Sample Mission and Guiding Principles: NIKE

Mission Statement:

"If you have a body, you're an athlete" (Explanation: We bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world.)

Guiding Principle:

Deliver a compelling, innovative product. Run a strong and efficient business

Core philosophy:

We believe in potential, not limits. The 4-minute mile was safe, until Roger Bannister. Lou Gehrig's 2,130 straight games were safe, until Cal Ripken. No one would ever clear 29 feet in the long jump, until Bob Beamon. Nobody would ever beat Bob Beamon, until Michael Powell. That's how it is with NIKE. We believe.

What sets NIKE Apart?

First, we're innovators by nature. We're fixated, obsessed by innovation. I think that NIKE represents a passion and an insatiable appetite to go deeper with an athlete within sports and to take those insights and translate those creatively into innovative concepts and products and stories. We have incredibly wide peripheral vision, the ability to see and be inspired by things that happen in sports, but also in film and music and digital technology--everything in youth culture around the world. We're incredibly curious, but we're also incredibly focused. Second, we continually challenge ourselves to be better. There's a lot of pride at NIKE. We believe in what we do. We are a youthful and a premium brand. Our intentions, our influence, our results are all really very positive. But that doesn't mean that we are satisfied.

What does it take to be a great global company?

Greatness is a word that I don't really like. I just think that we always need to be good and getting better. If you ever say you're great, then what is there to achieve? The key to becoming good and better is always management. We're managing our business pretty well right now. We're going to have to get better to get to the $23 billion level. That means managing people inside the company better, and it means getting good people from outside the company to join us here over the next three or four years, and I'm quite optimistic that we'll do it.

Editor's Comment: Again, there is not a generally accepted template for establishing and/or outlining a company's mission and guiding principles. Above is what NIKE provides in its annual report. NIKE clearly is an inspirational company. It passionately supports and empowers the achiever, and it does so through its products. It is also an innovative, entrepreneurial company. It sounds like an exciting place to work, and it is about much more than money. It's no surprise that it is one of the most successful companies of the past 50 years.