I’ve spent the last few weeks working with an Accounting Team at an energy company. We’ve spent some time discussing vision and purpose. During our conversations, I was reminded of the old story of the journalist who visited NASA in the 60’s, who was writing about the space program and the growing organization. As the journalist was walking the halls, he saw a man carrying a broom and asked him, “what’s your job”? The man responded: “My job is to help put a man on the moon”!
What I love about this story is the simplicity and alignment. Too often, mission, vision, or purpose statements are overly wordy, complex, and somehow loose their meaning in the wordsmithing. “My job is to help put a man on the moon,” is elegant, simple and to the point. There is also alignment. While Kennedy set the audacious goal of putting a man on the moon for the organization, this is a vision that can be embraced by everyone.
A good resource for thinking about this important questions in Simon Sinek’s work from a couple years ago on “Why.” For those of you who have not seen Sinek’s TED talk, it is worh watching for 18 minutes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sioZd3AxmnE.
Do you know what your “man on the moon” vision or purpose is for your organization? What about your department? Or your team?
Inciting Leaders 