By Kevin Meyer
A few months ago I wrote how Twitter and haiku can help us create focus and clarity of mission. Condensing our values, desires, and beliefs into 140 characters or seventeen syllables forces an examination of anything potentially superfluous to peel back the onion to define the core.
I'm not a big fan of Peggy Noonan, but today she wrote an interesting column on Obama and how he may be trying to do too much. I'll intentionally avoid most of the political aspects.
especially the economy, which all the polls mentioned. But I think at
bottom his problems come down to this: The Sentence. And the rough
sense people have that he's not seeing to it.
The Sentence comes from a story Clare Boothe Luce told about a
conversation she had in 1962 in the White House with her old friend
John F. Kennedy. She told him, she said, that "a great man is one
sentence." His leadership can be so well summed up in a single sentence
that you don't have to hear his name to know who's being talked about.
"He preserved the union and freed the slaves," or, "He lifted us out of
a great depression and helped to win a World War." You didn't have to
be told "Lincoln" or "FDR."
Forget 5 Sentences, try one sentence. That's really boiling it down. Of course that's looking back, and creating a focus on "one sentence" moving forward is an even more difficult exercise.
and yet too small, too off point, too base-pleading, too ideological,
too unaware of the imperatives. And there is the depressing
psychological effect of seeing government grow so much, so big, so
fast. This encourages a sense that things are out of control and cannot
be made better.
The same could be said for most bureaucracies, especially those in growth mode, whether government or private or charitable. The Man on a Mission blog, dormant for nearly two years, still has many examples of mission statements… and almost all of them are several paragraphs long.
Once again, could you condense your raison d'être into 140 characters… or 17 syllables… or one lonely sentence? I bet the effort, even if initially unsuccessful, would tell you something.
Mike says
Similar to Seth Godin’s statement that if one can not state their point of view in five words or less, they have no point of view worth listening to?
I believe this is one of the negative impacts of the soundbite culture we have created. Tell me everything I need to know about who you are and what you stand for in one sentence or else your viability is nil.
I do not agree with this attitude. (I also do not agree with Mr. Obama on practically anything. And, if you are going to write about the President, you should not preface it by removing the politics, for whatever the President says or does is inherently enmeshed in politics and can not be separated from him.)
Bruce Baker says
So much for catchball and hoshin kanri. I – the great CEO – will announce my mission statement in 17 syllables or less and if you people can’t figure out how you fit into it then all of you will be held accountable for not getting it. Don’t take this as a defense of obama — I just think that teaching transformational themes requires more than 17 syllables. I also don’t think you can boil things down to one sentence that will have traction at all levels and functions of most organizations. Not because some levels or functions are dumb – because people don’t share the same persective in most organizations (unfortunately). Why read a book or a blog that has more than 17 syllables? Because people have important and good things to say that sometimes take more than that.
The two examples aren’t very good because she is looking back at history. I think 50 yrs from now columnists will be able to characterize obama’s successes or failures in a sentence or two. I think if you went back in time you would find that lincoln and fdr had varied agendas as well (read about how diverse the new deal was). Also, Lincoln freed the slaves because he had to. He ran against the growth of slavery into the west but prefered to leave it alone where it existed if possible. He did talk about the possibility of gradual emancipation (the gov buying the slaves over time – maybe buying the last one around 1900) – he was no abolitionist. He did it to to politically isolate the confederacy from gb, and france and to placate the radical wing of the republican party.
I think it is better to evaluate mission or vision statements on content more than on word count.
martinb says
I read through some of those mission statements — painful! Does anyone ever read that crap? Stupid question. Of course not.
I offer my one-sentence all-purpose mission statement: “To be just as good as our advertisements say we are.”
Trevor says
I see Bruce’s point that 140 or 17 syllabus could squash creativity. However, I disagree with his fictional CEO’s statement “if you people can’t figure out how you fit into it…” because I don’t think a vision statement is something a person fits into.
To me, a vision statement is a direction, not an action. Actions are things people fit into. Ex: “I’m going to build a wall, now how does your skill fit into that?” Wall building is an action. Either your skills assist or they don’t. If all you know is sewing fabric, you have no role.
But, a vision statement is a direction, such as “We’re going to become famous for our customer service.” That’s something everyone is qualified to do. Not everyone is willing. Some people are slimeballs and they don’t fit that culture and will have to leave. But, should they choose to develop empathy, they could stay, regardless of who they are. Also, the example of a direction assumes the hearer is pre-qualified. If I’m providing wall building services that are famous for the customer service we offer, then no tailor will ever hear my vision statement. I wouldn’t have hired them.