make it a point to read a company’s mission statement when I happen to see one.  Mostly to see just how far they’ll go to make themselves sound important.  And they always act like they came up with these ideas….

“We will strive to work synergistically with local stakeholders to build trust and cohesion in our community.”
OK, so you’re going to be nice to people and expect them to be nice to you.  

“Our goal is to anticipate our customers’ needs and exceed their expectations at every opportunity.”
Translation–We’re going to treat others the way we’d like to be treated.

Rather than all of this can’t we make things so much simpler, and more realistic?

Why can’t a company just say, “We’re going to do our job.  We’re going to do it as best we can, as quickly as we can, and we’ll do our best to make it right when we screw up.”  Wouldn’t that be a statement that employees could really get behind?  Couldn’t they really believe in that, and actually remember it?  Couldn’t they see that mission statement in action from the company’s management?

And why couldn’t we extend that simple thought to our families?
“We’re going to work to be the best husband / wife / mother / father / child / brother / sister that we can be.  Sometimes we’ll screw that up, but we’ll be patient with each other as we keep trying to screw up less.”

Life is a lot less complicated than we try to make it.