Business Vision and Mission Statements That Stir Inspiration

Conveying Your Business Values

We prefer brands we can relate to and understand. Company values play a vital role on this front.

How do you, as a business owner, convey that to your audience? Your company’s vision and mission statements.

You can nurture your relationship with customers by communicating your values and standing by them. People respect authenticity. Over time, they will rely on you because of the high standards you’ve set for yourself through your vision statement.

You want customers to be proud to say they shop with you. By communicating your values, you’re giving your clients something to be proud of.

What’s a Vision Statement?

In short, a vision statement describes where the company aspires to be once it achieves its mission.

This statement doesn’t always have to refer to just ‘where’ the business will be. Often, a vision statement also describes where the company wants its community, industry or the world, to be as a result of them fulfilling its broader vision.

Vision Statements vs. Mission Statements

The best way to describe a mission statement is it’s a more action-oriented version of a vision statement. More often than not, a mission statement highlights how a company serves its customers.

• Let’s Break This Down Further

  Generally, a mission statement includes the following:

  • A broad description of who the company is
  • The function of the brand
  • The overarching objectives of the business

A mission statement clarifies the what, the who and the why of the company. It’s the blueprint that helps keep the business on track to fulfill its vision.

It’s worth noting both vision and mission statements should be continually revised. As a brand expands, its objectives usually change. As such, these statements should be modified to reflect the current goals of the business.

Business Vision Statement Examples

Let’s review company vision statement examples for three business industries:

Retailer

Take IKEA, for instance:

• Our vision is to create a better everyday life for many people.

Vision statements should be aspirational. By this, we mean that it should detail the mark you aspire to leave within your industry. IKEA ticks this box, using simple language and keeping the message concise. This makes the statement memorable and easier for employees to internalize.

Restaurant Chain

We can all learn a thing or two from McDonald’s, one of the biggest restaurant chains on the planet:

• To be the best quick service restaurant experience. Being the best means providing outstanding quality, service, cleanliness, and value so that we make every customer in every restaurant smile.

Although it isn’t as concise as IKEA’s, McDonald’s statement packs a punch.

It’s simple, clear and engaging. Best of all, it isn’t generic. Rather, it’s specific enough to give employees of the fast-food chain a sense of direction. The statement also sets a general standard of what’s expected from workers.

Another thing: McDonald’s isn’t expecting the world with its statement. This vision is achievable. Employees can evaluate everything they do alongside this statement to ensure they embody the company’s ideals.

The last thing you want to do is incorporate a slew of unattainable goals in your vision statement. Far from inspiring employees, such unachievable goals set them up for a fall, which is never good for morale.

Manufacturer

CP Manufacturing’s vision statement is a little different than the others. It’s a list of bullet points. But don’t underestimate the power of the statement, which is clear and concise:

• We will:

  • Act with honesty and integrity
  • Treat people with respect
  • Conduct all business lawfully
  • Accept individual and corporate responsibility
  • Strive for customer satisfaction
  • Improve and innovate continuously
  • Never be wasteful
  • Always work effectively and efficiently.

As with McDonald’s vision statement, CP Manufacturing spells out a standard for its workers. When employees know what’s expected of them, there is a far better chance your company’s vision will come to fruition. Be sure to bear that in mind when creating your own.

Business Mission Statement Examples

Now, let’s examine a few good mission statement examples.

Retailer

Here’s Warby Parker’s mission statement:

• To offer designer eyewear at a revolutionary price, while leading the way for socially conscious businesses.

Notice how this mission statement exudes Warby Parker’s brand while still managing to make an overarching objective abundantly clear. The target demographic is youthful, different and daring. The online retailer of prescription glasses and sunglasses picked language — “revolutionary,” for instance — to reflect that.

The statement goes to the root of the company’s objective, namely “to offer designer eyewear.” But despite looking to its founding principles, it still successfully communicates its future hopes for the industry.

There also is an extended version of Warby Parker’s mission statement:

• We believe that buying glasses should be easy and fun. It should leave you happy and good-looking, with money in your pocket.

The longer version gives Warby Parker more of a chance to showcase its corporate personality. The sentence is snappy and the lingo is deliberate.

The key takeaway here: Don’t be afraid to let your brand’s personality shine through your mission statement.

Restaurant Chain

For those of you who haven’t heard of Sweetgreen, a restaurant chain that over the years developed a supply network of small and midsize food farmers. The company offers a good example of a solid mission statement:

• To inspire healthier communities by connecting people to real food.

Not only does this mission statement make the brand’s objectives clear, but it incorporates and aligns itself with the values of its target audience.

As mission statements go, it’s very inclusive, which is excellent for drawing your audience in. Don’t forget this is another opportunity to communicate the issues you want to solve for your customers. As with Sweetgreen, be sure to explain what your brand hopes to achieve for them with your products and/or services.

Manufacturer

Circling back to CP Manufacturing, consider the company’s mission statement:

• The CP Group of Companies will provide the highest-quality end products to our customers while striving to make them the leaders in their respective industries. To guarantee our continued success, we will achieve a reasonable profit, continue to be the leader in our industry through individual and combined dedication, innovation, and integrity. We will give our employees the opportunity for both personal and professional growth.

CP Manufacturing hits on a lot of things here, which is terrific. In the space of just a few sentences, they make it very clear what they want to offer their customers. I.e., to make customers “leaders in their respective industries.”

The company goes on to explain its objective as a whole — “our continued success” — and lays out what it will do to reach that goal. Covering all the bases, the company lists the employee mission at the end of the statement

Keep these examples in mind as you draft your company’s own mission and vision statements.