Mission and vision: "I have a dream......"

Welcome back,

Today I will be discussing some key aspects of leadership in which directly relates to what the leaders values are and how he or she views a certain situation they might be in. This is broken down into mission and vision. These two concepts in fact are something that many companies have including, but not limited to, Southwest Airlines, McDonalds, Delta Airlines, and many more. You may ask, well what’s the purpose of having these? It’s simple, essentially these two factors will tell the person, follower, potential customer, what that company or leader has in mind for future business and to obtain as much support as possible along the way.

First, we look at the mission statement. This entails a statement of purpose/core values. This is important because a person or organization can refer back to these to encompass the decision making. Not only this but, as mentioned above, this can clarify to others what is important to the leader or the organization. Also, there are a couple types of mission statements including organizational mission and personal mission (explains itself). The organizational mission is a statement of the purpose/core values of an organization; simply, what the organization does. For example, my work which is Sears, their mission statement is: To grow our business by providing quality products and services at great value when and where our customers want them, and by building positive, lasting relationships with our customers. I can agree with this because our store carries large amounts of different consumer goods and we offer shipping on select products to give the customer what they want and where they want it. My (personal) mission statement would go somewhere along the lines of expanding my horizons by living and learning; building bridges to success and not burning ones that cant be rebuilt. This holds value to me because it is what I have lived by for quite sometime and defines who I am as a person.

When I talk about vision this means ‘foreseeing’ the future picture of an organization or cause. The purpose of having this is to allow a person or organization to stay focused on the future and set goals to reach the vision. Also, it can motivate and inspire individuals and groups of people. This again contains two types vision being organizational and personal. How this relates to me and for example Sears vision: To be the preferred and most trusted resource for the products and services that enhance home and family life. At our location it is very evident to me that the managers care about the customer and show that through many interactions with them. My organizational vision would be: I imagine myself graduating college in the next few years, where I have my degree, where I will pursue a career in the medical field benefiting others in the long run. This will be done through hard work and dedication, sacrificing time to apply myself to education, and taking advantage of opportunities when given. What do you think Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s vision was? Did his vision become reality?