THE IMPERATIVE OF STRATEGIC DIRECTION

The North Stars of effective leaders are the organization’s vision, mission, and core values, and these in turn provide a dynamic backdrop for critical decisions as an organization evolves. As noted in Harvard Business Review, “…these are never meant to be static. Just as the environment around a company changes, so must the company itself.” Vision, mission, and core values provide organizations with their strategic direction and are therefore imperative for success.

To appreciate the imperative of strategic direction, it is useful to take a separate look at each of these component parts. A mission statement explains the purpose of the organization, and it typically defines what an organization does and is broad enough to encompass the organization's offerings, durable enough to set direction for the long term, and distinguishes the organization from its competitors.

These examples of mission statements are good illustrations.  Google says its mission is “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.” The mission of The Walt Disney Company is “to entertain, inform and inspire people around the globe through the power of unparalleled storytelling, reflecting the iconic brands, creative minds and innovative technologies that make ours the world’s premier entertainment company.” At inVeritas, our mission is “To offer the most innovative, intelligent and insightful public affairs solutions to complex global challenges.”

It’s one thing to formulate a mission statement, but the mission statement must be known, appreciated, and followed to be an effective source of guidance. At inVeritas our mission statement  guides both leadership and staff.

An organization’s vision defines its aspirations for the future. A successful vision statement provides fairly specific guidance about what it hopes to achieve. Visa’s vision is “to be the best way to pay and be paid for everyone, everywhere.” Our company vision statement is “to become a premier global public affairs company known for excellent service, outstanding results and dedication to our clients, our team and the communities where we live.” This vision guides us in all that we do.  

An organization’s core values represent the organization's core principles and ethics. As such, they explain how employees should conduct their activities while carrying out the vision and the mission. In the real world, an organization is likely to be defined more by these values than by its mission statement or vision. McDonald’s core values are serve, inclusion, integrity, community, and family.

The core values at inVeritas are excellence, unyielding integrity, dedication, gratitude, people, stewardship, and innovation. We strive for excellence, act with integrity, are dedicated to and have gratitude for our clients, value diversity and respect each other, are committed to building a strong and durable company, and are forward thinking.  

We believe taking the time to create statements of a mission, vision, and values provide an essential foundation for building a successful organization. The most successful ones will be created in a collaborate manner and will animate all of an organization’s activities, internally and externally.   We help organizations succeed. As you think forward to 2025, reach out to discuss how inVeritas can work with you whether it is in the creation of these essential elements of a strategic imperative or more generally thinking strategically, managing effectively, or communicating clearly.  We are here to help.

 

Links:
Harvard Business Review link: https://hbr.org/2022/03/its-time-to-take-a-fresh-look-at-your-companys-values     

Google mission: https://www.google.com/search/howsearchworks/our-approach/    

McDonald’s mission: https://corporate.mcdonalds.com/corpmcd/our-company/who-we-are/our-values.html

Disney mission: https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/about/

Visa vision: https://usa.visa.com/dam/VCOM/global/about-visa/documents/visa-2016-cobce-external.pdf

McDonald’s core values: https://corporate.mcdonalds.com/corpmcd/our-company/who-we-are/our-values.html

 

Kelly Sullivan