Many people mistakenly believe that companies exist to make money, and while this is an important reason for a company's existence, we have to go further and find the real reason we exist. They contribute to society, which sounds old-fashioned, but it's a fundamental value of the company's existence.
—HEWLETT-Packard co-founder Dave Packard
Author: Dong Chao--Director of Management Consulting of Tongxin Power
I often see some chicken soup articles about mission, which makes everyone feel very vain when they mention this topic now, and today, I want to start with what is mission. The word mission can often be heard in work and life, but everyone's understanding of the mission is not the same, some say it is responsibility, some say it is responsibility, and some directly take the mission of the enterprise as the definition of the mission.
In fact, there are many synonyms of mission, such as "original intention, belief, meaning, purpose" and so on, sometimes, mission can be said to be a feeling, is the meaning of overriding interests, if the mission is a feeling, then we must not fall into the misunderstanding:
Feelings are emotions;
Affection is to do charity;
Feelings are moral kidnapping;
Feelings are the slogan.
What is this sentiment?
Feelings are the original heart;
Feelings are the common will of everyone;
Feelings are the measure of "for" and "not for";
Feelings are created based on value.
Looking at the hundreds of definitions of mission in academia, the more authoritative statement is that "the mission expresses the meaning of the organization's existence, the purpose and intention of the organization, it is the fundamental reason for all the activities of the organization, and it is a concentrated reflection of the ultimate responsibility of the organization."
The mission mainly answers three questions:
Who – Who am I? For whom?
What – What do I do?
Why – Why?
After the mission is clear, let's take a look at what questions the mission, vision, and values answer.
Mission is our original intention and the meaning of existence, vision is where we are going in the future, and values are the value guidance and action principles for us to practice our mission and realize our vision.
The mission is hierarchical, from the country and political parties, to the enterprise, and then to everyone, each of them has its own mission.
Today we explore from the perspective of organizations and individuals, why should there be a sense of mission?
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="37" >1. Why should organizations (enterprises) have a sense of mission? </h1>
First, what is an organization or enterprise?
A group of people come together and exist as an institution that can work together to accomplish something they can't do alone.
So what are the fundamental values of existence as an organization?
More and more excellent entrepreneurs have gradually reached a consensus on this proposition, which can be borrowed from HP co-founder Dave Lee. A passage from Dave Packard:
"Many people mistakenly believe that companies exist to make money, and while that's an important reason a company exists, we have to go further and find the real reason we exist." They contribute to society, which sounds old-fashioned, but it's a fundamental value of the company's existence. ”
In fact, it is not difficult to understand that enterprises that can continue to contribute to society will be continuously needed by society, and the study found that the general life expectancy of a profit-seeking enterprise will not exceed 30 years, so if you want to become a century-old store, you must maintain a long-term sense of social responsibility and continue to contribute to society. This is also in line with the current very hot ESG concept advocacy in the world.
(Note: ESG is a proper noun in responsible investment, which is an acronym for the three English words of Environmental, Social, and Governance.) ESG is an important criterion for measuring whether a listed company has sufficient social responsibility. ）
So what is the relationship between making money and mission?
LEGO CEO Jogan Jorgen Knudstorp said this:
"While we need to make money, the LEGO Group has a deeper mission. Our mission is to change children's lives by bringing them a great play experience, and we want to bring that enjoyable experience to every child on the planet. Money is like oxygen in the body, we don't need to actively breathe air, oxygen will naturally enter our body; we don't need to think about how to make money, making money is the result of our natural existence after completing our mission. In turn, making money is our ticket to this mission. ”
Enterprises make money like people eating, which belongs to the most instinctive needs, but if people are just for eating, what is the meaning of life? On the basis of a full meal, we must always think about how to achieve our mission.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="37" >2. Why do individuals need a sense of mission? </h1>
Let's first think back to what time we get up every morning, whether there is difficulty getting out of bed, and the alarm clock rings and turns off. According to social surveys, a considerable number of people are currently like this, suffering from difficulty getting out of bed and procrastination, as if everything is not done until the last moment, and they have to do it because they are punished. When asked why they work, the answer is often more than just making money and nothing else.
