IN SEARCH OF THE OBVIOUS by JACK TROUT

Author:JACK TROUT [TROUT, JACK]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mobilism
Published: 2015-04-19T18:30:00+00:00

He also discovered that many of these 301 statements are interchangeable. (Could it be that companies are knocking off other companies’ mission statements?)

Boeing wrote about ‘‘a fundamental goal of achieving 20 percent average annual return on stockholder’s equity.’’

(That’s not realistic when you consider the success of Airbus. Boeing should be talking about the business, not the numbers.)

Even the government gets into the mission statement act. The Air Force had one of the best of the bunch: ‘‘To defend the United States through control and exploitation of air and space.’’ (Kicking ass in the air is indeed what it’s about.)

The CIA had almost 200 words of motherhood and mush and not one mention about its basic problem of getting it right.

As best we can see, most of these mission statements have little positive impact on a company’s business. Levitz Furniture has a mission of ‘‘satisfying the needs and expectations of our customers with quality products and services.’’ (That wonderful mission statement didn’t keep it out of bankruptcy.)

Fortunately, most companies put their mission statements in gold frames and hang them in their lobbies where top managers who have their own agendas ignore them.

A simple approach is to forget about ‘‘what you want to be.’’ Management should focus its efforts on ‘‘what you can be.’’ It’s far more productive.

This means that you have to put your basic business strategy into the statement. It should present your differentiating idea and explain how by preempting this idea you will be in a position to outflank your competition.

Boeing’s mission statement should be about maintaining leadership in the commercial aircraft industry, not about return on equity.

And you don’t need a committee to spend weeks writing this statement. This should be something that the CEO and his or her top people should be able to put together in a morning’s work. Keep it short and simple.

The Seagram Company mission statement spills over to 10 sentences and 198 words. (You need a tumbler of good Scotch to get through it.)

After all, if a CEO needs a committee to figure out what the basic business is about, then that company needs a new CEO, not a mission statement.

The last step is not to just hang the ‘‘what we can do’’ statement on the wall. Take this basic business strategy to all the important groups in a company and make sure they understand it. Let them ask questions. Be candid with your answers.

And to me, that’s the only purpose of a mission statement: to make sure everyone in the company gets it. In a way you’re putting the ‘‘obvious’’ on the wall.

Leadership: A Powerful Differentiator

This is my other favorite obvious strategy. What most bewilders me in the marketing world are companies that don’t exploit their leadership. Instead of ‘‘I’m lovin’ it,’’ McDonald’s could be, ‘‘The world’s favorite place to eat.’’ Instead of ‘‘Connecting people,’’ Nokia could be ‘‘The world’s No. 1 cell phone.’’

Leadership is the most powerful way to differentiate a brand. The reason is that it’s the most direct way to establish the credentials of a brand.

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