Over the past several decades, organizational leaders have grown to appreciate the role of purpose in building a thriving company. A strong sense of purpose attracts great talent, keeps them motivated and engaged, and bonds them together with coworkers to increase collaboration.
For many senior leaders, however, organizational purpose begins and ends with a few flowery words written on a plaque or on the front page of the annual report.
Of course, we’re talking about the mission statement.
The committee-crafted, jargon-laden paragraph (or hopefully less) gets quoted every so often in speeches and referenced in most printed documents. It’s important to give credit for trying where it’s due: there are few organizations where leaders haven’t given thought to answering the question of what we’re working toward.
That’s great. But it’s also important to point out the flaws in the status quo:
Most mission statements aren’t all that inspiring.
They lack power either because they’re wordy and complicated or because they’re written in an attempt to satisfy every stakeholder…which usually ends up inspiring none of them. Fortunately, there is an easy way to know whether or not your organization’s mission statement inspires or merely satisfies.
In this article, we’ll review the four elements of a powerful mission statement and offer some powerful examples as well.
Meaningful
The first element of a powerful mission statement is that it needs to be meaningful. It needs to be easy to tell from the words in the mission statement how the organization is making the world a better place or making people’s lives better.
It can’t just be different. You may want to cram a mission statement full of language about how disruptive and innovative you are to the industry. But unless that innovation is also making things better (and let’s face it…a lot of innovative organizations right now are not), then it’s not a meaningful mission statement.
Consider electric car manufacturer Tesla. Telsa is most certainly innovative and is disrupting the automotive industry. But that’s not its mission. Tesla’s stated mission is “to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.” You see this in the car, but in the mission statement, you see so much more good that will happen the closer we get to sustainable energy. That’s what makes the mission of making cars so meaningful.
Believable
The second element of a powerful mission statement is that it needs to be believable. When people read it and understand the meaning behind it, they also need to believe it is what the organization is focused on and can achieve.
In other words, there can’t be a mismatch between what the company does and what the mission statement says it does. This is where a lot of mission statements go wrong. Not because they’re not well-meaning but because they’re so vague that it’s hard to connect the statement to the work being done. So, they’re not believable.
A standout example is the mission statement for home improvement superstore The Home Depot. Their mission statement reads, “The Home Depot is in the home improvement business, and our goal is to provide the highest level of service, the broadest selection of products, and the most competitive prices.”
It must have sounded nice in committee, but if you remove the two words “home improvement,” it could be a mission statement for just about any store. It could be an auto parts store or a cannabis dispensary. Because of its vagueness—its lack of believability—it lacks power.
Powerful
The third element of a powerful mission statement is that it needs to be powerful—and I realize it’s a huge error to say powerful is an element of being powerful, but there is just not a better word to use. We could try a few others.
It needs to be big. It needs to be audacious. It needs to be a sizeable challenge. It needs to be something more than increasing “shareholder value.”
Consider the startup Péla. Péla started as a company making cell phones and other device accessories out of a new type of plastic that was biodegradable. Their mission isn’t to sell more cell phone cases; it’s to use their technology to end single-use plastic and other environmentally damaging waste products. Their mission is to work toward a “waste-free future.”
It’s a powerful mission, and it explains why their product lines seem to defy convention. After producing device cases, they started producing sunglasses (a massive source of single-use plastic), and their most recent product is a home composting device. It seems illogical until you remember the power behind their mission statement.
These products move us closer to a waste-free future.
Credible
The last element of a powerful mission statement is that it needs to be credible. It needs to be easy to understand how the organization can actually achieve its mission based on its existing assets, core competency, and industry.
It needs to make sense to employees how their day-to-day actions are actually helping accomplish the stated mission.
A great example of how a credible mission affects people’s day-to-day motivation is the company Ellevest. Ellevest was founded after Sallie Krawcheck’s shocking discovery that every roboadvisor investment firm on the market was programmed to assume its clients were male—with male earnings, male risk tolerance, and male life expectancy. So, Krawcheck and others started a roboadvisor specifically for females with the mission to “close the gender investing gap.”
Every new client who joins, as well as every existing client they help, moves Ellevest closer to closing the gender investment gap. It’s simple to see how their work makes the vision a reality, making it so credible.
If you’re in a senior leadership role, and your mission statement lacks one of these four elements, you should consider revising or rewording it. But if you’re not able to change it, you’re not out of luck.
Instead, take on the role of helping reframe the existing mission statement into one your team sees as meaningful, believable, powerful, and credible. Talk about how the existing mission plays into the projects your team works on.
In doing so, you’ll add a little power to their perspective on the mission and a little more motivation to their work. Through reframing, you’ll get the team one step closer to a purpose that brings out the team’s best work.
Apart from these four components, the mission statement must also be crafted with the following elements in mind:
Simple
The mission statement should be simple and easy to understand. People often make the grand mistake of going overboard and using jargon and extensive vocabulary to craft a mission statement. Although it does look fancy, it loses its meaning, and your mass audience will not grasp the concept.
So, its effectiveness is determined by its ability to communicate the purpose in a clear and concise manner.
The mission statement should also be easy to remember and convey an action toward the organization’s goals. When we use jargon, it overwhelms the stakeholders and makes it seem rather unrealistic.
Here’s further why a simple mission statement is important and how it can help you:
- A simple mission statement is easy to remember, and all your employees, customers, and business partners will internalize the reference.
- A simple mission statement also resonates with different stakeholders, including remote employees in rural areas, customers coming in from different backgrounds, and even business partners in different countries or industries.
- It is also very effective in conveying what the organization is actually trying to achieve, as it keeps the focus on the key objectives of the business.
Aligned with Organizational Values
The mission statement should also always be aligned with the core values and objectives of the organization. The company values are the guiding principles that become part of the organization’s actions and decisions. When a mission statement is in harmony with all these values, it shows that your company is consistent in its messaging.
Employees often refer to the mission statement and values for guidance when making key decisions. Hence, the mission and values should align so that employees can confidently make decisions and work towards the unified goal without any confusion or ethical dilemmas.
It also results in a strong organizational culture where the employees feel connected, engaged, and committed to the organization’s long-term goals.
Wrap Up
When you meticulously incorporate these elements in your mission statement, you can craft an inspiring statement that unifies all your stakeholders, including your employees, consumers, and business partners.
In this way, the mission statement will reflect your organization’s core purpose and become a tool for growth and long-term success.

About the author
David Burkus is an organizational psychologist, keynote speaker, and bestselling author of five books on leadership and teamwork.