Mission, Vision, Values, Culture...
What the why?
Chances are we've each been around enough to hear about missions, vision, values, culture. Aren't they all the same thing, though? Absolutely not!
While the mission and vision are the what and why that drive what you're doing, the values (or culture) is the engine, the glue that holds it all together. The mission and vision can also be interpreted as the purpose of the organization or individual, while the values determine the accepted culture.
Mission
The mission is the overarching what behind the company. What do you want to accomplish? A couple of examples would be Unbeatable Mind: To help 100 million warriors and leaders become world centric leaders. Bankless: Create user friendly onramps for people to discover decentralized financial technologies through education, media, and culture.
The mission is generally a broader brush stroke. It steers the direction of the company and creates alignment across the whole team. From here, it can get granular: departments or guilds have their own mission that relay back to the mission of the broader organization. The same goes for individual contributors. Typically, they have a mission or purpose for their life they want to accomplish. When these matches are made it can be quite magical.
Vision
Vision is where the you're going. What's the big picture? An example would be Bankless: to live in a world where anyone with an internet connection has access to the financial tools needed to achieve financial independence.
Both the mission and the vision could be wrapped together as the purpose of the organization or company. Alternatively, some choose to have an "ethos" or a value statement.
Looking at larger and established companies, such as fortune 500 companies, you can clearly see that the ones with clearly articulated mission, vision and values are over 90% more productive than those without. Apple, Amazon, and others are prime examples.
Values and Culture
Values and culture are the how behind the purpose. Whereas the mission and vision can be considered a vehicle, the values are the engine. The people are the driving force.
The values you decide on will guide the culture and the behavior of the people who get involved... or not. How? I'm sure you've seen many business such as Spartan, Break Free Academy, Unbeatable Mind, and others, who have their Ethos or Values posted on a wall and lots of their public-facing material.
This is because a well written and considered value statement will both attract the people you want while repelling the wrong people, keeping them out of your org. That doesn't mean that it's completely fool proof. The wrong people can and will find their way in. The good news is that they won't last long!
When you have your purpose and values articulated and well written, you're effectively letting the world know who you are, what you're about, and where you're going. You're making a stand.
This in turn creates alignment across all levels. People on the outside can clearly see WHO you are. While people on the inside know without a doubt what the expectations and realities are while being involved.
Elite teams since the dawn of time have tapped into these concepts. We create large buy-in at all levels with the greater mission, vision, and values, which in turn get broken down more granularly between teams and individuals. Everyone plays their part, everyone knows what's expected, and everyone's on the same page.
The only question is, are you ready to go to the next level and figure these out for you?
