What's all this Vague talk?

Lot's of people think that when brand experts start talking about things like mission, vision purpose, that they are just too vague. These concepts are big, but they certainly aren't vague. And they are meaningful.

Here's How this model works:

Mission Vision and Purpose (or Cause) are concepts at increasingly universal levels, not—as some think—increasingly abstract. And, they can apply to an individual life as well as a company.

First, goals are about personal actions or impact (Here are specific actions I plan to take.) Most people are knowledgable about and comfortable with goal-making. We've all got to have something that we plan to do and have some way to measure it. We're going to sell this many units. I'm going to Jog every day. I want to call everyone on the vendor list with this questionaire. These are goals.

Second, mission is about interpersonal impact with others. (Here is how I want to interact with you.) The important thing here is that this is not about things the company wants to do but how it wants to interact with customers, vendors, suppliers, every other entity it comes in contact with. In this model, the brand promise is at the level of mission because it's how we promise to interact with our customers, but the mission involves everyone, not just customers.

Vision is about Social impact (Here is how I want to change the world.) A company or an individual can have a vision of the world that is before us, and how that world can be changed by you. It includes your intended affect on the world.

Purpose seems the simplest, but it's actually the most universal (Here is what I was created to do.) I don't actually like the word "Cause" because causes can be picked up and put down, but it's more comfortable for some people. The conundrum here is that personally, this is the question that we all ask of ourselves in some version or other, even if we last asked it when we were five years old. And yet it is the question that often remains unconsidered as we get older. And it's actually more difficult for individuals than it is for companies. Every company was created for something. The answer "just to make money" is just an immediate and a surface answer, and I guarantee there's a deeper purpose to why a company was created, or it's found along the way. And sometimes it's known but deliberately hidden. Imagine that deep inside you want to unlock the secrets of the universe, and you start a biotech company. You might be shy about that.
 
But my point here is that if you know the answers to these bigger (but not vaguer) questions, then there is a greater depth of meaning to what you do. It's easier to attract the talent you want, the vendors you want, the customers you want, because there will be that depth of meaning. Why does it work like this? Because companies are created by and made up of people, and there's no reason to assume that all observances about people ceases to apply simply because they are organized into a company.