In the April 2017 edition of Cleaner & Launderer, the title of my monthly column was “The Company Creed.” The mission statements of three companies were featured. To illustrate my point, I invited our readers to join me in a small experiment. The task was to identify some companies that have provided them with outstanding customer service. The next step was to go online to their preferred internet search engine and type that company’s name, followed by the words mission statement. Much of our loyal readership took this sort of challenge quite seriously. Many rose to the occasion and sent me numerous messages via electronic mail, Twitter and Facebook with their findings. Truthfully, I was not expecting such an overwhelming barrage of feedback. However, I truly appreciated the participation and enthusiasm. Two months later, we revealed the results.
Recently, I conducted a workshop for aspiring entrepreneurs, inventors, business owners, creatives, collaborators and marketers. I asked them to perform this very same exercise on their smartphones. Here are some of the more meaningful contributions to the group exercise.
Bloomingdale’s: “Bloomingdale’s makes fashion personal, fun and aspirational yet approachable. Our mission is to guide and inspire customers, ensuring style is a source of creative energy in their lives. We will always strive to make Bloomingdale’s like no other store in the world.”
American Airlines: “Committed to provide every citizen of the world with the best service of the air travel to the extensive selection of destination possible.”
Dell: “To be the most successful computer company in the world at delivering the best customer experience in markets we serve. In doing so, Dell will meet customer expectations of the highest quality.”
Postmates: “Postmates is transforming the way goods move around cities by enabling anyone to have anything delivered on-demand. Our revolutionary Urban Logistics platform connects customers with local couriers who can deliver anything from any store or restaurant in minutes.”
Nutrisystem: “Nutrisystem will help you transform your life inside and out with a personal weight management experience that’s simple to follow, effective and uniquely yours.”
Children’s Hospital Los Angeles:
Mission
We create hope and build healthier futures.
As a leading academic children’s hospital, we fulfill our mission by:
• Caring for children, adolescents, young adults, families and each other
• Advancing knowledge
• Preparing future generations
• Building our financial strength
Values
• We achieve our best together.
• We are hopeful and compassionate.
• We are learners leading transformation.
• We are stewards of the lives and resources entrusted to us.
• We serve with great care.
Bath & Body Works: “With a focus on creating and offering the best products and an emphasis on innovation from nature, Bath and Body Works is destined to become the ultimate personal care destination.”
The Broad: “The Broad makes its collection of contemporary art from the 1950s to the present accessible to the widest possible audience by presenting exhibitions and operating a lending program to art museums and galleries worldwide.”
Volvo: “The Volvo Group’s mission is driving prosperity through transport solutions. The Volvo Group’s vision is to be the most desired and successful transport solution provider in the world.”
UberEATS: “UberEATS is on a mission to make eating well effortless for everyone, everywhere. Our service connects customers to Uber-speed delivery from restaurants in over 80 cities around the world. We help restaurants reach more customers and build their businesses.”
Bed Bath & Beyond: “To be trusted by our customers as the expert for the home and heart-related life events.”
Costco: “Costco’s mission is to continually provide our members with quality goods and services at the lowest possible prices. To achieve our mission, we will conduct our business with the following Code of Ethics in mind:
• Obey the law
• Take care of our members
• Take care of our employees
• Respect our vendors
If we do these four things throughout our organization, then we will realize our ultimate goal, which is to reward our shareholders.”
Netflix: “We promise our customers stellar service, our suppliers a valuable partner, our investors the prospects of sustained profitable growth and our employees the allure of huge impact.”
Home Instead Senior Care: “Our mission is a future where all people could age with greater hope and success. We strive to make that mission a reality with every life we are privileged to touch.”
In his article for Chron.com, Stan Mack wrote, “A company’s business creed, or mission statement, is its commitment to achieve a particular goal, behave in a certain way or abide by a fundamental principle. A creed also might be a public definition of a company’s guiding strategy. Often intended to define a corporate culture, a creed can be short and to the point or long and detailed.”
Think about your dry cleaning establishment. When is the last time you took a long, hard look at the core values, creed, or mission statement of your business? Are your employees mindful of your company creed? Do you have a written mission statement? Your mission statement, creed, or core values must be a living, real and tangible document that you can hold. The very words embodied in your mission statement will keep you and your entire team accountable to the very tenets espoused therein.
