State Your Business

Like most startups, we launched with a big mission that was going to change the game. Now, several years out, it appears our mission isn't going to deliver to the extent we had hoped. How do we come up with another? — Gerald McLaughlin, Shanghai

What an honest and admirable question. First, because so few leaders have the candor to admit: "Our approach to the market seems to be tanking. We need to change direction." And second, because few leaders actually get the point of forging a mission with real grit and meaning. Even fewer work with their people to come up with a short list of values that will make their mission come alive. We just don't get it! Sure, as your case seems to suggest, having a mission doesn't guarantee winning. But not having one invariably spurs the opposite.