What is a mission statement?

Why a mission statement matters

Most companies can tell you what they do. "We sell software." "We run restaurants." "We manufacture components." But when someone asks for more, it gets fuzzy. Which customers? What need? Why you and not someone else?

A mission statement gives the answer. Not the polished answer that goes in the annual report, but the honest answer that describes how money actually comes in and value actually gets created.

Without a clear mission statement, something odd happens. People in the organization start telling different stories about what the company does. Sales says one thing to customers. Operations believes something else. Management describes a third version at the board meeting. Everyone's right in their own way, but nobody has the full picture.

It creates problems that look like something else. A new employee asks what you actually do and gets three different answers. A potential customer visits the website and can't quite figure out what you offer. The board wonders why you're losing customers in segment A when you're investing in segment B.

The problem isn't communication. The problem is the mission statement is unclear.

A clear mission statement creates alignment on three levels. It makes it possible for everyone in the organization to tell the same story about what you do. It helps customers understand if you can solve their problems. And it gives management a foundation to make decisions on.

When someone proposes a new product, you can ask: does it fit our mission statement? When someone wants to target a new customer group, you can reason: are these our customers? When someone proposes a new delivery model, you can determine: is this how we create value?

The mission statement isn't the strategy. It's the foundation for the strategy. You can't decide where to go until you know where you stand.

How a mission statement differs from vision and growth goal

It's easy to mix up mission statement with vision or growth goal. All three are about the business, but they look in different directions.

The vision points forward and describes what happens for customers when you succeed. It's a future picture, five to ten years out, showing the customer value you want to create. "Every home has access to clean energy at a reasonable cost" is a vision. It describes a world that doesn't exist yet.

The mission statement points to the present and describes what you do right now. Which customers you serve, what problem you solve, and how you deliver. "We deliver solar panel installations to detached houses in central Sweden with installation and service included" is a mission statement. It describes what's actually happening today.

The growth goal points to the coming years and describes which development is most important to take the next step. It's the bridge between now and the future. "We have established ourselves in apartment buildings and expanded throughout Sweden" is a growth goal. It describes the development in between.

The difference becomes even clearer when you look at the time aspect. If the vision describes where you are in ten years and the growth goal describes where you are in three years, the mission statement describes where you are now. Not last week, not next quarter, but right now.

It also means the mission statement must be true. The vision can be ambitious. The growth goal can be challenging. But the mission statement must be honest. If you write that you serve large enterprises but 80 percent of customers are small businesses, the mission statement doesn't match reality. Then every decision made based on it will be wrong.

How a mission statement connects to the rest of the strategy

The mission statement is the foundation of the strategy. Not because it's more important than other things, but because it describes the starting point. You can't plan a journey without knowing where you start.

The vision shows the destination. The mission statement shows the starting point. The growth goal shows the next milestone. The strategic objectives show which concrete results are needed to get there. And the conditions show what must be in place for it to work.

When the mission statement is unclear, everything else becomes shaky. If you don't know which customers you have today, how will you know which customers you want tomorrow? If you don't know which problem you solve now, how will you know which problem you should solve next? If you don't know how you deliver value today, how will you know how to develop the delivery?

An example shows how it connects. A consulting firm has a vision that "every organization can make strategic decisions based on real insight." That's long-term and about customer value. Their mission statement says "we help growth companies in the tech industry structure and analyze their business data through advisory and tools." That's concrete and describes what they do today.

Now they can formulate a growth goal: "We have developed a method that makes it possible for companies to get started with data-driven management in weeks instead of months." That's the next step from where they are now toward where they want to be.

If the mission statement had been vague, "we help companies with data," the growth goal would also be vague. Which companies? Help with what? In what way? Then you can't determine what the next step actually is.

The mission statement also creates clarity in the organization. When everyone knows which customers you serve, it becomes easier for sales to prioritize. When everyone knows which problem you solve, it becomes easier for operations to deliver the right quality. When everyone knows how you deliver, it becomes easier to see what needs to be developed.

That's why you often start with the mission statement when developing a strategy. Not because it's the first step in execution, but because it's the first step in understanding.

How to formulate a mission statement

A mission statement should be simple to understand and impossible to misunderstand. That sounds obvious but is surprisingly difficult. Most attempts become either too broad ("we create value for customers") or too detailed ("we deliver cloud-based SaaS solutions with API integrations for enterprise customers in the DACH region").

A good mission statement answers three questions without complicating it. Here's how.

