The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

ORGANIZATIONAL MISSION STATEMENTS
Mission statements are also vital to successful organizations. One of the
most important thrusts of my work with organizations is to assist them in
developing effective mission statements. And to be effective, that statement

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has to come from within the bowels of the organization. Everyone should
participate in a meaningful way—not just the top strategy planners, but
everyone. Once again, the involvement process is as important as the
written product and is the key to its use.
I am always intrigued whenever I go to IBM and watch the training
process there. Time and time again, I see the leadership of the organization
come into a group and say that IBM stands for three things: the dignity of
the individual, excellence, and service.
These things represent the belief system of IBM. Everything else will
change, but these three things will not change. Almost like osmosis, this
belief system has spread throughout the entire organization, providing a
tremendous base of shared values and personal security for everyone who
works there.
Once I was training a group of people for IBM in New York. It was a small
group, about twenty people, and one of them became ill. He called his wife
in California, who expressed concern because his illness required special
treatment. The IBM people responsible for the training session arranged to
have him taken to an excellent hospital with medical specialists in the
disease. But they could sense that his wife was uncertain and really wanted
him home where their personal physician could handle the problem.
So they decided to get him home. Concerned about the time involved in
driving him to the airport and waiting for a commercial plane, they brought
in a helicopter, flew him to the airport, and hired a special plane just to take
this man to California.
I don’t know what costs that involved; my guess would be many
thousands of dollars. But IBM believes in the dignity of the individual.
That’s what the company stands for. To those present, that experience
represented its belief system and was no surprise. I was impressed.
At another time, I was scheduled to train 175 shopping center managers at a