`Cheshire Puss,' she began, rather timidly, as she did not at all know whether it would like the name: however, it only grinned a little wider. `Come, it's pleased so far,' thought Alice, and she went on. `Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?'

  `That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,' said the Cat.

  `I don't much care where--' said Alice.

  `Then it doesn't matter which way you go,' said the Cat.

  `--so long as I get SOMEWHERE,' Alice added as an explanation.

  `Oh, you're sure to do that,' said the Cat, `if you only walk long enough.'

(Lewis Carrol, Alice in Wonderland, Chapter VI)

The mission and vision statement are the hallmarks of all business management courses.  But are they critical for business or for even you as an individual?  Statements are made like “just do what is best”.  But what is “best”?  Without a plan (mission) and a goal (vision) anywhere can be an outcome if you work at it long enough.  So from that standpoint you can never fail but you can also never truly succeed.  I always described that as a “hillbilly bulls-eye” – that is where you shoot the side of the barn and then go and draw circles around the hole. 

Operating a business or even your personal life without any sort of goal or direction results in lack of satisfaction and happiness.  How would you like to run a race that has no finish line or for that matter no course?  The clearer the direction and the path, the clearer every decision is to make.  Because the root question then becomes – “does doing this keep us on or off the path and closer or farther away from our goal?”  The goal (vision) and the path (mission) should be shared and communicated to everyone both personally and professionally.  I was once told, by a manager I have respect for, that most problems are caused by “communications”.  I would agree with that assessment with the addition of not only communication between parties but also the communication of vision and mission – both personally and in business.  Unless everyone, including yourself, staff and business partners, know where you are going and how you intend on getting there – you, like Alice, are going to just walk until you arrive somewhere.