Since this will be my second crack at building a company, I know there’s something we need to do in order to have the chance to build a great, authentic brand, instill a culture that inspires team members and customers, and be an effective leader.
That all-important thing is establishing our purpose, mission, and values right now, at the very start.
So, before moving forward with a name, brand, or formal business plan, I’m documenting the founding purpose and drafting the mission and values. I’m writing them out so they’re concrete and lasting. Then, we’ll use the mission and values for everything we do from here out – from naming the business to developing the products to selecting the real estate location. If everything we do extends from the mission and values, then we’ll have built something truly worthwhile.
Writing mission statements is painful. It feels soft, fluffy, and lots of times, like an exercise in building consensus around corporate jargon. I know because I led the process in my last company. And looking back, I know for sure that we were too late on it. From the start, we always led with entrepreneurial passion that was contagious and we treated people like family. Those things were powerful enough to build a special culture. But, I suspect we were like many other founder-led, entrepreneurial companies in that we never forced ourselves to articulate those values and our higher purpose in a tangible way. As a result, we could never systematize them into our business and culture. And as we grew, I think our — and more specifically, my own — lack of discipline around our mission ended up diluting our culture.
This time, I get to do it over. So, I’m going to do my best to get it right. I have the advantage of experience and a great resource shared by a Board member at my last company. In his book, The Servant Leader, James Autry provides a blueprint for expressing an organization’s purpose, mission and values by answering three pretty simple questions.
This week, I forced myself to re-read that book and then, spend a full day answering those three questions. Here’s what I came up with:
OUR PURPOSE (i.e. Why are we here?)
We are here because we believe that food has the power to build communities and improve lives.
MISSION (i.e. What do we do in order to fulfill that purpose?)
We create healthy communities by inspiring local food systems and by making real food prepared from whole, unprocessed ingredients accessible to everyone.
OUR VALUES (i.e. How do we behave as we perform our mission and fulfill our purpose?)
We live by these 5 core values that define our culture and business philosophy, drive our decisions, and serve as a compass for our future journey:
- Nourish bodies and communities
Healthy is balanced goodness and shared value. We nourish by serving real food and by improving the lives of all the people in our food system – our farmers, team members, customers and neighbors.
- Be real
Real means transparent and unpretentious. We make honest food that honors tradition and heritage and we build genuine relationships with all partners.
- Stay on the grind
Passion and determination determine our life-or-death. Inspiring change in our food system takes more than just hard work. It requires never, ever giving up.
- Cultivate a team that’s family
It’s about we not me. We give of ourselves so that others can grow. And we believe in each other and in our shared work to create meaningful change.
- Leave a legacy
Do work that matters and that we’re proud of. Remember that when it’s over, the relationships we have and the goodness we’ve put forth is all we’ll be left with and all that matters.
I got next! 