We will find that when we lack a sense of mission, we will naturally enter a state of confusion, and the work that only makes money will become more and more tired and physically and mentally exhausted.
And those excellent people, the world's top entrepreneurs, many of them are up at 4 o'clock in the morning every day, why do these people who have long been financially free still fight so hard, this is their inner mission power driven, the more determined the mission, the more powerful the action.
According to a survey by a research group in the world, 80% of people are not satisfied with their lives, and the other 20% of the group is satisfied with their lives, and they have a clear understanding of the purpose of life, that is, their personal mission, and the meaning of life and life.
Some say that 20 percent of the population must be rich, and 80 percent of them are all poor. Non also.
A considerable number of 80% of people are noble people with status, status and money, but they are still dissatisfied with their lives, as if there is nothing in life that can excite them.
There are also many people at the bottom of the 20% of the population, but they are happy and fulfilling every day because they find the meaning of what they do.
There were once two cleaners who had two very different answers when faced with questions:
Q: What are you doing? What do you think of your work?
The first one dodged, feeling that the questioner was humiliating her, and replied: I am a street sweeper with nothing to say.
The second, with a firm gaze and a hint of pride and excitement in his eyes, replied, "I am trying to make our city cleaner."
In fact, we work the same, the same people who do the same work, may not be able to find the value and meaning of their work, and those who find it, not only have more passion for themselves, but also open up the gap with the people around them.
So:
Only find your mission,
in order to clarify the true meaning of your life;
In order to make you full of passion, morale and fun;
to be clear about what you should do and how to do it.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="37" >3, How do you find your mission?</h1>
How to find their mission is a subject that confuses most people, and some people have been looking for decades, but they still don't understand what they live for, and finally spend their lives in disappointment.
Method 1: Adam Liepzig, founder and CEO of MediaU Education Group, has created a relatively simple method that can be completed in 5 minutes, which locks in your personal mission by answering five questions.
The logic behind this method is to start from the definition of the mission, refine the three questions answered by the mission, enrich it into 5 questions, follow the heart, find the answers to these five questions, and you can find your mission.
Method 2: The creators of this method believe that the mission exists in everyone's subconscious, and that it may only emerge when emotions reach their extremes, and that once they encounter reality or external interference, they are perfectly hidden.
So, he used one method, the spell hypothesis, to use the assumption to throw away the interfering factors (the spell), and then to explore the real thoughts of the heart more directly.
The first spell: the spell of throwing away money
Answer the question: If all the jobs in the world were the same income, what would you choose to do?
Go through this question and find something that really interests you. When you answer this question, you may have an urge to wait until the income is the same before doing it, why not do it now? Endogenous power is generated.
The second spell: the "children" spell
Answer the question: What do you want your child to do later and don't want to do?
This problem directly reflects one's inner yearning, often what one wants to do but does not do, so as to pin it on the child as a continuation of hope.
The third spell: the "Ten Years of Yang Shou" spell
In the setting of this question, he did not take the setting of "1 day" and "1 year", and the answer to such a setting is generally to eat, drink, consume, and spend time with his family, without anything related to his career. And after too long, the answer will become very confusing.
So, the ultimate question is: if you only have 10 years left, how will you spend it so that you have no regrets in your life?
At this time, the answer is that there will be self-worth realization content in addition to personal pleasure and accompanying relatives, such as some people changing careers, becoming writers, and writing books is what they really want to do. Some people want to become psychological counseling experts, financial masters, etc., and some people, find that they still like the career they are engaged in now, and they will wind themselves up and achieve the goal in their hearts, I want to become the top expert in the industry in 10 years.
If you understand these methods, please give yourself half a day, find an independent space, calm down, answer these questions, explore what you want to do most in your heart, set 10-year goals, break down annual goals, and refine them into specific plans, so that your mission will not only be found, but also, the rest of your life, will be confident and fulfilling!