Do you have a corporate mission statement? If you work for a company, regardless of the size and industry, there is a strong chance you have a mission. If you don’t, you should take some time and come up with one (you need strategic direction and something to work toward!). It might be a phrase or it could be a paragraph. Does it discuss your product? Does it discuss your cultural values? Does it embody your market position and customer benefits?
Setting the traditional mission statement architecture aside and instead peering through the lens into how your organization can become an Exponential Organization introduces the call for an MTP. The term MTP stands for Massive Transformative Purpose, and is the higher, aspirational purpose of an organization that aims to transform “something” (such as their customers, their country, their market reach, the planet, etc.) in some incredible way. These innovative and disruptive businesses look to accomplish near-miracles both in their industry and by global standards. The MTP provides the benchmark to build this type of organization around and drives a company toward exponential attributes.
Does every company need an MTP? No, and you might not think there is value in this exercise for your own business. Your MTP is your organization’s dent in the Universe. Even if that dent is microscopic in size (as most are), that doesn’t discount the benefit of introducing an MTP to your organizational culture internally and corporate representation externally.
An MTP needs to be MASSIVE. It needs to be bigger than big, and stretch feasible physical and potential limits. If a mission statement is easily achievable, or can be planned to an end date, it isn’t an MTP. MTPs scale across state, country, and continental lines. They drive organizations to conquer space, improve global life, and break through the restrictions of “as we know it”.
An MTP must also be TRANSFORMATIVE. Being massive isn’t enough. It needs to be big, but big alone doesn’t drive global change. Just because something is massive, doesn’t mean it will improve your daily life, your intelligence, your abilities, or your worldly limitations. An MTP transforms people, life, understanding, ability, data, technology, consumerism, habits, behavior, and so on…for the better. Although short in length, an MTP’s target dent in the universe should be clear, even if the path to get there is not. The more unachievable the MTP, the more transformative potential it has on the world.
And finally, an MTP must have PURPOSE. The primary reason that tens of thousands of Googlers get out of bed every day to work at the internet giant, knowing the challenges and long hours that usually are in front of them, is they believe in the company’s purpose. A nice paycheck helps, but alone it won’t provide an individual with long-term happiness or purpose. Purpose is an interesting thing. It is intangible even though you feel it when you’ve found it. It is also different for me than for you. When a company purpose reaches the scale and transformation required of an MTP, it can speak to thousands of different people in different ways. Even though no two people have the exact same passions, desires, needs, interests, and personalities, an MTP can still hold a powerful value and strength to each of them.
Paquin Innovation’s mission is “Focus on the person, the service will follow.” For us, this is massive. Whether designing a website, creating a marketing campaign or publishing a short story, this mission is ever-evolving and forever-reaching. There is not a tangible, achievable end to focusing ‘on the person’, meaning the clients and customers. Paquin Innovation exists for and because of them, and only by continuously focusing on those individuals and companies can we truly achieve world-class service. That introduces both transformative and purposeful attributes to the reason we do what we do. If anyone wakes up one morning and decides the customer is no longer the most important part of our business, then that is the day their values (specific to their career) no longer meld with ours. An MTP should grab the right people and drive them forward, so long as the purpose still exists for those individuals.
As a company that amounts to a fraction of a fraction of Google’s financial prowess and market reach, some might ask, “Why come up with an MTP at all?” The answer is in the above. It’s about calling upon people that share your same passion and drive for purpose and success. Every employee brings something unique to the table, and having a solid MTP to rally around only exponentially increases the collective benefit. This results in happier customers, greater market penetration, increased sales, and a great work culture. It also means you have something to point to in every interaction, to help answer the following questions:
• Who are we?
• What are our aspirational goals?
• What attributes and atmosphere do we want to define our culture?
• What underlying strategy and mission defines our roadmap?
• How do we achieve the product/service we want to have in five years…and beyond?
• How do we stay relevant to ourselves and our customers?
The list goes on. A well-placed MTP or mission will be the accelerant that fuels your daily contributions. I encourage you to take on the exercise. Erase the whiteboard. Brainstorm and look inside yourself, your fellow teammates, and your aspirational goals. Rally around the result and go forward with purpose.
