Rules.
“If we do the right things we’ll make money damn near automatic.”
- One of Nike’s 10 Principles
Mission Statements have always sounded like a great idea to me and have been horrible in practice. Every time I encounter one when starting to work with a client I cringe as they are word-polished to such a shine that they ultimately do not mean anything to anybody. 99% of the time they just exist to pump up the pride of the business owner (And you know how I feel about that type of pride).
You know the ones, typically they sound like this…
”We create exceptional outcomes for our clients through extraordinary customer service and innovative experiences with transformational thinking and innovative ideas.”
Sounds amazing! But… a) What does it even mean? b) Is it even the truth as to why your business is great?
More often than not, the words in them are such a mismatch to the actual behavior of the company that the mission statement has become a constant punchline inside the company instead of what was meant to be its “North Star.”
Therefore, allow me to propose an easier and more basic alternative: Rules.
A plainly stated set of rules that, if never broken, would ensure success for the business and everyone it touches.
Let me give you three examples to serve as examples and case studies:
Example 1: 5 rules
Over 30 years ago I attended a small talk by Jeffrey Immelt, then CEO of General Electric.
An audience member asked him how he sleeps at night with over 300,000 global employees when any one of them could do something one day that could permanently damage the brand. In response, he reached into his back pocket, pulled out his wallet and pulled out a blue plastic card that contained the 5 rules (Yes, just 5 for one of the biggest companies in the world) that everyone in GE must live by.
He explained that, just a few months earlier, the head of its most profitable division, GE Capital, broke one of those rules and was fired for doing so. Sure, he could have looked the other way for the person bringing in massive revenue but then the rules would not have meaning.
This is how he slept at night managing so many employees worldwide. If it works for 300,000+ employees, it just may work for you too.
Example 2: Three rules
I took over the turnaround of a small real estate development company a few years ago. They had a very "corporate speak-y" and aspirational mission statement AND a set of values that were turned into posters on the wall that was the constant fuel for office humor.
There was nothing wrong with the values except they did not connect to the culture and personality of this particular business (Which, on second thought, makes everything wrong with them).
So when I took over the direction of the business I decided to trash the mission and value statements and replace them with just three simple rules:
We take care of each other
We take care of our tenants
We take care of our investors
My reasoning was that when everyone in the company followed these rules, the company could not fail. Happy investors mean the properties are generating cash flow and the right returns for investors. Happy tenants mean rents rise and occupancy stays full. Taking care of each other ensures a happy and healthy team and a place people love to work.
In the few short years since setting these rules in stone, as the company is now quite successful, these rules have been leaned on often for every critical decision that would impact our investors, tenants and each other.
No corporate speak. No misunderstanding. Just three rules.
Example 3: Just one rule
Consider the story of the British rowing team heading into the 2000 Olympics as pulled from Dan Sullivan’s great book, The Gap and The Gain:
“The British rowing team had not won a gold medal since 1912.
By all measures, they didn’t have a good rowing program. Then something changed. In anticipation of the 2000 Sydney Olympics, the team developed a useful filtering process that changed everything.
They went from being an average rowing team to winning Olympic gold.
They developed a one-question filtering response to every single decision they made. This one question allowed them to measure every situation, decision, and obstacle—and not get derailed where most people do.
With every decision or opportunity, every member of the team asked themselves: WILL IT MAKE THE BOAT GO FASTER?
Example: you get invited to a late-night party the night before training. WILL IT MAKE THE BOAT GO FASTER? If the answer is no, then the decision is no. Tempted to eat a donut? WILL IT MAKE THE BOAT GO FASTER?
The British rowing team used this single measure as their decision filter to quickly escalate their unity, skills, conditioning, and training.”
Ok... Your turn.
What are the rules you can codify for your business so that, as long as they are never broken, everything else will fall into place?
The first place to look is every core constituent of your business and, as my good friend Rich Mulholland likes to say, the victory conditions you seek for your business and life.
If you want any feedback on what you come up with, jump to the contact form and let’s talk about it.
If you want articles like this delivered to your inbox, be sure to drop your email in the form at the bottom of this page (You will get the PDF of my first book delivered instantly when you do).