Should You Have a Vision/Mission/Values Statement for Your Business?

Yes: 53%

• We share our statement with everyone who walks through the door. — Betsy Barron, Love & Luxe, San Francisco, CA
• The mission is important to align the goals and culture of our business with the staff, the clients, the community and our vendors. We read it at the start of each staff meeting and hang it proudly by the front door for everyone that enters to see. — Evan Duke, Classic Creations in Diamonds & Gold, Venice, FL
• Our owners do not believe in a mission statement. My co-manager and I have plans this year to create one. We feel like it is so important to express the core values that we stand on as a company because the owners are around less and less and are not here to communicate those values to not only our team, but our clients. The shift of who is in command certainly will throw some things off, and we are hopeful to create stability with values and a mission statement. — Natasha Henderson, Saxon’s Fine Jewelers, Bend, OR
• I have always sort of had a loose guideline of ethics, and then one of my clients who is a business ethics professor asked me if I would mind being the class project for his business ethics class. My staff and I were interviewed by students, and the different groups had to present in class a code of ethics and a mission statement to the professor and myself. I was presented with a framed version for my store. A very cool experience, I must say. And subsequent employees have read it and know better what is expected of them and how to perform their jobs. — Josh Rider, Dylan Rings, Montgomery, AL
• We have brand pillars that keep our vision clear and help us to make decisions as we grow the company. — Dianna Rae High, Dianna Rae Jewelry, Lafayette, LA
• We feel it is important to be transparent to our customers and employees. Our hope is they feel comfortable with what we wish to accomplish while shopping and working with us. — Lyla Ismael, Lyla Jewelers, Oak Lawn, IL
• It’s a good starting point for everyone to know. There is zero downside to having one. It is also a good exercise for the owner/manager to think about. — Steven B. Goldfarb, Alvin Goldfarb Jeweler, Bellevue, WA
• Helps cement our principles by having them in writing for decades, and they help staff understand our history and core values. — Tom Ozment Jr., Fincher & Ozment Jewelers, Tuscaloosa, AL
• Keeps me on track. Make a plan or plan to fail. — Lisa McConnell, Lisa McConnell Design Studio, Fort Worth, TX
• Because focus is so important. As the wise Rachel Hollis says, “When everything is important, nothing is important.” — Beth Cevasco, Scott’s Custom Jewelers, Fairlawn, OH
• It is important that everyone working at store has a common goal or idea they are working to. — Joseph Delefano, Regency Jewelers, Rotterdam, NY
• Our mission/vision statement has evolved over the years, as has our business. We want our entire team to be on board with the direction of our company, so having a clear statement and value system in place (and in print) facilitates this. It also allows for open conversation so we all know best practices to communicate this to our clientele. — Shawn Higgins, D & H Sustainable Jewelers, San Francisco, CA
• It is for all the millennials, yuppies, and boomers to be able to critique whether we are worthy of their business, even though they usually will believe any garbage presented online but question a business that has been around for three-plus decades. — David Blitt, Troy Shoppe Jewellers, Calgary, AB
• If everyone in the organization is not pointing in the same direction, then it’s hard to have one focus. It can become a virtual tug-of-war over what the priorities are. — Jon Bumann, Chalmers Jewelers, Middleton, WI

No: 47%

• It always feels like a forced exercise. — Nancy and Pierre Plante, Plante Jewelers, Swansea, MA
• No need. All it would say is to make a boatload of cash before I die. — Craig C. Curtis, Belfast Jewelry, Belfast, ME
• It doesn’t go with this outfit. LOL I will think about doing it. We are in a very small town, we translate our v/m/v face to face. But again … I will revisit this idea in the near future. — Bill Longnecker, Longnecker Jewelry, McCook, NE
• Most mission statements are bunk!! — Ragnar Bertelsen, Ragnar Jewellers, Vancouver, BC
• There’s only me. I know I want to have the best personal relationship possible with my customers. I don’t need to make a written statement! — Janne Etz, Contemporary Concepts, Cocoa, FL
• I really do not plan ahead. We are just too busy for planning. I need another jeweler and two more salespeople. I guess it’s a good problem to have. — Tommy Thobe, The Village Gem, Perry Hall, MD
• I feel that just writing down a mission statement is BS if it is not pushed by owners and managers on a daily basis. The staff knows how I expect our clients to be treated. — Lonnie Iannazzo, Vincent Anthony Jewelers, Tulsa, OK
• We have tried in the past, but don’t seem to need an exact statement, just a way of always doing business, which is to create the best possible experience for customers, staff, and vendors … well I guess maybe we DO have one after all. — Dorothy Vodicka, The Gem Collection, Tallahassee, FL
• In my experience, these statements don’t make a difference because they are too vague. — Donald Killelea, Killelea Jewelers, Midlothian, IL
• My mission statement seems to change from week to week, so I don’t concrete anything in. — Marc Majors, Sam L. Majors, Midland, TX
• To be honest, I could’ve never envisioned where I’m at right now. If I had had a vision statement, I probably would’ve put myself in a box and never gotten to the place that I am now. — Brian McCall, Midwest Jewelers and Estate Buyers, Zionsville, IN