Radio's Mission Statement?

Are Mission Statements still in vogue? You know, those silly plaques hung on a station wall that purport to state the principles by which you and your team operate?

I say silly because most times they are so far from the reality I find inside the station when I visit that it’s hard not to snort cynically as I walk by them.

I’m not against mission statements. I’m against BS. Here’s what I think your mission statement should state:

I will make it my mission to do everything I possibly can to create content so unique and powerful, so emotionally connective and impactful, that I will change someone’s life today.

Wouldn’t you love it if every one of your employees believed that?

Wouldn’t you want to hire people with this much passion, with the belief that they have a calling — a mission — to change your company for the better?

Wouldn’t you love it if every time you tuned in, you heard something you could not ignore?

Wouldn’t it be easier to attract the very best if your station sounded like that every day? Wouldn’t it make retention of key employees easier?

If your answer to any of these is “No,” I respectfully wish you would find a different career, one where being compliant and acquiescent are the standard, like…say…in the White House.

Radio needs more than that today.