Corporate mission statements tend to be all fluff and no substance.
This is because they’re based on adjectives. Which feel good when you’re writing them, but aren’t great at describing humans doing things.
And if you can’t see people taking action in your mind then it’s hard to understand what they do and whether or not they’re like you.
Which means mission statements don’t motivate or help customers connect with your brand.
Enter the We Believe statement.
Well-crafted We Believe statements hit hard fast.
This is because the first rule of writing We Believes is that it must be something that a third party could observe you doing. This level of engagement implants irresistible visual images in your mind.
Here are some examples of non-visual corporate adjectives turned into We Believe statements.
Ambitious
- We believe in asking, “What else?” and “What’s next?”
Hospitable
- We believe in serving others first and eating last.
- We believe in pulling up another chair because there’s always room for one more at the table.
Helpful
- We believe in holding your hair back for you when you need to hurl.
- We believe if you’re in the middle of helping a customer then it’s not time to leave even if it’s “quitting” time.
Team Player
- We believe in explaining what you’re doing and why to your team members.
- We believe people who say, “Not my job,” are right, because they won’t be working here any longer.
Caring
- We believe in asking, “How are you, really?” a second time when people say, “Fine.” Because fine is rarely just fine.
- We believe in giving specific compliments so you know without a doubt that we noticed you’re awesome.
– Zac Smith, VC
P.S. Adjectives don’t actually suck. They just suck at being verbs.
