As I have written numerous times, I love well written vision statements that are passionately followed, but I understand why people can think they are a waste of time or hate the discussion of vision and missions statements. For example, using Google, I searched for “mission vs vision” and the first result defined the vision statement as unchanging, outlining where you are going and the mission statement how you get there. The second result essentially flipped the meanings. These were the top two search results in Google and they had a completely different understanding of vision and mission statements! No wonder people roll their eyes at the mention of either one. But, it doesn’t have to be this way, in fact it shouldn’t be this way. I actually don’t think it matters if you call it a mission statement, vision statement, a what we do statement, a purpose statement as long as it addresses three key points and it is followed passionately: The key points 1. It aligns your goals with the customers 2. Focuses on what will bring true success, not strategies or technologies 3. Defines your market and who you serve And to wrap up, you certainly don’t need a vision and a mission statement as long as your statement addresses the points above.