It’s Time to Drive “Mission-Driven” Outta Town

I’m sorry, but can we just all admit that the phrase “Mission-Driven” is now well past its expiration date?

Like the meaningless descriptors “Results-Driven” and “Data-Driven,” the moniker “Mission-Driven” completes the triumvirate of trifling, overused, and completely vapid rubrics that have been embraced by legions of modern-day corporate worker-bees to somehow communicate value to their employers, potential hirers, peers, and clients.

And it's time we show “Mission-Driven” the nearest exit.

Now I am sure that scores of people reading this (I would say thousands but my following isn’t that large yet!) are shaking their heads in disbelief that I would say something so outrageous that completely cuts against the grain of today's corporate social mores, so let me explain why we need to dispense with this parasitic term with haste.

First off, let me be clear: The term "Mission-Driven" itself is not intrinsically bad.

It actually should have and perhaps used to have a very specific meaning. The value of saying that a non-profit that feeds the hungry, provides affordable housing or delivers access to critical healthcare in sub-Saharan Africa is “mission-driven” goes without saying. By paying low wages to its workers (including, I might add, to its leadership) and relying on charitable-giving and people volunteering their time, it's clear that organizations such as these are putting mission over profit. There are stakeholders but no shareholders. There are outcomes but no financial exits. Yes, these types of organizations can rightfully claim the label of being “Mission-Driven” because the mission of serving others is front and center.

But how does a healthcare company where executives make seven figures or a fashion brand that somehow has taken a stance on micro-plastics or a finance start-up that incentivizes Gen Z to start saving on its way to an IPO possibly think it can lay claim to the term “Mission-Driven” unless it's upfront about its core mission – delivering a return to its shareholders?

And that’s what really gets me fired up about this phrase. It somehow attempts to clumsily co-opt an emotional term reserved for those who are making great sacrifices for the greater good into a marketing sobriquet for those who feel they are special because they are in a business that somehow helps people.

And this rings even more true for people who brand themselves as “Mission-Driven” as well. Who the hell are you kidding?

If you are making $200,000 a year or more, I can assure you, you are NOT mission-driven. You are money-driven. And that is OK. No shame at all in that at all. Because that is how 99.9% of all humans are programmed, including myself. That is how most modern economic systems are hard-wired.

But when I see someone branding themselves as “Mission-Driven,” and I see they are an executive for some well-funded start-up or an executive at a major publicly-traded company, my immediate reaction is that I often wince. And then I ask myself, why?

Why does this person feel a need to attach such a hollow-moniker to his or her personal brand? Are they trying to say they are somehow superior to others who are driven by something else?

99 times out a hundred people put very little thought into their use of the term "Mission-Driven." For most people, I would suspect, its just some banal business-speak along the lines of "hard-worker," "meets deadlines," or "focused on delivering ROI."

But here's the thing, at the end of the day, everyone is mission-driven about something.

My personal mission is very clear: provide for my family. I also hope that I can help my friends along the way and be a good citizen and neighbor and mentor as well. I also aspire to accumulate enough resources to be able to help others around the world who were not afforded the opportunities that I have had. But I don’t think anything in my personal list of priorities makes me prticularly “Mission-Driven.”

Here’s a quick check-list to see if you should be using the phrase “Mission Driven”:

• Are you a Priest, Rabbi, Imam or other spiritual figure who has devoted their lives to serving others? If yes, then OK, you may say you are “Mission-Driven.” (Let's leave televangelists off of this bullet.)
• Are you working at an NGO, non-profit or other organization that is not expected to give an economic return to shareholders AND are you making far less than you would be earning in the private sector so much that you barely make ends meet? If yes, then OK, you may say you are “Mission-Driven.”
• Are you independently wealthy but have devoted nearly all of your time (not just your "free time") to charities, nonprofits and volunteering with no expectation of remuneration now or at anytime in the future? If yes, then OK, you may say you are “Mission-Driven.”
• Are you an educator or government worker who has purposely accepted public-sector wages in exchange for serving others and the community AND you are not in this line of work merely as a temporary stepping stone before you leap back into the private sector where you aspire to make gobs of money? If yes, then OK, you may say you are “Mission-Driven.”

There very well may be other valid additions to my list, but I think you get the point. The phrase “Mission-Driven” has been co-opted so thoroughly by the “Mission-Driven Mafia” that the term is now as hollow as it is vapid.

Let's drive the term "Mission-Driven" off into the sunset. And be more honest with how we brand ourselves professionally.

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Thanks!