Have you defined your company foundation? The foundation consists of a clear vision, mission, and values. Do you know why they are important?
It is easy to start a company without defining the vision, mission, and values. However, it will be hard to sustain a business without defining them. These 3 components are the foundation of your business.
What is Vision?
The vision defines your grand long term goal for the business. What universal problem are you solving?
Melissa Kay Jones vision: Leaders Creating Legacies
What is Mission?
The mission defines what your business is and how you will accomplish your goal to achieve your vision. A peer once said it can be defined with this simple formula “We do X, by Y to achieve Z.”
Melissa Kay Jones mission: Empowering founders to create lasting legacies by learning how to lead better and improve systems.
What are Values?
The values define the behavior your business takes to implement your mission and achieve your vision. The values are filters for the decisions you make and the actions you take.
Melissa Kay Jones values:
- Celebrate the Small Things – gratitude, beauty in the ordinary
- Choose Love over Fear – seek to understand instead of defend, think big picture
- Connect the Dots – look outside the box, transfer ideas, plant seeds, reflect and refine,
- Embrace Challenges – look for opportunities to grow, stay curious, friction refines
- Lead with Excellence – lead by example, show instead of tell, attention to detail
- Shine Bright – Don’t be afraid to be first, to light the way, to stand up, to shine
The challenge for businesses is staying true to your vision, mission, and values. You will get distracted by flashy opportunities, partnerships, incentives, etc. Instead, use your values and mission as a filter, so you don’t go down the wrong path.
Note: These values will most likely be refined, but the important part is starting.
When I led our quarterly planning sessions for Mastermind members we started with mission and values. Then aligned our business goals to the mission and values. This allowed us to stay focused and intentional with our plans for growth.
Your Turn
What are your business vision, mission, and values?
