Chad Silverstein argues that mission statements are ineffective and that leaders should model and communicate a compelling vision. He describes empowering employees to develop their own visions, accepting short tenures, and supporting people even if they leave; he endorses ESOPs and autonomy to create an entrepreneurial mindset and better engagement.
Chapters
I know I've shared many times and you probably have heard it, but it's worth the reminder. Mission statements don't work. No one cares about your mission statement if you're a leader. People are inspired by people's visions because they're pursuing something big and they see people, they see someone doing something that no one else is doing. When you have a genuine aim that you're. You're at, even if they don't feel passionate about it, but if they can respect it and if they love seeing how inspired you are, then they'll be inspired to be part of it. And you want to give people this freedom to author their own. When I set my team free and then walked around my office and saw people with their own visions on their door at a collection agency, forget it. I mean, it was just unbelievable, the impact that that made throughout my team, for new people who came in and were being recruited, for visitors, were checking out our office, and for clients who came in to do a site visit. But more importantly, for the person who was given the freedom to not feel like they have to drink the Kool Aid. And there were plenty of people who wanted to drink the Kool Aid. They wanted to kind of, you know, look good and kiss butt and, and, and get up, move up throughout the company because they'd put on a fake face and pretend like they were in love with what we were doing. And we just saw right through that. And the people who were on fire and the people who said, you know what? I'm going to take this gift and I'm going to run. And they put pen to paper and they figured out what they want. And many times it was very hard because it wasn't something that they wanted at my office. And I had to accept the fact that I was only going to have some people for a year, two year, three years. And my thought was, if that's the reality, I'd rather know than have them hide it and support them through it so that we can be there for each other. They can support me with mine as I support them for theirs and get the best out of them for one to two, three years. And some of the nicest notes I get when people reach out are people that only had, you know, a small stint at my company, but we had such an impact on them and encouraged them, so much so, and we got the best out of them while they were there that they really appreciated, and they moved on to something bigger and better that I couldn't provide for them. And there's something powerful about giving people that freedom, which most offices will never do. This is why I'm a big fan of ESOPs, where they make them employees, part owners. Creating that entrepreneurial mindset within your team and giving them that autonomy to be able to solve problems and to be able to do something when maybe it's outside their position. Take it upon themselves to get involved with something that normally wouldn't be in their job description. You gotta, you gotta let people live. And when you're trying to shove your core values and mission statement down people's throat, it doesn't work. So you gotta, you gotta just realize that what you want for yourself, you gotta give to other people. That's a, that's a strong principle that you gotta, you gotta try to adopt. Because the other way is to be authoritative and really jam things down people's throat, which doesn't work. Well, I don't know anyone who wants to be told what to do and what to believe.