1. Who do you serve?

This is the first and most important question. Who are your customers? Not which customers you'd like to have or which customers would be cool to have, but which customers actually pay you today.

Be concrete. "Companies" isn't concrete. "Growth companies with 20 to 200 employees in the tech industry" is concrete. "Consumers" isn't concrete. "Parents with preschool-age children living in houses" is concrete.

If you have multiple customer groups, it's okay to mention them. But if you have more than three, the mission statement starts getting unclear. Then the question is: do you really serve all these groups, or is one just five percent of revenue?

A common trap is describing customers you want rather than customers you have. A company writes "we serve large international corporations" when 90 percent of customers are Swedish small businesses. That's not a mission statement, it's a wish. The mission statement should describe reality.

Another mistake is being too broad to avoid excluding anyone. "We serve everyone who needs our offering" says nothing. A clear mission statement actively excludes. That's the point. By saying who you serve, you also say who you don't serve.

2. What problem do you solve?

This is the core of value creation. What happens for the customer when they buy from you? What need is met? What pain disappears? What opportunity opens up?

Describe the problem in the customer's language, not your own. "We provide integrated logistics solutions" is your language. "We make sure the right goods are in the right place at the right time" is the customer's language. One sounds professional but says nothing. The other is simple but clear.

The problem should be real, not invented. Many companies try to create problems customers didn't know they had. That can work as a strategy, but it's not the mission statement. The mission statement describes the problem you actually solve for the customers you actually have.

One test is to ask ten random customers why they buy from you. If they all say the same thing, that's probably the problem you solve. If they all say different things, you either have multiple mission statements or none at all.

The problem doesn't need to be dramatic. "We make sure small businesses don't have to think about accounting" is a perfectly fine problem. It's not world-saving, but it's real and someone pays to have it solved.

3. How do you deliver your offering?

This answers how you create the value. Not every detail in the process, but the core mechanism of how value moves from you to the customer.

Do you deliver a product? A service? A combination? Does it happen on-site or digitally? Do you sell direct or through partners? Is it one-time deliveries or ongoing relationships?

This is where many mission statements become too long. You want to explain everything. But the mission statement should give the overview, not the details. "We deliver through a combination of standard products and customized advisory" is enough. You don't need to explain the entire delivery model.

An important part here is describing what makes your delivery special. Not unique in the sense that no one else does it, but special in the sense that it's how you do it. Maybe you deliver faster than others. Maybe you have close relationships with customers. Maybe you automate parts that others do manually.

This isn't a competitive advantage you invent. It's what actually happens in the business. If you claim you have close customer relationships but sales meets customers twice a year, it doesn't match.

Put the pieces together

When you have answers to the three questions, you put them together into one or two sentences. Not more. If it takes a whole paragraph to explain the mission statement, it's too complicated.

A formula that works: "We help [customer group] to [solve problem] through [delivery method]."

Example: "We help growth companies in the tech industry structure and analyze their business data through advisory and tools."

You can also flip it: "For [customer group] who need [solve problem], we offer [delivery method]."

Example: "For small businesses that need professional accounting without hiring an accountant, we offer a digital service with personal support."

Both work. Choose the one that feels most natural for your business.

One last thing: test the mission statement on someone outside the organization. If they understand what you do immediately, it works. If they need explanation, it's not ready yet.

Examples of mission statements

Common to all examples is that they answer the three questions: for whom, what problem, how. They're concrete enough that someone can determine if they're the right customer or not. And they're honest about what actually happens, not what would be nice to happen.

Common mistakes

Formulating a mission statement seems simple but is harder than it looks. Most make the same mistakes, often because they try to say too much or too little. Here are the most common ones.

The mission statement is too broad

"We create value for our customers through innovative solutions."

This could be any company. Which customers? What value? What solutions? A mission statement that fits everyone fits no one. It should be delimited enough that someone can say "that's not for me."

If you can't point to a specific customer group you do NOT serve, the mission statement is too broad.

The mission statement focuses on you

"We are a leading company in our industry with long experience and high competence."

This describes you, not what you do for customers. The mission statement should answer what happens for the customer when they buy from you, not how good you are. Save that for marketing.

The mission statement is full of buzzwords

"We enable digital transformation journeys through agile methodologies and cutting edge technology to drive customer excellence."

Translate that to plain English without industry jargon and see what's left. Probably not much. A mission statement should be understandable to a ten-year-old, or at least to your grandmother.

