‘Should mission statements be mission questions?’*

Statements sound like we have everything figured out.  Maybe it’s just my love for questions, but good questions suggest futures with more possibilities.

Mission statements can be a way of saying: This is what we’ve been doing so far and we think this will work in the future.  Like stories, they tell us how we got here.

What if, instead of seeing our past stories – personally or collectively – as explaining why we’re as we are, we ask questions like: Why did I make this decision?  Why did we react in this way?

Where we are now is only one of many places we could have ended up.  The future is full of many possibilities.  Statements take us to one place.  Questions open up many possibilities:

Which of my skills do I want to hone the most?
Why am I more interested in these?
Who will help me to do this?
Who do I want to help or where do I want to make a difference?
Who could I work and collaborate with?
What new things might we need to begin?
What are my/our resources?
What do I need to let go of?

Just a few of the mission questions which begin to branch out.

(*From Warren Berger’s A More Beautiful Question.  I have to admit, I haven’t read this section yet; I really like the question.)