This is a video from the Social Innovations Network by Chip Heath of Stanford Graduate School of Business. http://sic.conversationsnetwork.org/shows/detail3318.html#

Creating the organizational "mission statement" is often the subject of eye rolling for employees of businesses and social enterprises alike. Frequently "missions by committee" end up sounding dry and boring. But, as the example of John F. Kennedy's mandate to put a man on the moon and return him safely to earth shows, mission statements are critical for galvanizing and guiding the work of any group, be it a nonprofit or a nation.

In this talk, part of the 2nd Annual Nonprofit Management Institute at Stanford in September 2007, Chip Heath, Stanford business professor, shares why an organization in the social sector needs a mission, what a good mission statement should do, and what the components of a successful mission statement are. He also addresses how you avoid mission creep—the problem of getting pulled in so many worthy directions that you don't end up addressing any of them particularly well.