Should you have a mission or a mantra?

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According to Guy Kawasaki, your mission statement should be only a few words and everyone in your organization should be able to chant it over and over again. This really hit home for me as I am in the middle of helping my company with a new vision of our mission statement. Can you chant yours? What is it, if so? Tweet us @thirstyfishinfo or leave a comment.

clipped from blog.guykawasaki.com I give up trying to get people to create short, different, and meaningful mission statements, so go ahead and spend the $25,000 for the offsite, facilitator, and consultants to create one. However, you should also create a mantra for your organization. A mantra is three or four words long. Tops. Its purpose is to help employees truly understand why the organization exists. If I were the CEO of Wendy’s, I would establish a corporate mantra of “healthy fast food.” End of story. Here are more examples of corporate mantras to inspire you: Federal Express: “Peace of mind” Nike: “Authentic athletic performance” Target: “Democratize design” Mary Kay “Enriching women’s lives” The ultimate test for a mantra (or mission statement) is if your telephone operators (Trixie and Biff) can tell you what it is. If they can, then you’re onto something meaningful and memorable. If they can’t, then, well, it sucks.