This is the second part where I rate mission and vision statements of some of the world’s most successful corporations. For some earlier mocking, and for the rating criteria, please check out part 1 here.

If you wonder why you should bother at all, please check out my article about the intrinsic value of vision and mission statements here:Do Corporations Dream of Electric Sheep?

So with you dear reader up-to-date, let’s start with one currently in the news…

Apple

This is a recap from the sheep dreaming article. Apple introduced a new corporate vision statement under the leadership of Tim Cook, who stated the following:

We believe that we are on the face of the earth to make great products and that’s not changing. We are constantly focusing on innovating. We believe in the simple not the complex. We believe that we need to own and control the primary technologies behind the products that we make, and participate only in markets where we can make a significant contribution. We believe in saying no to thousands of projects, so that we can really focus on the few that are truly important and meaningful to us. We believe in deep collaboration and cross-pollination of our groups, which allow us to innovate in a way that others cannot. And frankly, we don’t settle for anything less than excellence in every group in the company, and we have the self-honesty to admit when we’re wrong and the courage to change. And I think regardless of who is in what job those values are so embedded in this company that Apple will do extremely well.

With this statement he has aligned the whole company in the same direction. Every sentence is inspiring, concrete and actionable. Regardless of role or issue at hand, this works as a help for decision making. It also fulfills rule four, dynamic, and five, it speaks to all stakeholders.

As I write this Apple might have reached peak innovation, but the rating is not about implementation but the statements themselves, so here is a: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Uber

There are some different versions of its mission, here is one:

“Uber is evolving the way the world moves. By seamlessly connecting riders to drivers through our apps, we make cities more accessible, opening up more possibilities for riders and more business for drivers.”

The reason that I added Uber to the list is not that the vision and mission statements are amazing (they aren’t), but because in part 1 I discarded company values as mostly meaningless. Except when they aren’t.

Uber is definitely on the top ten #metoo Hall of Shame, which forced them to look long and deep into their company culture and values. This is what the new CEO Dara Khosrowshahi came up with (the short version):

We build globally, we live locally.
We are customer obsessed.
We celebrate differences.
We do the right thing.
We act like owners.
We persevere.
We value ideas over hierarchy.
We make big bold bets.

The full version is pretty good, personal and human. But. With Uber’s history quite far from what was needed. About its history the CEO writes:

But it’s also clear that the culture and approach that got Uber where it is today is not what will get us to the next level.

Hmmmmm. Susan Fowler has written a blog post about “the culture and approach that got Uber where it is today”. Seen from that perspective the CEO:s words are quite extraordinary. Here is what he is actually saying:
the reason they will change the culture and approach is because it is not what will get them to the next level. So sexual harassment by “brilliant jerks” (Adrianna Huffington’s words) and lies by management was ok up until then??! And the only reason it is no longer ok is that it “is not what will get us to the next level”??!

Uber needed to atone but delivered a white wash. They have not learned a thing. From a vision and mission perspective Uber should have made it clear without any doubt that the company will never ever accept sexual harassment to happen again, neither within the company or by their drivers. Never. Instead they just acknowledge that it is a bad idea from a company growth perspetive.

But as I have said before, the rating is not about how the company lives up to its vision/mission, so here we go: 😤😤😤⚪️⚪️.

Tesla

On a lighter note: Tesla seems to survive regardless of Elon Musk’s bizarre improvisations in the public relations field. Maybe the secret is in the company vision and mission?

“Our goal when we created Tesla a decade ago was the same as it is today: to accelerate the advent of sustainable transport by bringing compelling mass market electric cars to market as soon as possible.”

And the vision:

“To create the most compelling car company of the 21st century by driving the world’s transition to electric vehicles.”

Suspicious high turnover of executives but as before this is only about the statements themselves. Inspirational, concrete, actionable, dynamic, shared. Check on all! 5 stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Airbnb

Here is the mission:

Belong anywhere.

and one version of the vision:

Tapping into the universal human yearning to belong — the desire to feel welcomed, respected, and appreciated for who you are, no matter where you might be.

or maybe this:

to create a world where people can belong through healthy travel that is local, authentic, diverse, inclusive and sustainable.

Someone apparently took the base course in psychology:

“Existing evidence supports the hypothesis that the need to belong is a powerful, fundamental, and extremely pervasive motivation.” Baumeister, R. F., & Leary, M. R. (1995)

Belong, belong, belong. A word that sounds more and more weird for every time you repeat it. And it doesn’t really make any sense in this context. Belong to what? Swap “belong” to “feel at home” in the statements and everything makes much more sense.

