7 Keys to Marketing Genius: Conflicting Missions

The following is an excerpt from The 7 Keys to Marketing Genius by Michael Daehn

What happens when the members of an organization do not agree on a mission? Conflict. The conflict will be resolved eventually by everyone agreeing on a common mission, individuals leaving the organization, or the dissolution of the organization itself.

I did a mission-building workshop for a small and growing company I worked for called XCOM. I had the different members work through their personal missions and what they felt the company’s purpose should be. It became apparent that one of the owners, Betty, had an opinion of why we were working together that was very different from one of the other owners and most of the employees. Betty felt the main purpose of XCOM was to make a profit. Her partner and most of the employees were there to build a legacy and a company that would be respected. I was at a bit of a loss at the time, because I had not expected this to happen. There was no way to agree on a mission for the company in the hour we had set aside for this meeting. I recommended that we think some more, and I would take everyone’s ideas and create a draft to e-mail around for approval. My draft, which was a compromise of the conflicting missions, was rejected by Betty and the other employees who had their own versions they preferred.

Needless to say, I was never able to create a concrete mission for XCOM. I also watched these conflicting values play out during my time there. Betty and the other owner and employees had petty arguments and did not get along. I could see that the root problem of most of these arguments had to do with a different view of why the company existed. Betty was viewed as a penny-pincher who only cared about money. Betty viewed the others as being irresponsible with company resources. Who was right? I think they both were right in a way. It is irrelevant who was right or wrong; the point is that they would always have a difficult time working together, since they were going in different directions.

One of our brightest employees who had been vocal in the mission-building workshop just picked up and left one day. He was there to create a unique company and leave a legacy; this was in conflict with the way Betty was trying to run things.

Because my role with the company was also not clearly defined, I was moved around to different departments a couple of times and finally was made the marketing director. I had a big problem because I did not know what I was trying to market. I could not get a clear answer on what exactly our business was doing and who my target market was. Definitions of what we were trying to do changed from day to day and week to week. This is understandable since some days we were trying to build an identity as an innovative company, and the next day we were talking about jumping into a popular market and doing the same things as our competition to make some quick cash. The company did not have a mission, and the personal missions of the stakeholders were grossly misaligned.

I had a few ideas for marketing promotions, but the lack of a definitive purpose and a commitment from management to allocate finances meant they were never implemented. I sat at my desk and listened to the owners feud about what the company was trying to do. I tried to think of something productive to do with my time, but had no real purpose to pursue. I felt guilty taking a paycheck, so I advised my boss to lay me off and use me as a consultant if he wanted to do any marketing in the future. A couple of months later, citing a lack in sales, I was taken up on my offer and laid off. Betty and the other owner never did get along. The fighting grew more furious and finally the ownership disbanded.

Could creating a mission statement have saved this situation? Probably not, but it could have saved some aggravation. The inability to agree on the purpose of XCOM and create a mission was a clear indication of what was to come. From the beginning, they should have either come to a consensus or decided to part ways. This would have saved time, money and heartache.


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