Kevin Starr from the Mulago Foundation doesn’t find the average mission statement of development organizations very useful, as most of them look like this:
“… blah blah blah blah grassroots blah blah
blah empower blah blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah sustainable blah
blah capacity-building blah blah blah blah
blah blah innovative blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah blah strategies blah
blah participatory blah blah blah…”
Instead, he wants something in this format:
verb + target + outcome < 8 words
Starr gave a talk at PopTech where emphasized the need to distinguish between the organizations that say they’re doing a good job with those that are actually having an impact. A clear, concise and measurable mission statement helps. Watch the full video here:
msafiri mzungu 
February 14, 2011 at 11:40 am
Beautiful
February 22, 2011 at 6:03 pm
I always liked the story in “In Search of Excellence” (Peters and Waterman) of the then-new CEO of Delta Airlines (probably mid-80s). When he first encountered the array of manuals in his office, something like 5 or 6 3″ volumes, he threw them all out and wrote the company’s goals and mandate down on 1/2 page. Who knows; maybe he did it in 8 words?
On another topic: I have a whole book of “6 word stories”, inspired by Hemingway’s example: “Baby shoes for sale. Never used.”