What Is Mission Statement? Definition and Examples

What Is a Mission Statement?

A mission statement is a short statement used by companies to explain the core aspects of their business, purpose, products, services, or any other impact it plans to make (for example, to raise awareness of an issue).

Why Should a Business Have a Mission Statement?

Every business needs to have a clear mission statement. It outlines the company’s goals: target audience, and the purpose of its being. 

The mission statement should be concise and must be engaging and inspiring for not just the employees working for your company but also for the customers.

The statement should highlight your company’s respect for its consumers and employees. It must also acknowledge any other higher goal or purpose that the company serves (maybe even something outside your product offering).

How to Write a Mission Statement?

An effective mission statement must have the industry that the business is serving, what value it adds to the customer, and convey the impact the employees have by working for the company.

A mission statement should also be kept fairly concise and easily understandable.

Two primary things a mission statement must strive to achieve are:

• What is the reason for the company to exist?
• What makes the company different from others?

While writing the mission statement, keep these four elements in mind:

Inspiration

What must motivate people to join your organization?

Value

What value does it bring to both the company and the employees?

Specificity

Tie back your mission statement to your business

Plausibility

Make your mission statement sound reasonable

Now let’s look at the do’s and don’ts to keep track of when you write a mission statement:

Do’s

• Keep your mission statement short and up to a point by writing it in a few sentences.
• Do think of your business’s long-term goals while writing a mission statement.
• Do get an opinion of your employees on your mission statement. Know what they like and dislike about it.

Don’ts

• Don’t write too many sentences or stuff your mission statement with complicated terms.
• Don’t limit your mission statement. Think in terms of future growth and how far wide your business can go.
• Don’t stop yourself from changing the mission statement. If it no longer aligns with your company goals, be brave enough to make some changes. 

Mission Statement vs Vision Statement

Most businesses combine the mission statement with vision statements often. They do this to put together a single statement that contains the company’s purpose, values, and objectives. However, both these terms mean different things.

A mission statement aims to explain the company’s objectives, its business, and how it will reach these goals. 

A vision statement, on the other hand, as the name suggests, looks at long-term aspects of the business and notes that down. 

Your company’s mission statement will help the employees and customers understand what your company is about and the difference between your competitors and you. 

Whereas the vision statement sort of works as a roadmap for your company. 

Pro tip: Product roadmap software can guide team leaders to take their teams seamlessly toward the end goals. 

It will guide and remind you where you have to go and your end goal when you have too many daily tasks. 

The mission and vision statements are a must for the business to flourish because meaning and purpose are essential for any organization.

The mission statement question will be:

• What do we as a company do?
• Who is our target audience?
• What are the ways we serve our customers?

The vision statement question will be:

• What are the company’s dreams?
• What issues are we tackling for the community?
• Who and what are we trying to change?

The mission statement motivates the employees to work towards a common goal. A weak mission statement will create chaos and miscommunication.

A vision statement boosts growth both inside and outside the company. It helps the teams see what is most important for the company. 

A vision statement also promotes innovation leading to the eventual success of the organization. 

What Are the Best Mission Statement Examples?

Every company will have a different mission statement. Some of the popular, inspirational, and best mission statements are as follows:

Amazon

"To be Earth's most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, endeavors to offer its customers the lowest possible prices."

LinkedIn

"To connect the world's professionals to make them more productive and successful."

LinkedIn’s mission statement is crisp, descriptive, and easy to understand.  

Tesla

"To accelerate the world's transition to sustainable energy."

One of the best and punny mission statement examples is that of Tesla. It is both a play of words as well as reflects companies purpose. 

TED

"Spread ideas."

A media channel like ted could’ve probably given a broad mission statement. Yet what stands out is the simple nature of their mission statement, which also captures their branding.

Spotify

"Our mission is to unlock the potential of human creativity—by giving a million creative artists the opportunity to live off their art and billions of fans the opportunity to enjoy and be inspired by it."

What Are the 3 Parts of a Mission Statement?

The three parts of a mission statement are the company’s purpose, goals, and values. 

A mission statement has nine overall components. They are:

• Benefits customer scan derive from the company
• The products and services the company offers

Pro tip: Leaders can use product management software such as Chisel to craft outstanding products

• The geographical markets that the company is part of
• Values that the company had built its foundation on
• Advantages and strengths of the company over competitors
• The way the company treats its employees 
• Social and environmental responsibilities of the company