Mission statement impossible

There's a world of difference between truly standing for something and having a

mission statement that says you stand for something. You know, those

"providing the best service" signs that are created just to be posted on a wall.

The ones that sound phony and disconnected from reality.

Imagine you're standing in a rental-car office. The room's cold. The carpet is

dirty. There's no one at the counter. And then you see a tattered piece of paper

with some clip art at the top of it pinned to a bulletin board. It's a mission

statement:

Our mission is to fulfill the automotive and commercial truck rental, leasing,

car sales and related needs of our customers and, in doing so, exceed their

expectations for service, quality and value.

We will strive to earn our customers' long-term loyalty by working to

deliver more than promised, being honest and fair and "going the extra mile"

to provide exceptional personalized service that creates a pleasing business

experience.

We must motivate our employees to provide exceptional service to our

customers by supporting their development, providing opportunities for

personal growth and fairly compensating them for their successes and

achievements ...

*

And it drones on. And you're sitting there reading this crap and wondering,

"What kind of idiot do they take me for?" The words on the paper are clearly

disconnected from the reality of the experience.

It's like when you're on hold and a recorded voice comes on telling you how

much the company values you as a customer. Really? Then maybe you should

hire some more support people so I don't have to wait thirty minutes to get help.

Or just say nothing. But don't give me an automated voice that's telling me

how much you care about me. It's a robot. I know the difference between

genuine affection and a robot that's programmed to say nice things.

Standing for something isn't just about writing it down. It's about believing it

and living it.