Chapter 18
Family Mission Statements

Why a Family Mission Statement Matters

As we saw in Chapter 2, a sense of shared purpose is key to family flourishing. This chapter describes what a family mission statement is, how to create one, and how to use the family mission statement effectively with your family.

Our studies of families that have flourished over generations indicate that one of the factors behind their success is that family members identify their core values and use those values to articulate a shared dream. This is what a family mission statement is all about.

Sometimes people distinguish more action-oriented mission statements from broader, more aspirational vision statements. We are going to use the term mission statement to cover both possibilities. As we mentioned in Chapter 16, some families produce values statements. As will be seen shortly, we see family values as intimately tied to family mission statements.

The family mission statement, as we are describing it, describes both the why of a family’s shared effort as well as the where to. As Alice learned from the Cheshire Cat, if you don’t care where you’re going, you’ll be sure to get there. The family mission statement ensures that your family isn’t just wandering somewhere. But a statement that is not grounded in a firm sense of the family’s values and vision will amount only to words on paper.

What Is a Family Mission Statement?

A thoughtful family mission statement articulates a shared sense of purpose, provides a comfortable basis for ongoing dialogue, offers guidance to rising generation family members as to what the family is all about, and incorporates each family member’s unique thoughts, talents, and contributions. It may be a couple of lines or a few paragraphs. Whatever its length, it ideally tries to answer these four questions:

1. Who are we?
2. What do we stand for?
3. What do we want to do?
4. How will we accomplish our goals?1

A family mission statement will reflect the individual character of the family, its history and values, as well as the main areas of its shared efforts, for example, business or philanthropy.

Here are three examples of brief introductions to family mission statements:

1. Our family mission is to preserve and promote responsible stewardship by nurturing our passions for self, family, and community.
2. We want our capital to allow our children and their children to be able to find their passion and pursue it with excellence.
3. Our family mission is to prepare and uphold the values of our ancestors while encouraging independent thoughts and ideals in future generations to enhance the core values of our family.

A somewhat fuller introduction looks like this:

• Our family has made a conscious decision to remain connected. We believe that remaining together enables us to actively and purposefully:
  • Support individual members in discovering and pursuing their callings.
  • Support individual members in developing their gifts for the benefit of society.

Here is the beginning of the mission statement of a seventh-generation family enterprise that has set its sights seven generations into the future. The family’s mission is:

To be a fourteenth-generation family company\—financially strong, intellectually progressive, and deeply committed to the well-being of our businesses, our employees, our communities, and each other.

How to Create a Family Mission Statement

To endure and make a positive impact on a family, the mission statement usually is created by the whole family, not just by one member. When the patriarch or matriarch writes a mission statement on his or her own, even if it is approved by the larger family, it may soon disappear into a file folder and be forgotten.

There are exceptions to this rule. For example, Henry Phipps, the steel entrepreneur, wrote a brief letter to his son in 1911 outlining his wishes regarding the values and practices that should inform the management of their family wealth, a letter that still guides their family office to this day.

Since creating a family mission statement is a group effort, it is important to structure the process. It is best done in the context of a family meeting or meetings devoted to this task. We recommend taking several steps, with ample time for reflection and discussion.

The first step is to set a positive frame by thinking and then talking, as a family, about these questions: What is a time when each of us felt a strong sense of community or emotional connection as a family? What was it about that time that created those feelings?

With this sense of connection established, you can then discuss, as a family, questions like these:

• What are our core values as a family?
• Why do we want to stay together as a family?
• What family traditions do we want to preserve?
• What impact do we as a family want to have on the world?
• How much do we want to be connected and how much do we want to be independent?

Discussing these questions can help to clarify the family’s values. Family values are built upon the shared values of individual family members. One way to clarify the family’s values is to use a set of cards with values words on them and allow members of the family to identify their top five values. Members can then share their lists and see which values appear on all or most members’ lists.

An even simpler way, mentioned in Chapter 16, is for each family member to reflect on and answer the question, “What matters most to me and why?” As family members go around the circle and answer this question, their personal values will become evident. These individual values can then be combined for a list of shared family values.

Once the family has a shared list of values, you can turn this list into a family mission statement. The list of values, perhaps with some explanation of what each value means to the family, can also serve as an addendum to the mission statement itself.

Brevity is a virtue in family mission statements; it can be hard to recall the mission if it is too long. At the same time, the family may want to create an appendix to the mission statement that defines terms used in it. Terms that commonly benefit from such definitions include “education,” “work,” “self-fulfillment,” and the like.

How to Use a Family Mission Statement

Just talking about values and answering the question, “What matters most to me and why?” strengthens communication and shared understanding. Once you also have a family mission statement you can then use that statement in a variety of ways.

For example, consider what parts of the larger family system the mission statement should touch and how. If a family has an operating business, the family mission statement can be adapted to express the family’s desires for the business’ impact on the world. In addition, a best practice for families with operating businesses is to establish a family council that expresses the voice of the family vis-à-vis the business; the family mission statement is a natural guiding principle for this body. A family mission statement may also inform a family’s philanthropic decisions, whether through a family foundation or a donor-advised fund. Some families create family constitutions that link together all their operating entities and family council in a system of governance; a family mission statement often heads that document and gives direction to the procedures that follow. (For more on family governance and these structures, see Chapter 19.)

A simple use of a family mission statement is to read it aloud at the beginning of each annual family retreat or gathering, to remind everyone around the table of what really matters to them as a family. As your family grows and changes, it is natural to revisit and revise your mission statement. This exercise is a powerful way to reaffirm shared bonds and to clarify what really matters to you all.

Summary Worksheet

Now that you have read about family mission statements, you can use the space below to put this learning into action.

1. Identify your family’s core values.

   

2. Identify some reasons for why you want to stay together as a family.

   

3. What traditions as a family do you want to preserve?

   

4. What impact as a family do you want to have on the world?

   

5. What would a draft of your family mission statement look like?

   

6. Identify upcoming gatherings or situations in which family members could discuss or be reminded of the family mission statement.

   

Note

1 Leslie Dashew et al., The Keys to Family Business Success (Aspen, CO: Aspen Family Business Group, 2011).