The mission statement describes how you want to be, not how you are

"We help companies worldwide solve their biggest challenges."

If 100 percent of customers are in Sweden and 80 percent of the problems you solve are fairly small, the mission statement doesn't match. It's an aspiration, not a description of the current state. The mission statement must be true today.

The mission statement mixes levels

"We want to become the natural choice for customers seeking sustainable alternatives and therefore we offer products with low climate impact through shorter supply chains."

That's a mix of vision ("become the natural choice"), mission statement ("offer products with low climate impact"), and delivery model ("shorter supply chains"). Keep the levels separate. The mission statement describes only the present.

The mission statement is too long

If it takes three sentences to explain the mission statement, it's too complicated. One sentence, max two. If you need more than that to include everything, you probably have multiple mission statements or you're trying to explain too many details.

The mission statement doesn't mention the customer

"We manufacture components with high precision through advanced machine technology."

Okay, but for whom? Who buys the components? What problem do they solve? A mission statement without a customer isn't a mission statement, it's a description of what you do internally.

The mission statement doesn't take a position

"We work with both small businesses and large corporations, in both B2B and B2C, and offer both products and services depending on customer needs."

If everything is possible, nothing is clear. A mission statement involves choices. It should show what you actually do most of, not all possibilities that exist.

Common questions and answers

What is the purpose of a mission statement?

The purpose is to create clarity about what the organization actually does today. Not what it wants to do, not what it could do, but what it does. It helps everyone in the organization tell the same story, helps customers understand if you can solve their problems, and gives management a foundation to make decisions on.

How often should you update the mission statement?

The mission statement should be updated when the business changes fundamentally. If you change customer group, start solving a different problem, or change delivery model, the mission statement needs adjustment. But it shouldn't happen often. If you change mission statement every year, you probably don't have a stable business. If you never change it despite the business evolving, it no longer describes reality.

Can you have multiple mission statements?

Yes, if you actually run multiple different businesses. A company that both manufactures products and runs consulting operations can have two mission statements. But be careful. Most who think they have multiple mission statements actually have one mission statement that's unclearly formulated. If you can describe everything you do in one coherent sentence, it's probably one mission statement, not several.

How do you know if the mission statement is good?

Test it in three ways. First, read it aloud to someone outside the business. Do they understand what you do immediately? Second, ask ten customers why they buy from you. Do their answers match your mission statement? Third, use it to make a real decision. Does it help you determine if an opportunity fits or not? If the answer is yes to all three, the mission statement is good.

Should the mission statement be public?

Yes. The mission statement describes what you do, it's not a secret. It should be on the website, in presentations to new customers, in onboarding materials for new employees. If you can't openly share your mission statement, something's wrong with it.

What's the difference between mission statement and value proposition?

The mission statement describes the entire business: who you serve, what problem you solve, and how you deliver. The value proposition focuses on what the customer gets from it. The mission statement is broader and describes the business model. The value proposition is narrower and describes the benefit.

How does the mission statement relate to the business model?

The mission statement describes what you do and for whom. The business model describes how you make money from it. The mission statement can be the same but the business model can differ (subscription, one-time purchase, licensing, etc). But they're connected. A clear mission statement makes it easier to design a working business model.

What happens if the mission statement doesn't match reality?

Then you make decisions based on wrong information. If the mission statement says you serve large enterprises but most customers are small, all strategic choices will be wrong. Product development builds for large customers. Marketing speaks to large customers. Pricing is for large customers. But the customers are small. It doesn't add up. That's why the mission statement must be honest.

Does everyone in the organization need to know the mission statement?

Yes. Not necessarily word for word, but everyone should be able to explain what you do, for whom, and how. If an employee can't answer the three questions, they don't know what the company actually does. Then their work becomes more random. A clear mission statement enables everyone to make decisions that go in the same direction.

A mission statement describes how the organization creates value for its customers today. It answers three questions: Who do you serve? What problem do you solve? How do you deliver your offering? The mission statement is the foundation of the strategy. Without it, you can't know where to go, because you don't know where you stand.

With a clear mission statement, it becomes easier to make consistent decisions, easier to communicate what you do, and easier to develop the business in the right direction. It creates alignment in the organization and clarity for customers. And it makes it possible to formulate a meaningful strategy.

When the mission statement is clear and honest, it can become the foundation that holds even when everything else changes. It's not a guarantee of success. But it's a prerequisite for knowing what success means in your business.