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Your Turn Crafting a Statement of Intent In times like these, when both businesses and business schools are being close- ly watched, it's good for all of us to embark on a little soul searching. Self-analysis allows an organization to take the first giant step toward setting out common goals and developing a clear sense of direction. Once a school or business distills its identity down to its essence, what it has left is a mission statement. Most multinationals and many smaller firms already have mission state- ments, but not as many business schools have been as quick to follow suit. But I believe every business school benefits from writing a brief, clear state- ment of its values and purpose. Who Are We? On a simple philosophical level, a mission statement answers the ques- tion, "Why are we here?" As such, it should be a succinct text that acts as a guideline for a school's direc- tors, faculty, staff, students, and alumni. If anyone in the school's community is uncertain about which of two choices to select, the one that best reflects the mis- sion statement should be the one that wins out. For that reason, a school's mission should be concise and easy to consult. What a mission statement should not be is an excuse for more mar- keting. Some schools use mission statements as additional opportuni- ties to trot out impressive figures and brag about their achievements. But these details have no place in a true mission statement. I believe there are two reasons a school should develop a mission statement. First, it signals to the 62 BizEd JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2010 outside world that the organization is clear on its identity and objectives. Such clarity is reassuring to business and academic partners; it allows them to understand instantly what kind of institution they are dealing with and what its values are. Second, it helps administrators, faculty, and staff understand why they do what they do. As a result, those who contribute to the day-to-day activity of the institution benefit from a strong sense of belonging. Such a unifying message is particularly important during a period of crisis. Yet some schools still have not for- mulated their own mission statement. Perhaps some administrators see these statements merely as gimmicks. Others believe that they and their colleagues don't need to formally state their common values because everyone implicitly understands them already. The worst-case scenario is that a school cannot define a set of common goals because it has not yet established its true identity. However, I would argue that defining a mission is always a reward- ing process. As business schools, we rarely take the time to analyze who we are and how we work. When this analysis is done within the framework of a formal, institutional exercise, the benefits can be huge. Audencia's Journey The writing of the mission cannot be undertaken lightly. It requires the input and approval of many stake- holders, usually over a period of time. At Audencia Nantes, we first defined our mission in 1998. Ten years later, we began an 18-month process of revision. Though our final by Jean-Pierre Helfer statement was succinct—102 words— its very conciseness meant every word had to be pondered and debated. To begin the process, an external consultancy quizzed a cross section of the school's students, staff, and partners to find out what Audencia meant to them. Questions asked were varied and sometimes metaphorical. For instance: If the school were an animal, what would it be and why? Answers were sometimes surpris- ing, but always interesting and use- ful. Some respondents compared Audencia to a beaver, because of its constructive nature, or to a seagull, because it resides in an oceanside habitat and has the ability to cross the sea. One constituent likened the school to a show horse, because the school is in international competition, does things with elegance, and earns respect. We found one animal that really represented Audencia—a chimp. Our close cousin is intelligent, communi- cates well, and uses tools. He is also non-predatory. Therefore, despite the fact that the school is in a competi- tive environment, it isn't viewed as an institution that guns its way to the top by eliminating others. We used our annual staff seminar to share initial results with all person- nel. Working together, we created another interim mission statement that added subjects and key words. Next, a faculty member who spe- cializes in ethics spent months inter- viewing 90 people affiliated with the school. The aim was to fine-tune the Audencia values that had already been identified, while taking into account the missions of other busi- ness schools. While we consider Audencia—and its mission—unique, we know that any serious provider of business education will share some