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Creating the organizational "mission statement" is often the subject of eye rolling for employees of businesses and social enterprises alike. Frequently "missions by committee" end up sounding dry and boring. But, as the example of John F. Kennedy's mandate to put a man on the moon and return him safely to earth shows, mission statements are critical for galvanizing and guiding the work of any group, be it a nonprofit or a nation.
In this talk, part of the 2nd Annual Nonprofit Management Institute at Stanford in September 2007, Chip Heath, Stanford business professor, shares why an organization in the social sector needs a mission, what a good mission statement should do, and what the components of a successful mission statement are. He also addresses how you avoid mission creep—the problem of getting pulled in so many worthy directions that you don't end up addressing any of them particularly well.
Chip Heath is a professor of organizational behavior at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. His research examines why certain ideas, ranging from urban legends to folk medical cures, survive and prosper in the social marketplace of ideas. He is the coauthor (along with his brother, Dan) of Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die (Random House, 2007). Heath's research has appeared in Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Cognitive Psychology, Journal of Consumer Behavior, Strategic Management Journal, Psychological Science, and the Journal of Risk and Uncertainty. Popular accounts of his research have appeared in Scientific American, the Financial Times, the Washington Post, Business Week, Psychology Today, Vanity Fair, NPR, and a National Geographic television show. He received his BS in industrial engineering from Texas A&M University and his PhD in psychology from Stanford.
This program is from our Stanford Discussions series.
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