How to create a leader mission statement
Just like a company's mission statement, having your own personal leader mission statement is a helpful tool to think more strategically about your leadership 'why' with a specific statement that inspires you.
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A leader mission statement is a declaration of your purpose, or the 'why' behind your leadership. You can use it as guidance for your decisions, inspiration for your work, and a bridge to connect with your team.
Having a leader mission statement will also help you with your purpose and fulfillment as a leader. It helps you take your perspective from 'I'm doing this to get a paycheck' to 'I'm a key part of a bigger picture' or 'I create impact for the greater organization' which is crucial for long-term motivation.
How do you create a leader mission statement?
You can choose between two options for your leader mission statement: (1) make it specific to your current role and organization or (2) make it more broad about your long-term career vision.
Template ideas to get you started:
To [what] for [who] to [my why].
To [my why] for [why] by [what/how].
What: What do you do? How do you do it?
Consider the impact of your work, your strengths, what makes you unique in what you do, and how you're able to do it. Don't get too specific in your day-to-day work, we want this to be more of a long-term strategic view of your work.
Who: Who do you do it for?
This can be for your current or prospective future: teammates, clients, organization, industry, demographics, or other groups of people.
Why: Why do you do it?
This is usually the hard one for people to put into words. A few ideas to help you dig deeper to find your answer:
First, get more specific about what are your results as a leader? What does your effective leadership create for your team, your clients, your organization? Seeing the impact you have, even if we don't think about it on a daily basis, tends to be our why.
Another option is to ask yourself why five times. In other words, every time you answer yourself, ask why that answer is important. Sure, it sounds like what a three year old would ask you but it's been proven to really help by getting you to a deeper answer than 'I help my customers.'
Now, bring it all together.
Combine your favorite answers from above with the template that works best. You'll likely need to continue to refine these three answers to find your favorite combination.
You can use ChatGPT to help you get started too by asking for different variations. I'd recommend plugging in your answers to the above questions and ask it to generate 20 different leader mission statements for you based on your answers. You can also include your role title in your request for more details.
Here's an example of what to put into ChatGPT: Generate 20 leader mission statements for a [role title] who is helping [who] to do [your why] by [what you do].
Examples of leader mission statements:
Mine: Empower leaders [who] with the skills and confidence [what] to be their best without sacrificing their personal priorities [why].
Director of Sales (specific to their company): To inspire my team to deliver exceptional customer experiences, ensuring every interaction reflects [Company]'s commitment to innovation, quality, and service.
Director of Sales (long-term career vision): To empower my sales team to exceed targets by providing the tools, training, and motivation they need to succeed
Sales person (specific to their role): To create exceptional customer experiences by helping people discover how [Company]'s technology can enrich their lives and empower their creativity.
Sales person (long-term career vision): To create exceptional customer experiences through active listening, personalized service, and a commitment to delivering results.
A strong mission statement starts with self-awareness. Take the free Leadership Blind Spot Audit as a starting point for your own reflection. Take the audit here.
Brittany Canaski is a highly-rated Leadership Coach, Trainer, and Founder of Hello Velocity where she builds confident leaders and high-performing teams. When she's not building her business, you can find her planning her next travel adventure with her husband, watching Formula 1 racing, or volunteering in her local community of Charlotte, NC.
