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What is the difference between a Vision and a Mission?

What is the difference between a Vision and a Mission?

Asked by EntreOasisSponsor Content Deputy Champion Group - EntreOasis Group - MediaSpark Group - GoVenture Group - Cisco Contributor5465 on Oct 20, 2008 23:01 EDT

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May 17, 2009 10:18 EDT
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A business Vision Statement describes WHERE you are aiming at going; while the Mission Statement tells HOW you are doing it.

So the Vision Statement helps you and the reader to know when you have reached you destination or how far you are from there. Many business experts would argue that an effective Vision Statement is the one which simply answers a direct question: "What Business Are You In?". Yet it has to be attractive to not say motivating, in fact a good Vision Statement generates a positive reaction and would inspire the readers.

On the other hand, the Mission Statement communicates to the stakeholders (employees, partners, shareholders, customers, friends, family . . .) how you are working on going there, and it should help the reader to align with your goals.

Remember that in business we interact with people because there is an alignment in our goals, objectives and even sense of purpose, your mission and vision statements are a way to give the means to others to either align with your sense of purpose or help them understand it, to do so both statements should give them a sense of meaning.

But because you would express the WHERE and the HOW, it would be wise to add another valuable element and that is the WHY.

That why is expressed in terms of “ Values statement”, some companies choose to literally add a “Values statement “, I generally prefer to articulate a mission and/ or vision statement around the values the company believes in, works by, and the values brought to the Stakeholders.

A good advice I may share is what Steven Covey says about the importance of mission and vision statements, "Begin with the end in mind!"

Apr 15, 2009 23:31 EDT
Thread 1

Generally, a vision statement identifies where you want to go and the mission statement describes how you plan to get there.

For example: Vision Statement: "To be North America's leading manufacturer of widgets."

Mission Statement: "To develop the lightest and most reliable widgets in the automotive industry."

A vision statement tends to be more blue-sky and less measurable. Notice the term "leading" is not exactly defined. Is it revenue, innovation, etc.? A mission statement is more specific and can be measured to track progress. “Lightest and most reliable” provides specific differentiators which are measurable compared to competitive offerings.

Dec 18, 2008 16:32 EDT
Thread 2