One of the first things a company should do is to develop a mission statement.  People often confuse a mission statement with a vision statement.  A vision statement sets the future goals of a company, while the mission statement guides how these goals will be achieved – the strategic decision making.  The mission statement tells the company’s reason for existing.

Your company’s mission statement should reflect your company’s values, attitudes and beliefs, which should reflect your personal values, attitudes and beliefs.  To help you develop your mission statement, you should answer the following questions

• What is our business?
• Why do we exist?
• What are we trying to accomplish?

Having a mission statement will give your employees (and people that you deal with outside the organization) common goals.  It will help guide employees in how to perform their jobs, how to treat customer and how to represent the company.  Without a mission statement, you may find that your employees will begin to operate by their own personal attitudes and beliefs, which may not be the same as yours.  Whether we realize it or not, we all have our own personal mission statements.

The length of the mission statement will vary from company to company, but the general rule is that it should be long enough to convey the message of the company.  Generally, the best mission statements are no longer than two to three sentences.  This way it’s short enough for employees, and even customers to remember.  Remember, your employees are representing you to your customers; you want to have a mission statement to guide their behavior.
Some examples of corporate mission statements:

• Ford – We are a global family with a proud heritage passionately committed to providing personal mobility for people around the world.

We anticipate consumer needs and deliver outstanding products and services that improve people’s lives.

• Amazon – To build a place where people can come to find and discover anything they might want to buy online.