Mission statement. Strategy statement. Vision statement. Value statement. Internal language. External language. And while we’re at it, is ours a platform or a product? A product platform? A productized platform service?
Besides the financial statement or maybe the research statement, does any of this matter?
Mostly no. And it almost never matters to your audience(s).
Those who say “the mission statement is critical to the success of your life science organization/enterprise/endeavor/breathing/etc.” are also the ones standing by, ready with the proposal to help you craft a new one. Usually involving a study. Or two. And a facilitator, possibly a retreat. My advice, go ahead and take the retreat, but leave the facilitator at home.
That said, values matter. As in the value that you deliver to a customer. Do you provide something that fulfills a need, does a job, eases pain, creates gain? Good. Does it do a couple or three of these things? Better. Break it down further, does this help someone perform a specific task? Does it help someone feel better about what they need to do or want to do? Does it make someone feel good overall and happy to be alive? Does it help someone or an organization deliver value to their customer? Outstanding. Those values matter.
Now, internally you may need some way to state this – let’s call it the _________ statement (insert whatever descriptor you want in that blank). Actually, I started to write “let’s call it the ‘statement of your choice’” which, upon reflection, sounds pretty good.
That’s what all of this mumbo jumbo is about. You need to make a choice. Focus your efforts on efforts that matter. Once you begin to figure it out, write it down. Publish it if you want. Make it direct, to the point and as free of visionable missionableness as you can.
It’s more important for your internal folks, so it’s less crucial that it be perfect and polished. Just say what it is that you’re trying to do doing and (less important) why you’re doing it.
And, by the way, if your entire business revolves around sending out little messages in 140 characters or less and you decide to put your *beautifully* crafted strategy statement out for the world to read, “hashtag” do the math.