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	<title>EppsNet: Notes from the Golden Orange &#187; War</title>
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	<pubDate>Fri, 05 Dec 2008 06:50:13 +0000</pubDate>
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		<title>Crafting a Mission Statement by General George S. Patton Jr.</title>
		<link>http://eppsnet.com/2004/04/crafting-a-mission-statement-by-general-george-s-patton-jr</link>
		<comments>http://eppsnet.com/2004/04/crafting-a-mission-statement-by-general-george-s-patton-jr#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 20 Apr 2004 05:16:48 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>PE</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Orange County]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[C.K. Prahalad]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[George Patton]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Mission Statements]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[War]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[World War II]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[C.K. Prahalad, one of the leading strategic consultants, has said that a mission statement should take less than three minutes to explain to an audience. 

    

That is absolute horseshit. 
Imagine making a declarative statement and then having to take an additional three minutes to explain what you just said. 
A mission [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>C.K. Prahalad, one of the leading strategic consultants, has said that a mission statement should take <strong>less than three minutes</strong> to explain to an audience. </p>
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    <img class="border" src="http://eppsnet.com/images/patton.jpg" alt="General George Patton with troops" width="317" height="240" />
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<p>That is absolute horseshit. </p>
<p>Imagine making a declarative statement and then having to take an additional three minutes to explain what you just said. </p>
<p>A mission statement should be <strong>immediately comprehensible.</strong> Three minutes of explanation is three minutes too many. </p>
<p>I read <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0735202974/hostilewitness" rel="external">a book on George Patton</a> this weekend. Here is his mission statement for the Third Army: </p>
<blockquote class="quoted smaller"><p>
<em>I don&#8217;t want to get any messages saying that &#8220;we are holding our position.&#8221; We&#8217;re not holding anything! Let the Hun do that. We are advancing constantly and we&#8217;re not interested in holding on to anything except the enemy. We&#8217;re going to hold on to him by the nose and we&#8217;re going to kick him in the ass.</em>
</p></blockquote>
<p>And most of that I included just for context. It really could be shortened to </p>
<blockquote class="quoted smaller"><p>
<em>We&#8217;re going to hold the enemy by the nose and we&#8217;re going to kick him in the ass.</em>
</p></blockquote>
<p><strong>It clearly states the goal of the organization</strong>, and it doesn&#8217;t need a three-minute explanation, does it? </p>
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