Re:The Power of Company Mottoes
by Animats on Monday August 15, 2016 @08:59PM
(#12294769)
Some good ones:
Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, which builds most large US warships: ""We shall build good ships here, at a profit if we can, at a loss if we must, but always good ships."
Microsoft mission statement through the 1990s: "A computer on every desk, running Microsoft software". (Slogan retired because mission accomplished.)
National Security Agency: "Anything is possible, the impossible just takes longer".
US Coast Guard: "You have to go out, but you don't have to come back."
Re:The Power of Company Mottoes
by basseq on Tuesday August 16, 2016 @11:03AM
(#12297904)
Slightly off-topic because it's a mission statement, and an old one at that, but NASA's always gave me chills:
To understand and protect our home planet,
To explore the universe and search for life,
To inspire the next generation of explorers
... as only NASA can.
Re:The Power of Company Mottoes
by cvs268 on Tuesday August 16, 2016 @07:42AM
(#12296744)
>> Microsoft mission statement through the 1990s:
>> "A computer on every desk, running Microsoft software".
>> (Slogan retired because mission accomplished.)
I know several desks that will always run Linux on their computers.
They are open to Windows on their phones though. Maybe its time to bring back the motto?...
Update: Whats with the downvotes? A phone is computer too, no?...
Re:The Power of Company Mottoes
by jcbeard on Monday August 15, 2016 @08:38PM
(#12294691)
So there I was. In the Army now. As a young adult I loved watching Stripes...the real US Army is nothing like that. In Stripes Bill Murray just got orders. In real life, you get orders and a commander's intent. When it came my turn to give orders, I learned that intent and vision were what people followed (assuming your troops have reason at all to follow the leader). Orders/plans are great, but people do best when they have something to rally around and fall back to for direction when everything else goes belly up (was going to use Aussie version, but not appropriate). Mottoes from a company mean almost nothing if they're not backed up by people who can grasp and believe in them. It's all about the leadership and the people who follow the leader, not the motto. Note: there are all kinds of leaders...don't always picture General Patton or Steve Jobs.
Re:The Power of Company Mottoes
by anexprogrammer on Monday August 15, 2016 @11:12PM
(#12295291)
I think most mottoes and mission statements are there because someone thinks, or was told, they need one rather than because they actually have a mission.
So "Who Dares Wins", "Per ardua ad astra" and "Think Different" work because you can easily believe the group actually believes in it. It matters not whether you share the vision.
Things rapidly degenerate to sounding like they came from the Dilbert Mission Statement generator for most companies.
Re:The Power of Company Mottoes
by ErrantX on Tuesday August 16, 2016 @03:59AM
(#12296106)
At work we have a fairly long imperative, which is very nice but difficult to keep in mind at all times.
We also have a four-word internal "motto" of sorts which entirely encapsulates what we're aiming to do and is easily remembered at 3am when you need to make a critical choice. It's honest, and I think that's why it gets quoted so much.
Re:The Power of Company Mottoes
by cheriot on Tuesday August 16, 2016 @07:23AM
(#12296680)
On the other hand, after the expensive consultants and off sites result in a motto, what happens next? It's told each new employee during indoctrination/onboarding and then forgotten. Quick, what's your employer's motto? How about your last employer?
Effective mottoes and vision statements may be the result superior management, but they don't make management superior.
Re:The Power of Company Mottoes
by jkaptur on Wednesday August 17, 2016 @11:23AM
(#12305360)
Linking to a subpage of Google's "about" site enabled the jab about the "real mission" being advertising, but the true mission statement is clearly laid out at [1], and certainly passes the 3AM-in-the-rain test: Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.
Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, which builds most large US warships: ""We shall build good ships here, at a profit if we can, at a loss if we must, but always good ships."
Microsoft mission statement through the 1990s: "A computer on every desk, running Microsoft software". (Slogan retired because mission accomplished.)
National Security Agency: "Anything is possible, the impossible just takes longer".
US Coast Guard: "You have to go out, but you don't have to come back."
Basically, you can't know for sure that the sea is too rough to do the rescue until you are already out at sea.
They are open to Windows on their phones though. Maybe its time to bring back the motto?...
Update: Whats with the downvotes? A phone is computer too, no?...
So "Who Dares Wins", "Per ardua ad astra" and "Think Different" work because you can easily believe the group actually believes in it. It matters not whether you share the vision.
Things rapidly degenerate to sounding like they came from the Dilbert Mission Statement generator for most companies.
We also have a four-word internal "motto" of sorts which entirely encapsulates what we're aiming to do and is easily remembered at 3am when you need to make a critical choice. It's honest, and I think that's why it gets quoted so much.
Effective mottoes and vision statements may be the result superior management, but they don't make management superior.
[1] https://www.google.com/intl/en_us/about/company/
It was quit a interesting insight into a small open source company.
[1](https://media.ccc.de/v/emf2016-198-my-ubertooth-year#video&t...) at minute 36 ish.