Why crafting a mission statement in the beginning of your business is crucial to a successful ending

 by Heath Frantzen

Delta Business Services

“I believe that purpose and principle, clearly understood and articulated, and commonly shared, are the genetic code of any healthy organization. To the degree that you hold purpose and principles in common among you, you can dispense with command and control. People will know how to behave in accordance with them, and they’ll do it in thousands of unimaginable, creative ways. The organization will become a vital, living set of beliefs.” - Dee Hock

One of the most oft-repeated pieces of business advice ever was written by author and corporate trainer Stephen Covey, who admonished us to “begin with the end in mind.”

Covey believed that the critical piece of beginning at the end involved a carefully conceived and constructed mission statement.  He observed:

“If you don’t set your goals based upon your Mission Statement, you may be climbing the ladder of success only to realize, when you get to the top, you’re on the WRONG BUILDING.”

Covey posited that there is a two-step creation process for all things: a mental creation and a physical creation that follows the mental just as a building follows a blueprint.  If you fail to develop a firm visualization of who you are and what you want to get out of life, you give carte blanche to others to define you, mold you,  and impose their visions on your life.    

The default setting for having no understanding of your own uniqueness, values, and personal guidelines is to be forever at the mercy of the whims of those around you.

This is certainly true for business owners and you can see it happening all the time.

Without even realizing it, business owners who have developed no clear idea of who they are or what they want their business to become often find themselves limping along, putting out fires, and stuck in survival mode.   

They can barely get through the present; much less put any thought into the future.  Most of them have no plans in place for the day when they will want or need to leave the businesses.

Often times, the lack of business succession planning can be directly linked to the fact that the business never had a personal mission or purpose statement in place.

Many small to mid-sized business owners balk at the idea of developing a personal mission statement, believing it to be some kind of New Agey fluff or a high-minded exercise for the Fortune 500 crowd.

However, research has shown that truly successful people have clarity of thought and purpose and a well-defined sense of who they are in the world.  They tend to see themselves as a brand to be developed, nurtured and cultivated

(get the rest of this free report at http://www.deltabusinessservices.com )