Ditch Your Mission Statement. Do This Instead. | The Copy & Content Podcast with Jon Cook presented by Keynote Content

Hey, it's Jon Cook with Keynote Content. Thank you so much for joining me. For today, we're going to talk about mission statements. And frankly, I think you should just ditch whatever mission statement that you have, even if you say, "I really like it. I worked so hard on it." Hear me out here. I believe that mission statements are basically bingo sheets of buzzwords. They're this conglomeration of words that we expect to see inside a mission statement.

Now think about the last time that you looked at your mission statement. If you have a mission statement for your company, when was the last time you even looked at it? It's probably on a business plan somewhere, or maybe it's on a page of your website, and it's just there and it's just filled with a lot of buzzwords, things where you say "It doesn't really inspire me." You might say, "Okay, but what are the words we expect to see inside a mission statement?" Words like leadership and excellence and integrity.

Now, why would I pick those three words? Because those are three of the exact words that were included in Enron's mission statement. And if you're familiar with US business history, Enron was the largest corporate bankruptcy with over $50 billion of corruption, and that's billions with a capital B, that's not exaggeration, $50 billion plus in corruption. There are levels of corruption on all levels of Enron was corrupted and so when you look at leadership, excellence and integrity, their mission statement really had very little to do with how they actually operate, with how they actually built in the culture and the environment for their business.

But look at your business, look at it what it is saying, if I want to have a statement, something that really speaks to the ethos, the DNA of who I am as a leader, as an expert in my industry and how I want my team and my clients to engage with our company, how do I want to inspire them?

So take that mission statement, kind of ball it up, throw it away. What I want you to do is write a manifesto and the beauty of a manifesto is that it's tied in with something that seems to be more tied into the very depths of who we are. In a manifesto, it inspires, it can be a series... We believe statements, or it can be a poem, it could be some type of document that helps you say, "This is the guiding lens for how we see every conversation, every interaction, every opportunity with our clients, whether we say yes to something, or we say no to it, whether we say this is something we're going to pursue in the future or something, and we say this is worth living and breathing and dying and fighting for." That's what sets your lens because business and life is too short. Just work with anybody, just work with any opportunity, just to take any moment to say, "I guess we'll do that." A manifesto sets the right lens.

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Being an expert doesn't mean you automatically have an audience, especially with so much noise in the digital marketing space. You need to break through the noise and establish your message as a rising thought leader in your industry. Jon Cook has worked with over 1,100 coaches and consultants and 800 speakers to make their messages remarkably clear and compelling to the right audience, and today he wants to help you. If you want greater clarity and even better results with your message, visit workwithjoncook.com.