February 16, 2020

A bit more about mission vs vision

Sent by Jonathan Stark on February 16th, 2020

A few people replied to my last message looking for a little more clarity about how mission and vision relate to each other.

Your vision is like a picture in your head of a possible future. A different (presumably better) way that things could be. 

Your mission is a public commitment to actively attempt to turn a vision a reality.

So, the two terms are closely related, but you could have visions of the future that you are not willing to do anything about (i.e., it never becomes your mission). 

Conversely, you could be on a mission to achieve someone else’s vision (i.e., the vision didn’t originate in your head, but it becomes your mission in life to make it a reality)

It might help to think about the personification of each term: 

A visionary is someone who spends their time thinking about or planning the future with imagination or wisdom.

A missionary is a person strongly in favor of a program, set of principles, etc., who attempts to persuade or convert others.

Hopefully that helps!

Yours,

—J

BackRandomNext