Why have a mission or a vision?
They just sit in the draw and gather dust!

So what are they and what's the difference?
More importantly why bother having one?

According to Deena Katz in her book On Practice Management,

• a mission statement is a blueprint of a company and
• a vision statement is an architectural rendering of what the company will look like once it is successfully established.

So there is a difference.

Lets get real with this rather than be academic

In my work with businesses I ask management what's their vision and mission.

Most come up with things like ...

• meeting customer needs
• quality service
• low cost 

They all sound the same (but that's another story) 

There was a TV commercial I remember, from the tech boom days, with a guy in the black overcoat coat, who is getting dressed for the day. He's talking about this new product and how great it is. He finishes getting dressed and reaches into a closet full of black overcoats coats, puts it coat on, and as he is heading out the door he finishes up explaining the new product by saying:

"... and it's my job to tell the world about it."

I mean, how much more simple can it be?

1. Know your product/servce
2. Tell the world about it

Pretty awesome mission if you ask me.

What's your mission?
How simple is it?