What is your career’s mission statement – mybbwo.com

Happy Hump Day! We’re half-way through the week, time to re-evaluate what we’ve done (or not) thus far this week, and set to accomplish the remainder of our goals for this week. In our careers and our lives, we’re on a mission! And speaking of mission, what is your own mission statement as a career woman? Do you even have one?

In my years in Big Corporate, I’ve come to value the importance of purpose, especially as a corporate sister and a woman of color at work. Add to this the major changes on the corporate and economic landscape, the serious lack of gender diversity, the fear and uncertainty plaguing the corporate world lately, and you’ve got a great recipe for career instability we have to strive against.

As corporate sisters, we ought to take ownership of our careers as a business, and market our own brands to the companies, departments, groups, etc, we aspire to work with/in. Hence, the importance of a mission statement to keep us focused on our goals and aspirations, even as job transitions, careers shifts and other professional detours and bumps in the road present themselves. And there’s just something about a mission statement that feeds the individual’s vision for the future, thus setting in motion a natural mechanism of cause and effect towards the realization of success.

The first time one of my mentors asked me about my career mission statement, I went: “Huh?” And it still took me a few years to actually draft and complete something that looked anything like a mission statement.

So what does one look for when preparing their own career mission statement? One of my favorite questions to start anything at work or in life is “Why?”. And that’s exactly where a mission statement should start as well: “Why? What is your career’s purpose? Why do you do what you do? Why do you want to achieve what you want to achieve?” This will help in drafting a brief summary of your goals, personal values, previous successes and how YOU, as unique as YOU are, can contribute to your current or potential employer.

Here are some great examples of career mission statements:

My career mission statement is to become the first woman CEO of X Engineering Company and to build a network of women CEOs in my field.

My career mission is to develop my skills and abilities in my field so as to become an outstanding person in my work.

My career mission is to contribute in the development of a cure for cancer.

One famous mission statement that is often spoken about is that of John F. Kennedy, which reads: “This nation should dedicate itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth”. And didn’t it happen just as he predicted? Sure did…

What is your career mission statement?

The Corporate Sister.