Commanders have mission statements.
Staff professionals apply skills and tools to their commander’s mission statement.
Several years ago, the nine-person Public Affairs team to which I was the deputy sat down for a series of meetings to determine our internal team’s mission and vision. For hours we debated key words, goals and communication philosophies because we wanted to codify our identity.
Boy, I think we were on the wrong track.
Our organization’s mission statement was our mission statement. We just needed to have a frank conversation about the skills and tools we had or could obtain to support that mission.
It’s not about you, it’s not about your internal team, and it’s not about your public affairs interests or beliefs.
Focus on mission. Always.
(Photo from USAID Archives, DVIDS)
