Mission, Vision and Google Search

A common practice nowadays is to have a mission statement and a vision statement. If you have a company those statements need to be on the website, and they need to be clear to every single person who works for the company. I’ve read numerous articles where someone comes in to try and help the company and they start out by either creating a mission and vision statement or they go around and ask employees if they know the company’s mission and vision statement. The purpose of that is that maybe they are struggling because not everyone is clear on what the purpose of the company is, so once everyone is in alignment, they can go full speed ahead. I know some people who have personal mission and vision statements. They look to those two statements as their north star. Whenever they go to make a decision, or they go to plan the day, they ask themselves, does this align with my mission and vision? So, let’s very briefly say what a mission and vision statement is:

Mission Statement: Defines what they do, its objectives and how it will reach those objectives.

Vision Statement: Where do you want to go?

So, now let’s say everyone had to create a personal mission and vision statement. What would yours be? When you look at your job, what do you want people to look at you and see? Obviously, you already have a job title, so that might define what you do. But, when you go to work every day, what are your objectives and how are you planning on getting them done? Or maybe you want to give yourself a different title. Maybe you want people to look to you as the Chief People Developer. That’s an awesome title, but now, what are your objectives and how do you plan on reaching them? Now add to that, where do I want to go?  If I know who I am and where I want to go, I now can plan every single move I make. So, we have clearly established that having a mission and vision statement is a great thing. So why did I mention something about google search? I was listening to a podcast last week about branding, and they said something I found really funny. They said that in the world of personal branding, the saying goes that if you want to hide a dead body, put it on page two of google search! The whole point being that if you aren't on page one of google search, then no one will find you because they aren't going to page two. All of that got me thinking, if my personal mission and vision statements were made public, could everyone clearly see that the life I lead every day is in alignment to what they found through a google search? What happens if I say that I want my title to be Chief People Developer, but a google search shows that I haven’t developed anyone in over five years? Would a company hire me to come work for them to develop people? I’m guessing that is a strong no! Have you ever met someone who has the title of manager or supervisor but then you find out that they have no direct reports? That always makes me question the individual and the company. If you did a google search about yourself, what qualities would be mentioned? Over the years I have heard a few things that have stung a little because of how true they are. I was once criticized for just going through the motions. When I thought about who could have said it, I concluded that it had to be someone who knew me really well because they were right. When I looked back at the timeframe in question, I had just been going through the motions. I needed that honest feedback to give me a jolt. I had to see it written down to be able to say to myself, I need to change. So how do I know if my mission and vision align with my actions? To be honest, I’m not exactly sure. What I do know is that we would have to start with creating a personal mission and vision statements. I don’t think you have to follow the exact rules, but you do need to know what you want to stand for and how you want other people to see you. I think of this as a very long project, something that continues well into 2024. You need to establish who you want to be, work on it and then go looking for feedback. You also need to decide how public you want to be from the start. Do you want to go to work next week and make a declaration that from here on out this is what you are going to be known for?  That might be interesting! You also must decide if you have the right people around you. Don’t get me started on the question of “Who are your 5” again, but if you want to be seen a certain way, you need to make sure you have the people around you who are supporting you and keeping you on track. I want to be surrounded by people who will give me constructive criticism long before anyone else can notice that I got off track.  For now, get working on those statements!