Musings on a Monday Morning from Mike Mullin…

The weekly Newsletter of Without A Vision Consultancy LLC

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February 17, 2020 – Poorly Written Mission Statements

Good morning!

Have you been enjoying the waning crescent moon high in the wintry February sky?  Soon it will be gone — by Friday, in time for the Hindu holiday. The temperature here in Central Minnesota has fluctuated wildly by more than fifty (50) degrees this past week — and promises to continue doing so. From -21 to 35 above. I think that’s actually fifty-six (56) degrees if you do the math… wait, does zero (0) count as a degree?

• Have you watched the movie, Little Women?  (You probably read the book back in elementary school.)
  • Go see it… grab a pillow and a snack and watch it… your forbearance throughout the first two hours will be more than rewarded during the final 30 minutes.
• It is the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz by the Russians.
  • (Ask U.S. citizens and most will think it was the U.S./ British who were the heroes, but that’s another story.)
  • The bigger story is there were thousands of — perhaps as many as 15,000 — Nazi concentration camps; Auschwitz was simply the biggest and the most publicized.
  • Conservative estimates report more than one million (1,000,000) people brutally murdered at Auschwitz alone — making it the largest cemetery in the world. (CBS News)
• If you regularly reflect upon the (Thomas Hughes) admonition, “History is the greatest lie,” you will be tormented about the George Washington you encountered in elementary school.
  • But, each of us is unique — and complicated — as was George — and it should not trouble us to keep learning more and more about this man — nor about Martha as well.
  • Speaking of which, there is no such federal holiday as Presidents’ Day.
  • I know, I know, why fight it?  Just like media(um), data(um), and mete(o)rology… language evolves, why fight it?  But I can’t help myself.
  • The official federal holiday declared by Congress in 1971 is George Washington’s Birthday; no mention is made anywhere of so-called Presidents’ Day.
  • George was born under the Julian calendar; his generally accepted birth date of February 22, 1732 was extrapolated to fit the Gregorian calendar.
• A writer from France (Bucheron, The Art of Teaching People What to Fear) is advocating a gentler, more liberal and forgiving perspective on Machiavelli.
  • Just as Orwell was not necessarily a proponent of the thought police, Machiavelli when writing, On Principalities; i.e., The Prince, was not an advocate of dishonesty and selfish corruption in government, just simply a cynical, calculating philosopher… wait, wouldn’t that then make him de facto Machiavellian?
• The 1619 Project, researched andpublished by The New York Times has given me considerable pause… please read it and think about it.
• “I was not tired physically, I was tired of giving in.”  (Rosa Parks)
• “No one needs more bad theatre!”
  • That oft-expressed sentiment, among my favourite Colman (O’Connell) witticisms, is a perfect statement of vision — in reverse.
  • I’ve borrowed from Colman — and others — to coin the name for my business, Without a Vision Consultancy.
  • Without a Vision has encountered hundreds of so-called vision statements while conducting research for various organizations — many dutifully hung on a wall.
  • Almost all fall short because they don’t really communicate an aspiration, a destination, or an idealistic declaration.
  • Most we observe are mere re-verbiages and articulations of also often poorly-written Mission Statements (WHY do we exist?)
    • Test your vision:  Does it produce emotional goose bumps and/or tears of joy?  Keep working on it until it does.
    • Need help?  It’s our specialty — that and transforming it into action and sustaining it.

• What do you get when you work with Without a Vision Consultancy LLC?
  • We listen, we learn, and then we customize our response to deliver:
  1. Confidence
  2. Clarity
  3. Coaching
  4. Companionship on your journey… sometimes it gets lonely and it’s good to have a friend.

Everyone loves taking little quizzes; here’s one for you right now:  could you benefit from leadership coaching?

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