A Powerful Mission Statement, in Two Words or Less

We’ve all been there: those tedious board meetings spent hammering out modifications to an organization’s mission statement. After all, the not-quite-right mission statement is the reason why membership is down, adoption is low, and so forth. Of course it is! 

While I have always believed in the value of a crisp, succinct mission statement, I recently witnessed the power of boiling a mission statement down to its most simple form. The FIDO Alliance, one of our client organizations, exists simply to “eliminate passwords.” Sure, the organization does have a wordier “official” mission statement, but the unofficial two-word version is really why its membership has grown significantly, its members are deeply engaged and –most importantly– it stands a great chance to actually achieve its audacious goal. 

Anyone who uses the web can appreciate the goal of FIDO. By removing passwords, implementers of the technology can better secure their websites, applications and enterprises. End users benefit by not having to fumble with the myriad of passwords required throughout each day. In other words, passwords are a pain point for everyone, so it is no surprise that organizations and individuals from around the globe are so eager to work within FIDO to help solve the problem. 

Of course, not every organization will have the good fortune of such a compellingly simple call to arms. The closer one can get to it, though, the more likely it will succeed.