Who cares about the mission?
In corporate culture, mission statements have frequently been lampooned. In fact, the website of the popular Dilbert comic strip features a game in which you can plug in nouns, verbs, and adjectives and generate your own meaningless mission statement, such as: “Our mission is to proactively provide access to emerging paradigms to meet our customers’ needs.” Ask faculty on nearly any college or university campus to identify their school’s mission and you will likely get a blank stare. If pressed, some might say their school’s mission statement was written by a committee, has no relevance to what they do, and only surfaces during accreditation visits. Make no mistake, though. The most successful and most focused companies and campuses are defined by their mission and driven daily by a sense of that mission. When I became president of Fairleigh Dickinson University (N.J.) in 1999, I joined a wonderful institution with talented faculty, illustrious alumni, exciting programs, and rich tradi
