Leadership and Character Defined in Personal Mission and Vision Statements

Wherever you look today there are companies, schools and even churches looking seriously at their "mission" in their selected fields and the "vision" of success they hold. Folk are also inundated with the "mission" of new releases, services, entrepreneurs and officeholders.

Varsities too are requiring candidates to submit their personal "mission statement" and "vision statement." It becomes clear that mission and vision statements help guide us in vital and common-or-garden choices if it's a product, service or establishment. Similarly crucial to most is that these statements reflect the personality of the person one is working with. "It is about identifying your purpose in the present and your focus for your desired future. It's a worthwhile effort that may help you with outlining the "why" of you in a way that your folks, varsity, business or clients can simply understand" writes Don Midgett, writer of Mission and Vision Statements : Your Path to a profitable business Future. "The real pay off is in the liberty that develops due to this clarification.

It becomes a tough tool for success in any selected use." As Susan Oslin, owner of MMM Creative, a graphic Internet and multimedia design firm, announced after completing her mission statement, "It was a revelation.

When I was finished I was effervescent with joy and pride about my business and its direction. I was so thrilled about what I had achieved with the method I proceeded to split it with everybody close to me." Good call making is another by- product of a well outlined private mission statement and vision statement. An example is this private firefighter mission statement : "We meet the fire at its weak points, knocking it out, not giving it an opportunity. We think we know the fire and use the awareness of its behavior patterns to snuff it out. We are tricky and don't waste our strength. We plan our methods and predict the fire's moves. We use proved strategies and dodge bad ones. We engage the fire when we think we know we intend to overcome over the fire. We don't repeat the mistakes of other encounters.".

Leadership and better character definition are the inevitable results:

"Mission and vision statements should be directed not only to the business community but to any human enterprise, public or private, in search of a clearer understanding of the reasons for its existence. Thus Socrates-"The unexamined life is not worth living." says Dr. Curtis Brooks, Professor of Business Ethics, Old Dominion University.