Mission and Vision

As one of the co-founders of Follow the Hummingbird Consulting I've noticed one common mistake among many startups. While focusing on product and service is important it can be detrimental to your company to ignore (and not revisit) its foundation. Two of the main pillars of your company's foundation will be its mission statement and its vision statement. Why is this a problem? If you don't revisit your company's core values, mission, and purpose, you run the risk of losing your identity. When opportunities for growth or expansion become available you will want to know if it fits your brand.

To break these terms down let's look at them individually. Your mission statement should be your "what." Everything your company embodies should be concisely packed into a 2-4 sentence statement so the whole world knows exactly what you do. It's also important because as your company grows YOU never want to forget the core of what your company does either.

Your vision statement is your "why." Why is the world a better place because your business exists? It doesn't have to be something heroic? The world can be a better place because you simply found a way to make pizza healthy. It all comes down to why we should care; a good place to start is why you care? Cause chances are if you don't care about the business outside of the financial upside then we won't care either.

So ask yourself when was the last time you reviewed your business' mission and vision statement? Has the culture of your company changed? Do you still make decisions based on its core values or is it a conversation you and your team should revisit?