In a message dated 02-03-18 13:31:57 EST, Indigo Nights writes:

<< I have a semantics question about these "tag lines".
 Aren't they really closer to Mission Statements if not
 Mottos?  Mission Statements are not supposed to be
 three pages long; they're really supposed to be more
 like the buzzwords that have been communicated heretofore. >>

I've seen some mission statements that I thought were pretty vacuous, and
I've always been rather puzzled and amused by the whole Mission Statement
Movement.  Because I've heard a number of tales about committees meeting
regularly over a period of many days, weeks, or months, putting in roughly
the same amount of person-hours it took to write "War and Peace" in order to
"craft" a two- or three-sentence mission statement that sounds eloquent or
grandiose but basically says nothing, mission-statementese often evokes
negative reactions in me--everything from my eyes glazing over to chuckles to
loud guffaws.  Despite my rather unsympathetic response, I've never seen a
mission statement that looked like a mere motto or tag line and would hate to
see such perfunctory mission statements: they should be pithy, perhaps, but
hardly just mottoes.  I don't think most people or organizations would
consider a snappy, reductive motto to be adequate as a mission statement: I'm
not sure where you got such an idea.  Although I suspect too many people
think a mission statement should be a vague, general, inspirational message
designed to make hearts flutter, I sincerely hope they take them a little
more seriously than an exercise in concocting clever mottoes.  How can any
institution define its particular mission within a short phrase that could be
interchangeable with the mission statements of dozens of other organizations?
 (As I've suggested, however, taking them TOO seriously might be a waste of
time.)

Having said that, I'll allow one exception: I once heard that the alleged
mission statement of the Marriott Corporation was "to make our employees
happy."  That's pretty profound when you think about it, although the failure
to mention the business they're in seems like an oversight.  I'd amend it to
say "To hire qualified, competent staff, and then make them happy."  (If
they're competent, doing their job well, whatever it is, will help make them
happy.)

But no, I don't see how a motto, tag line, or buzzword can function as an
adequate mission statement.

David Haberstich

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