Mantra vs. Mission Statement

Guy Kawaski was the original Macintosh evangelist. I know this because for many years I subscribed to his Mac EvangeList listserv. (Which was, I think, the first one I ever subscribed to in, um … 1993?)

In this video from a Stanford University presentation, he talks about wasting time and money on creating a 50-word mission statement. Instead, create a mantra – a three-word phrase that describes what you do.

For us, as journalists, we should do the same thing with every story. If you can’t describe what your story is in three words, you may not know what it is.

Think about it.

(Thanks to my old friend, mentor and professor Dennis Kinsey for the lede on this.)