Suiting Up Your Company: Tailoring Your Mission to Fit Your Values and Purpose

Sometimes a casual talk can end up more fruitful than you ever think of, and I usually write what I feel and get inspired by. A recent conversation I had with Ahmed Aref, inspirational Visioneer, and financial reformer, sparked this post. I hope it can guide others to re-evaluate the way they shape their goals and mission.

Before delving into the company suits’ closet, let’s first agree that: every company has a purpose or a mission, and a purpose is defined by what you genuinely “care” for.

While some company’s missions may be clear by their actions or products, it actually requires a great deal of effort in the early stages of a business venture to shape your mission and ensure that your actions and outward appearance as a company align with your mission and vision.

To craft a purposeful mission statement, you should first consider your overall goals. There are six general categories, or shall we say ‘suits’, that company goals may fit into, though there are always exceptions to this rule. These six categories are described below. As you read through them, try to imagine the suit your own company may fit into.

Now, let the show begin!

Self-Centric Suit

This may sound like a somewhat negative slant for a company’s goals or purpose, but it is actually efficient for small businesses just starting out. The goal of a self-centric company is to become the largest entity in its niche within its geographic region. For example, a paper company that is based in Cambridge may have the Self-Centric goal of becoming the leading paper supplier to businesses and other customers in Cambridge.

Product-Centric Suit

Product-Centric companies have one primary objective: to put their product in the hands of as many customers as possible. This may sound like a capitalistic trope designed to sell, sell, sell, but it isn’t all bad. The increased focus on the product can mean a higher quality product in some cases. Product-centric companies also tend to see a boom in initial profits once their product is first released. However, product-centric companies may have more difficulty changing with the times, and once their product is no longer in-demand or popular, they are forced to come up with something new or face going under.

Customer-Centric Suit

Many companies that were previously product-centric are working to become more customer-centric. Customer-centric companies work to truly understand the needs of their customer base and aim to tailor their services to each customer in order to provide multiple products tailored to that customer over time. Customer-centric companies, while it may take them a bit longer to start bringing in a profit, tend to be more reactive when their products are not well-received and are more flexible and able to retain customers and offer new products to suit their needs.

People-Centric Suit

People-centric companies arrange their priorities to put their employees first, customers and customer service next, and profits after that. This emphasizes the human side of the business and brings the needs of the people involved in the industry to the forefront of everything the company does. This tends to improve employee morale, productivity in the workplace and is a very successful approach to business.

Some key elements of people-centric companies involve creating a company culture where employees feel valued and welcomed, focusing on quality over quantity, and prioritizing solutions that support employees. You may have heard the common phrase, “it’s not the place, it’s the people”? Well, people-centric companies are built on this concept and work to re-arrange their priorities to better serve the people that they work with and for.

Human-Centric Suit

Human-Centric goals mean that the primary purpose of the company revolves around human beings. In other words, humans are the center of the company’s decision-making and shared values and are at the core of everything they do. A human-centric approach differs from a people-centric approach because while people-centric companies put their employees’ and customers’ needs first, human-centric companies take this a bit further and work to improve society as a whole by focusing on societal needs based on human beings. Human-centric companies’ missions are enhanced by working to empower youth, fight poverty, or otherwise impact society to be more productive or beneficial to citizens.

Value-Centric Suit

Finally, value-centric companies are very similar to people-centric companies in that they emphasize the humanistic side of the business. However, they work within a specific set of parameters, or “company values”, that align the mission and goals of the company with a few key approaches to the way they conduct business. This enables all of their employees to be on the same page and stay on task and motivated without losing sight of what makes their company special and unique.

Let’s look at some real examples of these suits in action.

The mission and vision of Amazon: “Our vision is to be earth’s most customer-centric company; to build a place where people can come to find and discover anything they might want to buy online”. This makes it very easy to determine what type of company goal is driving Amazon: they want to be customer-centric.

Google’s corporate mission is “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful”. This mission statement is a bit more complicated. They seem to have Human-Centric goals, as they want people to be able to access and use information worldwide. But beyond that, they could also be considered a Self-Centric company, as they seem to want to corner the market on information accessibility and search engines.

Walmart’s mission can be summarized as “helping people around the world save money and live better – anytime and anywhere – in retail stores and through eCommerce.” But interestingly, their vision is different: to “make every day easier for busy families.” So, they also could be considered to have dual goals, of being Customer-Centric but also People-Centric.

Facebook and Starbucks both have corporate missions that seem Human-Centric and almost humanitarian in nature.

Facebook’s corporate mission is “to give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together.”

Starbucks Coffee’s corporate mission is “to inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup, and one neighborhood at a time.”

While both companies may have honorable intentions and beneficial goals, they are still companies that likely have Self-Centric goals as well, though they may not be broadcasting them. Starbucks, for example, though they may want to “nurture the human spirit”, is still a coffee company that is prioritizing profit and is trying to maintain its domination of the market.

Companies’ goals can also change over time as they grow or change priorities. Microsoft used to have a concise mission statement: Put “a computer on every desk and in every home.” Now, Microsoft’s corporate mission is “to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.” Their goals shifted from being product-centric to people-centric.

In that context, think about which suit fits you better? What do you genuinely care about? What is your purpose, whether you are someone who works for himself, or within a company, or an executive in a company, even on a personal level? How do your daily actions, company goals, business intentions, and mission statement support this? Do your values influence your company mission and employee conduct?

If there seems to be a disconnect between what you are doing as a business and what your authentic goals and values are, consider ways that you may be able to close the gap and bring your business back on track.

Suit up and enjoy your trip to finding your authentic model: mission and vision!