Mission, vision and values are the three statements that introduce a company: the vision says where it wants to get, the mission says how it contributes to getting there, the values say what its essence is. This article explains what each one does, with real examples, and shows the building order almost every company gets backwards. At the end, the missions of Google, SpaceX and SolarCity, read word by word, show what a well-built mission carries.
In one boardroom I visited, the mission had been framed behind the meeting table for seven years. I asked someone to say it without turning their chair. Silence. The sentence lived on the wall, not in the company; and the problem was nobody's memory, it was the order in which the sentence had been written.
What mission, vision and values are
Mission, vision and values are three statements with different jobs: the vision points at an ideal that usually goes beyond the company, the mission says how the company contributes to that ideal, and the values say the essence that governs decisions. Principles, the fourth term that always joins the conversation, describe the behavior expected from the team along the way.
| Concept | The question it answers | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Vision | Where do we want to get? Usually an ideal that goes beyond the company | "Provide access to the world's information in one click" (Google) |
| Mission | How the company contributes to reaching the vision | "Organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful" (Google) |
| Values | What is the essence of our brand? | "Transparency" |
| Principles | How do we act on the way? | The behavior expected from everyone on the team |
What a company mission is, with examples
The mission is the company's contribution to the vision it pursues: what it does, for whom, to what effect. It only exists to help reach the vision, which is why it gets written after it. A good mission statement fits in one sentence a new employee understands on day one:
- Google: "Organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful."
- Tesla: "Accelerate the world's transition to sustainable energy."
- TED: "Spread ideas worth spreading."
Notice what the three have in common: they say what the company does, with no self-applause. "Being the best company in the industry" is not a mission, it is clapping for yourself; a mission describes a contribution someone outside can verify.
What a company vision is, with examples
The vision is the ideal the company pursues, usually bigger than the company itself: the world that would exist if the mission worked. Two examples at opposite registers:
- Microsoft in the 1980s: "A computer on every desk and in every home." So clear it was achieved, and had to be replaced.
- The Alzheimer's Association: "A world without Alzheimer's." An ideal no organization reaches alone, which is why it guides without expiring.
A vision is not a revenue target with a date: it is the direction that explains why the mission is worth the effort.
And the values
Values are the brand's essence: the criteria that govern decisions when both options are defensible. And here is the point almost every handbook skips: values, in the plural, converge toward one main value, which the company needs to define before anything else. In my method it is called the Headvalue: the value that is the brand's essence, from which the vision and the mission get written. The topic got a whole article: company core values: examples and the most common mistake. The summary: better one central value that decides, two or three secondary ones and the anti-values than a list of seven pretty words.
The right order: value, vision, mission
Almost every company assembles the triad in the order it is presented: mission, then vision, then values, in one brainstorming afternoon. The right order is different, and it starts before the triad. First the main value, the essence: who the brand is. Then the vision: where we want to get, because without knowing where you want to get there is no way to define the mission correctly. Then the mission, which only exists to help reach the vision. And last, if it makes sense for the company, the principles: the behavior expected from the team along the way.
Built in the order of presentation, the triad becomes three interchangeable sentences that could hang on a competitor's wall. Built from the value, each sentence has a why nobody can copy. It is the difference between decorating a rented house and building on your own land.
How to write your mission, vision and values: step by step
Four steps, in the right order:
- Find the main value first. Review the hard decisions the company has already made: what it refused, what it insisted on. The word that explains those decisions is the brand's essence, the foundation of everything that follows.
- Write the vision: where you want to get. The world that would exist if it worked, not a revenue target with a date. If it fits in a financial report, it is a goal; if it points beyond the company, it is a vision.
- Write the mission as a contribution to the vision. What we do, for whom, to what effect, in service of where we want to get. No self-applause, no jargon: one sentence a new employee repeats on day one.
- If you want, close with the principles. The behavior you expect from everyone along the way. Useful once the team grows; dispensable while everybody fits in one room.
Done writing? Then read the mission word by word and ask what each one contributes to the vision. A word with no answer is decoration: cut it. That correspondence is exactly what the three examples below show.
Vision and mission of famous brands: Google, SpaceX and SolarCity
When the mission is born from the vision, every word in it carries a precision the vision demands.
Vision: "provide access to the world's information in one click".
Mission: "organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful".
"Organize" is the word that carries the whole business: the world's information already exists, and what blocks the one click is the disorder. "Universally accessible" serves the access for anyone; "and useful" remembers that access to useless information brings nobody closer to the vision. Not one word is spare.
SpaceX
Vision: "enable people to live on other planets".
Mission: "revolutionize space technology".
"Revolutionize", not improve: at the launch costs of the founding years, living on another planet was impossible, and only a revolution in cost serves that vision; the rocket that lands and flies again was born from that word. And "space technology" says what the company is: engineering that sells launches today to fund the vision's tomorrow.
SolarCity
Vision: "solar power can and will become the world's predominant source of energy".
Mission: "accelerate mass adoption of sustainable energy".
"Accelerate" admits the world is already headed there: the company's role is the speed. "Mass adoption" says how: ordinary rooftops, by the millions, not showcase projects. The correspondence was so solid it outlived the company itself: when Tesla absorbed it in 2016, the new house's mission was already the same idea one scale up, "accelerate the world's transition to sustainable energy".
To place the triad in the wider work of building a brand, start with what branding is.
Frequently asked questions
What is a mission statement?
It is the company's contribution to the vision it pursues: what it does, for whom, to what effect. It exists to help reach the vision, and it fits in one sentence with no self-applause: "organize the world's information" is a mission; "be the best technology company" is not.
What is Coca-Cola's mission?
"Refresh the world. Make a difference." It is an example of the price of covering hundreds of brands with a single sentence: it introduces the company without differentiating it, and the first half would serve any cold drink.
How do you write mission, vision and values?
First the main value, the brand's essence, by observing decisions the company has already made; then the vision, where you want to get; then the mission, written as a contribution to the vision; last, if you want, the principles.
What is the order: mission, vision and values?
That is the order of presentation. The order of construction is different: value (the brand's essence), vision, mission and, last, principles. Without the vision there is no way to define the mission: the mission only exists to help reach where the company wants to get.
Camila Masetti is a brand strategist, creator of the Headvalue method and founder of three digital agencies in France. She built three hundred websites with her own hands and has trained two thousand professionals since 2015. More about Camila.