The mission statement mistake that destroys trust
Declaring aspirations as reality is one of the most insidious mistakes a company can make. Chris Erickson on how it disenfranchises teams and erodes trust.
Summary
Chris Erickson calls out one of the most insidious mistakes organizations make: presenting aspirational missions and values as if they were already true. It doesn’t work, and it disenfranchises people. The message the team hears is that leadership either doesn’t know who the company is or is lying to itself.
Highlights
- Presenting aspirations as reality is an insidious mistake.
- It disenfranchises the people who can see the gap.
- It signals a lack of self-awareness or honesty.
Key insights
Teams know the truth
Employees live the company every day. When the stated values don’t match, they notice first.
Two bad readings
A false value tells the team either leaders don’t see the company clearly or they aren’t being honest. Neither builds trust.
Detailed analysis
This mistake often comes from good intentions: leaders want to describe the company they’re building. But stating it as fact backfires with the people who know better. Separating core values from aspirational ones keeps the ambition and protects trust.
Conclusion
Don’t claim what isn’t true yet. Your team will trust you more for saying so.
This is one of the most insidious mistakes that organizations make: declaring missions, values, aspirationally as reality. It just doesn’t work. It disenfranchises people. Calling something a core value or a mission when it’s clearly not communicates to your team that we either don’t know who we are or we’re lying to ourselves.