Are you mission-driven? What I learned from SpaceX.
Every company has a mission, but do you even know what it is? I bet most of us can’t even recite our employers mission word for word. Regardless of if you can or can’t, I encourage you to keep reading to assess how mission-driven you think you and your company are.
I am sure you have heard of SpaceX, which is why I picked my experience there as an obvious example of what it means to be mission-driven. I only worked at SpaceX for 18 months and during that time we successfully re-used a Falcon 9 rocket booster, launched Falcon Heavy, and secured our seat at the table for human flight testing. The amount of achievements happening felt unparalleled to anywhere else I had worked before. What made SpaceX so different? Regardless of what SpaceX’s mission is, it was our culture.
Everyone there is extremely mission-driven. Decisions and commitments were made based on our ability to get humans to Mars. If a project didn’t benefit that mission, we killed it and moved on. Since the SpaceX culture is so mission-aligned, everyone held a level of criticism, creativity, and motivation to work on the things that mattered. I would constantly hear and being saying, “Is this the most important thing to do now?”, “Will this matter in 6 months?”, “How does this enable our mission?”.
That level of cultural commitment to the mission is why SpaceX, in my opinion, is so successful.
So, is your company mission-driven? If you aren’t sure, ask yourself the following questions:
- What is your company’s mission and purpose?
- Are company objectives focused on near-term goals or a larger outcome?
- Do the leaders in your company empower you and others to be mission-driven decision makers?
- How does your role support the company’s mission?
- Are you working on the most important thing that you could be doing? If not, why?
We all have a choice in the companies we support, if that’s purchasing their products or working to help them grow. I encourage you to assess your company’s mission, it’s leaders, and your role. Are you truly mission-driven or just showing up to work?
Thanks for reading! Have other thoughts or questions? Leave a comment.
