Date: Wed 3/10/2004 4:53 AM
Random Thought: Personal Mission Statements, IV

As I just told Jim Taylor in Portugal, I have come to the conclusion that institutional mission statements don't turn people into missionaries; the visions of an institutional mission statement doesn't transform people into visionaries; the purpose expressed in an institutional mission statement doesn't make people purposeful; the spirit of an institutional mission statement doesn't instil a spirit into people; and, the high sounding language of an institutional mission statement issued from on high doesn't send people on a high. To the extent the institution needs more programatic and operational clarity, I suppose we need the framework of an institutional mission statement. To the extent we want to alter the culture of the people in the institution, we need to do a whole lot more in a whole lot of different ways a whole lot longer.