Mission and vision statements

Do you know that many top business corporations carry “Malasakit” in their corporate core values list? This is beautiful and I am all for it. “Malasakit” doesn’t even have an appropriate English word equivalent that can give it justice for its full meaning.

I have done so many corporate trainings on corporate values for the executives and front liners. Malasakit and Bayanihan are virtues that are distinctively Filipino and in my opinion, really beautiful. A company’s vision and mission statements speak a lot about its corporate core values.

The vision statement is simply a story written in advance. It is a picture of what the leaders of the company want to see happen one day. This is movable. This can be changed.

A client of mine from many years ago made a vision statement of being in the top three in their industry within the next 3 years. A couple of years later, he invited me to speak and told me he had to change and alter their vision statement because it was fairly obvious that the goal could not be achieved.

Another client of mine achieved their goal early and had to change their vision statement. They had to raise the bar and hit higher goals.

And so a vision statement can be changed, and it should.

The mission statement tells the reason as to why you wake up in the morning and go to work. This should not change, this should be the legacy. The successors should care for this legacy and make sure that the nobility of the mission is maintained and passed on to the next generation.

With this as a background, allow me to present to you the founding mission statement of a prestigious university. You might want to guess the name of this university.

This is their founding mission statement:

“Let every student be plainly instructed, and earnestly pressed, to consider well that the main end of his life and studies is to know God and Jesus Christ which is eternal life (John 17:3), and therefore to lay Christ in the bottom, as the only foundation of all sound knowledge and learning.”

This university ranks as one of the best in its field, always dominating in worldwide rankings. And I had the privilege of taking up a short course in this university.

Have you guessed the university’s name? It’s the Harvard University.

Now, this is what fascinates me.

I have read that some New England pastors were so concerned that Harvard drifted away from their original mission.

Then these pastors went to a philanthropist whom they shared their concerns and views with. Their meeting led to the birth of another prestigious university.

The name of the philanthropist is Elihu Yale, and of course, the name of the university carries his name. And its motto? Lux et Veritas, meaning light and truth.

Although they don’t fit in what their respective founders initially dreamed, both universities remain academically strong and excellent at present. They have drifted from their original mission and many young people would not believe that these institutions of high learning were based on biblical directives.

A mission statement should not only be an ornament in a website or a plaque on a wall, it should be lived out and lived up. A mission statement prepares the legacy for the future generations.

(Spend two life-transforming days with Francis Kong learning leadership and life skills as he present Level Up Leadership on Nov. 18-19 at EDSA Shangri-La Hotel. For further inquiries, contact Inspire at 09158055910 or call 632-6310912 for details.)