Mission statements take a million different forms and identify hundreds of different values and character traits from Ben Franklins frugality and cleanliness to Gandhi's refusal to fear any man to Bombeck's pursuit of less uptightness and more stop-and-smell-the-roses, to name a few famous examples. The efficiency gurus now in vogue would have us believe that such mission statements are a good thing, but I'm not so sure.
Most missions seem to emphasize values while ignoring morals or wisdom (not that I think the people listed above were guilty of such an oversight). To make this clear, imagine the mission statement of someone you most patently do NOT admire; a hated politico, a monsterous mad man from history's vast pantheon, even a fictional fiend from Hollywood or the Brothers Grimm. Could your archetype of ignobility write a mission statement with values like industriousness, creativity, health, and self-improvement? Probably. And such a set of goals and values would have only made them more effective at doing that for which you despise them.
Let us, then, pursue morals and wisdom, you may reply. I agree, but whose morals and what wisdom? How do we correctly identify the correct morals and obtain true wisdom. The followers of every charismatic killer in history have pursued morals and wisdom of a sort the rest of the world decries.
