I believe I would like to do a paper on the purpose of mission statements. We seem to talk about them in class quite a bit and it made me wonder about their importance. I am also a business major and have had some experience with mission statement’s of companies and businesses. I would like to do some research into certain companies that have really intricate and thought out mission statements, but have failed to be morally ethical. Enron is the first company that comes to mind. I think it would be interesting to find some infomation about what their mission statement was before everything fell apart and how it helped or didn’t help shape the companies decisions. I would also like to look into the mission statements of successful companies and see which one’s have very specific statements and which one’s seem to be very broad. It would be interesting to see if this has had or would have an effect on the success of the company.
I also want to research the effect of personal mission statements and life plans. Do we have to have certain goals in life to be successful? And does being successful mean that we have to fulfill these goals or is striving to meet them enough? I want to evaluate my personal thoughts and goals along with those of my peers and possibly professors. I also want to interview some successful people throughout our community to see what effect, if any, a mission or setting goals has had on their lives. I plan to not just touch the surface, but really dig in and try to understand why people are successful and what has made them this way.
