In a message dated 01-02-28 16:23:21 EST, Matthew White wrote:

<< > Matthew --
 >
 > Well, to extend that argument, why have a mission statement?
 >
 > -- Gene


 Aside from the fact that they are legally required? >>

This is a new one on me.  And here I thought mission statements were just a
fad!  Could Matthew or someone else fill me in on this, since I'm totally
uninformed on the subject?  (In a fit of laziness, I'd rather not research
this if I don't have to.)  Are there indeed legal requirements to have
mission statements for museums--or anything else, for that matter?

I've been amused by some museum mission statements I've seen which are so
general that they don't really seem to say anything, especially when I've
been told that they involved countless hours of committee time to "craft"
them, and then they have been handsomely printed and framed for display as if
they were holy writ.  If there are laws requiring these things, I'll have to
modify my opinion.

The funniest mission statement I've seen, incidentally, was one prepared by a
branch of the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency, not the Culinary Institute of
America).  It went on for two pages and ended with "...and to be always on
the cutting edge of technology."

The most provocative (and possibly profound) mission statement I've heard
quoted was alleged to be that of the Marriott Corporation.  It said simply:
"To make our employees happy."  I heard this discussed on a radio program,
and the speaker suggested that this novel approach implicitly took care of
everything in one fell swoop: happy employees would be most likely to make
customers happy.  Perhaps a museum might want to adopt such a mission
statement, as it might eliminate the need for a visitor charter: museum staff
would never be happy if visitors and patrons were unhappy.

David Haberstich

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