Back to Basics – The Eight Word Mission Statement

How a simple, single sentence can provide the clarity of direction your organization might need in today’s uncertain environment.

In the last two weeks, I had the privilege of spending quality time with the leadership of a group of large (incumbent) media companies, discussing the future, their respective views, and strategies. It quickly became clear to everyone that in today's world of accelerating change and growing uncertainty (check out the World Uncertainty Index if you want to see this represented in the data), having the perfect strategy is much less important than having the right direction.

While strategies become outdated quickly, a clear direction serves as your North Star through turbulence. A while ago, a dear friend of ours, Kevin Starr, CEO of the Mulago Foundation, introduced me to his brilliant 8-word mission statement framework, which can help organizations establish that crucial direction like no other tool I have seen.

To state the obvious: Many organizations spend countless hours crafting elaborate strategies that quickly become obsolete. As we've seen in recent years, market conditions, technologies, and consumer behaviors can shift dramatically overnight—not to mention the disruption COVID wreaked on pretty much every company’s strategic plan. The traditional approach of developing comprehensive five-year plans often fails because the assumptions they're built on rarely hold true for long. What's needed instead is a clear, compelling direction that provides unwavering guidance during uncertainty, aligns teams around a common purpose, enables quick, decentralized decision-making, and remains relevant despite changing conditions.

Kevin Starr's brilliantly simple framework distills your mission to just 8 words following this structure: Verb. Target. Outcome. This forces radical clarity and eliminates the corporate jargon that often clouds mission statements. The 8-word constraint creates a powerful focus that cuts through complexity and fosters instant understanding across an organization.

Strong 8-word mission statements create instant clarity. Consider examples like "Get African families out of extreme poverty" (One Acre Fund) or "Enable leaders & learners to seize the future" (ours). These statements clearly identify what action you're taking (verb), who you're serving (target), and what transformation you're creating (outcome). The brevity forces precision, eliminating the vague platitudes that plague most corporate mission statements. When everyone in your organization can recite and understand your mission, alignment happens naturally.

When the path forward is unclear, a well-crafted direction serves as your compass. It allows teams to make autonomous decisions aligned with the organization's purpose without constant oversight. Teams can adapt tactics quickly while maintaining strategic coherence because they understand the ultimate goal. The clear mission helps filter opportunities based on alignment with the core purpose, preventing the distraction of pursuing initiatives that don't serve the primary direction. Perhaps most importantly, it enables organizations to communicate purpose clearly to stakeholders and customers in a way that resonates and builds trust.

To create your own 8-word mission statement, start with the verb—choose an action word that captures what you do at the most fundamental level. Then identify your target by defining who specifically you are serving. Next, define the outcome by articulating what transformation you're creating in the world. Finally, refine ruthlessly, cutting unnecessary words until you have maximum clarity. This process often takes multiple iterations, but the clarity it produces is worth the effort.

Remember Nietzsche's wisdom: "If you know the why, you can live with any how." Your 8-word mission statement becomes that "why"—the direction that guides you through uncertainty.

@Pascal