Mission statements have become popular in recent years. Every business and organization thinks they need one. However, there is nothing magic about a mission statement. As with most things, it is what you make of it.

Creating a Mission Statement and Setting Goals helps you create a statement that is meaningful for your organization and provides guidance for the success of your business. Additional information on helping you design successful statements is contained in Strategic Overview.

For more information on this topic, see the links listed below of articles posted on related Web sites.

Mission Statement

• Focusing your Dreams: Creating a Mission Statement – University of Maryland Extension -- Mission statements are popular in today's business world.
  
• Developing Vision and Mission Statements – Purdue University Extension -- Looks at the underlying reason for a business to exist, its vision and mission.
  
• Developing a Mission Statement – Business Owner’s Toolkit -- A company mission statement can be a powerful force to clearly define your company's purpose for existence.
  
• How to Write a Mission Statement – The Grantsmanship Center -- Every organization has a purpose or reason for existence.
  
• Mission Statement – Businessplans.org -- The mission statement should be a clear, succinct representation of the enterprise's purpose for existence.
  
• How to Develop a Mission Statement – Leader to Leader Institute -- Changing the mission, or creating an organization's first mission statement, is a process of gathering ideas and suggestions for the mission and honing them into a short, sharply focused phrase that meets specific criteria.

Mission and Vision

• Why Vision Matters More Than Ever – HBS Working Knowledge -- A clear corporate vision, not a vision statement, improves organizational performance and attracts top talent.
  
• Creating a Vision – Education Leadership Toolkit -- When visioning, ask yourself, "What is our preferred future?"
  
• Mission, Values and Vision – Small Business Notes -- Some of the most overused and misunderstood words in the planning lingo are mission, vision and values.

Goals and Objectives

• Farm and Ranch Goal Setting (Strategic Planning) – Kansas State University Extension
• Goals Setting – Kansas State University Extension -- How do people set realistic goals and expectations? One way to make goals more realistic is to begin by examining values. Values guide our day-to-day ways of feeling, thinking and behaving.
  
• How to Use Goals to Achieve Business Success – Purdue University Extension -- Goals and objectives are particularly useful in starting a business.
  
• Defining your Business through Goals and Objectives – Purdue University Extension -- How a new venture will fit with your personal and business goals.
  
• Setting Group Goals – Montana State University Extension -- One measure of group effectiveness is how well a group accomplishes its goals.
  
• Setting Goals and Objectives – Education Leadership Toolkit -- Goals are simply a clear statement of the vision, specifying the accomplishments to be achieved if the vision is to become real.