PERSONAL MASTERY: Designing your Vision, Mission, and Unique Value Proposition

While we were on the trajectory of re-inventing ourselves, we thought what our vision was. We got some philosophical stuff as answers and documented each thought that featured in our mind. 

As we desired to live our lives like that of sterling individuals like Ahmed Kathrada and  Corporations like FNB, we looked at their illustrious Vision Statements for inspiration. FNB was how can we help you? Nelson Mandela and Ahmed Kathrada’s political party's vision statement was a better life for all. In a few powerful words, these rallying cries quickly told us what each Organization stood for.

The parts of a good vision statement should be a means by which we describe our goal. It must invoke a clear and imaginative mental picture of our objective. It should energize, inspire, and motivate us and those around us.

We figured that the answer to our visionary question was directly correlated to our purpose on Earth. At that juncture, we just thought that as Heaven is the goal that we aimed for, then we should live a life that supported us in getting there. And who was the owner of Heaven, we pondered? Who was the decision-maker that made the call on whether our score-card stacked up and whether we made the cut or not? The answer to that question was simple: The CEO of the Universe. And therein lay the answer: as Heaven was our long-term goal, then getting to better understand The CEO of the Universe was our purpose. That had to be our vision.

A vision statement should be short and sweet. It provides direction and inspiration for our lives. It sets out our most important goals but doesn’t include a practical plan to achieve those goals. It outlines how we help people and the value that we offer to the world. A vision statement is an executive summary of our short, medium, and long-term goals. When we graduate from a plan, we can change our Vision Statement. Our business is greatly influenced by spiritual intelligence, so our vision statement is spiritual. Our Vision Statement is to emigrate ourselves to the service of The CEO of the Universe. Your Vision Statement need not necessarily be Spiritual. It can be Business, Socially, or Politically centric. It can be emotionally, spiritually, or intelligently intelligent.

As a Vision Statement is about our goals, it must be aspirational. As it lends a cathartic effect to our day-to-day work, it must be inspirational by breathing life and excitement into what it is that we are pursuing. Lastly, it must be motivational, reminding us and those around us why we do what we do.

A Vision statement is not the execution plan to realize your goals. That is the function of a Mission Statement. A mission statement is a few short sentences or paragraphs detailing what you or your organization does to achieve your vision. It answers the how part of the Vision Statement.

Our son, Doctor, has the following Mission Statement: we aim to brighten the day of everyone who contacts us by being a fun person to work with. We write great content that gives us many “ah-ha” moments as we write it. We read a lot of online content to keep our ideas cutting edge and relevant.

Doctor was only fourteen years old when he wrote this. When we learned of his Mission Statement, we were wowed by it. If a teenager could come up with something so phenomenal, we could also do so by replicating his example.

Our Mission Statement is: after surviving a car crash two decades ago that left us with an eighty percent brain disability, we realized that our challenges were not that unique from everyone else. Applying bandage and plaster was not a sustainable solution. So as the Worlds #1 Motivational Speaker leveraging the award-winning, awe-inspiring, and life-altering Isaac Lakhi Mi2C Success Framework, we are inspiring Millennial Hearts to move from heedlessness to wakefulness, from working class to world-class, and from ordinary to extraordinary. That vision culminates in a more meaningful, measurable, significant, and sustainable life.

A Mission Statement must wow people. People must feel inspired, enchanted, and dazzled in your presence. While meeting you, their hair should stand, and they should get goose-pimples. Your job is to make every person that comes into contact with you feel richer, better, and more gilded. People must be saddened to leave your expansive company, yet at the same time feel delighted at the experience, privilege, and honor of having been in your association. When we make people feel consequential and unique, they will flock to us. When we appear vulnerable, not in a manipulative or egoic way, but with sincerity, authenticity, and humility, it will corroborate that we are human. That vulnerability doesn’t make us weak but instead gives us a “larger-than-life” presence. People will follow your example and may want to be just like you. Imagine being a role model to your spouse, kids, your broader family, friends, community, and employees; how does that make you feel? Remember, you are one in seven billion!

Whether you work for a Corporation in their back, middle, or front office, you have a value proposition. Suppose you are in your back office working in Finance or Information Technology. In that case, you’re an Organizational Enabler, and your customer is your Colleagued in other departments of your business that you enable.

Suppose you are in a middle office environment in a Bank or Insurance Company and run the Compliance function. In that case, your customer may be Salespeople in the front office that you assist in complying with regulatory and statutory formalities, that could save your Corporation from millions of dollars in fines and severe reputational risk if you did not do what you do.

If you are in the front office in Sales and Acquisition, your customer would be the business's customers that generate its revenues. If you are part of the Executive Committee, your customer may be the Board of Directors.

If you run your own business, you, too, will have a unique selling proposition. Financiers that put money into your business need to be convinced that their investment is sound and that your business will generate a handsome Return on Equity.

If you are buying from Suppliers on credit, they will need to be persuaded that they will receive their money within the agreed terms and that that you are a trustworthy mark.

If you are a high School Teacher, your customer is the young minds you are helping to set up for explosive growth.

Regardless of what profession we hold, we are selling at all times.

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