Define Mission & Values

Establish a clear mission that explains your reason for existing and the values that will guide your behaviour. These should shape how you hire, prioritize, lead and provide internal consistency during change or growth.

Why it's Matters

Mission and values are more than culture statements. They set the tone for strategic choices, hiring decisions, product direction, and even how teams resolve conflict. When these are vague or generic, alignment breaks down. When they’re clear and lived, they guide action.

What You Need to Do

Articulate the core purpose of your company
Define the beliefs and behaviours that shape how you operate
Make them specific enough to be used, not just displayed

How to Approach It

Draft your mission in one clear sentence:
“We exist to [do what] for [whom] in order to [achieve what impact].”

Make it narrow enough to guide focus
Avoid the temptation to be inspirational if it clouds clarity

Distil 3-5 core values that drive how you work:

Don’t list traits like “Integrity” unless they mean something behaviourally
Instead: “We challenge each other, not just support each other” or “We default to transparency, even when it’s uncomfortable.”

Pressure-test your values against real decisions:

Have you ever made a hard decision because of this value?
Would you fire someone for consistently ignoring it?

Align mission and values with your strategic direction:

If your mission is bold and long-term, but you’re operating short-term and reactive, it’s a red flag
The values should reflect what’s needed to win with your strategy

Deliverables

A one-sentence mission statement
A short set of values with behavioural examples
Optional: A “How we work” culture memo

How to Tell if You Got It Right

Your team can name the values without looking
The mission helps prioritize trade-offs
You can connect your day-to-day to your “why”

What to Watch Out For

Aspirational nonsense —things that sound nice but don’t guide behaviour
Copy-pasting from other companies
Internal misalignment —different leaders using different language
Posting values on your website but rewarding the opposite behaviours