Out With The Mission Statement, In With The Manifesto

If you add up all the time Cadria team members have spent helping clients define their corporate mission statements, it’s safe to say that we have lost at least one good lifetime. Don't get us wrong; we don't think mission statements are bad things. We just think they’re incomplete (oh, and usually very painful to create). How can a one or two sentence statement provide a complete picture of a company's purpose, goals, and beliefs? It can't. That's why many years ago we started defining company manifestos (and no, not the Unabomber kind). A manifesto is made up of a series of "We believe..." statements that summarize, as holistically as possible, the beliefs, attitudes and aspirations of a company, project, product/service, or brand. It isn't limited by length or word count, just your imagination.

Cadria has two manifestos - one for the external world that communicates who we are as a company and one for our daily office life that reminds us why and how we do what we do. Below is our company manifesto - take a look and let us know what you think:

• We believe the world is in motion and so are we
• We believe that from great experiences come great response rates
• We believe even a small move can be radical
• We believe in attitude without arrogance
• We believe the audience is listening — so say something worth hearing
• We believe curiosity did NOT kill the cat
• We believe in action over reaction
• We believe that inspiration comes from anywhere, and takes you everywhere
• We believe our passion comes from our people
• We believe being professional does not mean being stuffy
• We believe there are many ways to measure success
• We believe success comes from doing the right thing
• We believe in elevating the audience, not diminishing the experience
• We believe true insight comes from asking the right questions
• We believe customer service is a requirement, not an option
• We believe great ideas are contagious
• We believe open minds fill blank pages

The next time you are asked to define a mission statement, try crafting a manifesto instead. We guarantee that it will be more accurate, complete and creative. At the very least, you'll find it to be a far less painful activity. Good luck and have fun.