But I don’t get paid to update their vision and mission, the rest is pretty ok so the verdict is ⭐️⭐️⭐️☆☆.

IKEA

Vision and mission in one package:

“At IKEA our vision is to create a better everyday life for the many people. Our business idea supports this vision by offering a wide range of well-designed, functional home furnishing products at prices so low that as many people as possible will be able to afford them.”

There is a lot to like here. It feels like they are on a social mission too, which corresponds to the real world experience of the company. But they are missing something big here.

It sounds like they are a low cost furniture store which isn’t that sexy. They omit what is actually the true value of IKEA: they control the whole production chain, from design to POS. They are logistic master minds which is the reason for the quality to price ratio. How can they forget??

A simple fix that would give them 5 stars, but until then… ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️☆

TED

The mission:

“Spread ideas”

and vision

“We believe passionately in the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and, ultimately, the world”

Great stuff, no comments, 5 stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Patagonia

Another no brainer:

Mission: Build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis.
Vision: A love of wild and beautiful places demands participation in the fight to save them, and to help reverse the steep decline in the overall environmental health of our planet.

Inspirational, concrete, actionable, dynamic, shared, nothing to add (no I am not just lazy), 5 stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Spotify

Here is a vision statement that seems to be public:

“Our vision is to have music moments everywhere”

and a mission:

Give people access to all the music they want all the time — in a completely legal & accessible way

Ok, that was…boring. Or as one twitter user wrote: “I hoped it was deeper”.

You shouldn’t let an intern write the vision and mission statements. But it is probably a serious effort, so let’s judge. I would say meh on all five rules except concrete, it really says what they do. Lots of room for improvement.

They do have “core values” which they defined in a democratic way, unfairly blaming the company’s Swedish heritage. As you might have noticed I am no fan of decisions by committee or about values in general. Let’s just say it reinforces the meh judgement. So the verdict is 😑😑⚪️⚪️⚪️
iN a CoMpLeTeLy LeGaL & AcCeSsIbLe WaY!

Nike

Nike Inc.’s corporate mission is

“to bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world.”

and to make sure no one is left out, Nike founder Bill Bowerman states:

“If you have a body, you are an athlete.”

You may argue if your aunt is an athlete or not, but she is clearly a targeted customer for Nike. And here’s the vision:

“to remain the most authentic, connected, and distinctive brand.”

What can I say. This is clearly the work of pros. A really nice twist is the “to remain…”. It is bold without openly bragging, and invites all stakeholders including the customers (they also want to be authentic, connected and distinctive!) to take the challenge to make this stay true. Another ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️!

Dinahmoe

I have spent some time mocking others. It is not more than fair to put Dinahmoe’s vision and mission under scrutiny. Does it live up to my own theories? Let’s see.

Starting with the logo tag line:

INTEGRATED DIGITAL DISRUPTION

Never heard that combination before. Everyone says that they are disruptive, .but what does it even mean?
The company mission is:

“to fundamentally change how digital things are built.”

To fundamentally change something sounds pretty bold and visionary. And if true probably disruptive too. Digging a little deeper, according to the article where “they” launch the rebranding (yeah I wrote that article too):

Digital things. We use them all the time. Some love them, others hate them
but few of us believe in a future without them. Where the physical world has had some billion years to evolve, the digital world is just in the beginning. We feel that being a part of shaping this future is a true privilege.

Dinahmoe’s mission is to fundamentally change how digital things are built. We do this through constant innovation in every step of the process from idea to final product. Whenever something feels complicated we see this as an opportunity to evolve, to find a better way, often breaking new ground in the process.

Dinahmoe helps agencies and brands with the transformation to this new digital world, to build digital things that integrate with the whole in a way that changes the game.

The article continues with a manifest of sorts but I am already convinced!
I would kill to work at a company like Dinahmoe! Luckily I don’t have to 🙂.

Conclusion

When I started part 1 I thought I would get the pleasure of more mocking but part 2 really changed the game. With that many 5 star ratings the scale was probably not fine grained enough. Or I am just too generous, and in the case of Dinahmoe severely biased.

So what is your vision and mission? Is it inspirational, concrete, actionable, dynamic, shared?