A good mission statement is quick, short, and sticks in people's brains. What purpose are you working toward every day? Here's an example we love from Apple.
To make a contribution to the world by making tools for the mind that advance humankind.
A vision statement expresses the long-term aspiration of a company. What change do they want to make in the world? Here's Amazon's first version.
Our vision is to be earth's most customer-centric company; to build a place where people can come to find and discovery anything they want to buy online.
It's great to have a set of qualities that define the way you want to work. Here's an example we like from the good folks at Stripe.
Our users entrust us with their money, their businesses, and their livelihoods. Millions of businesses around the world (individuals, startups, and large enterprises) are open for business only if we are. When we mess up, miss a deadline, or slow down, it matters. We take that responsibility seriously.
By the standards of the rest of the world, we overtrust. We’re okay with that.
Through the tools that we build, we want to push the world to create better products and services.
We care about being right and it often takes reasoning from first principles to get there.
Stripes do what’s best for the organization overall.
We are micro pessimists but macro optimists.